You might know Susie Blue for the voice, the empathy and the disarming visuals. You suppose that Susie is singing us into a new nation that doesn’t submit to limits and hang-ups. But a further part of the Susie method is that you must not presume. There’s a new song called ‘Worst Side of Me’ that takes us on an alternative tour of the artist. If you want to be close, then you might have to consider the less attractive features. Just like a Nan Goldin picture, you get the messy context ahead of the nice stuff.
Susie’s new EP is called Venite Ad Me. As with Sinéad, she’s not averse to quoting a Psalm or a liturgical line if it’s fit for a creative twist. She can leap an octave for the chorus line or drop the conceit and let all the insecurities tumble. Also, there is a sweet declaration called ‘Lucky Boy’ – love is winning, the sequencers bubble with joy while the BPMs approximate Robyn and ‘Dancing on my Own’. With bonus androgyny.
The tracks ‘Get Back’ and ‘Stop at any Time’ are already in the public domain, the latter being a great tussle between restraint and surrender. It surges like a Ronettes tune and it affirms that Susie Blue has expanded a fine catalogue, adding to ‘She’s A Keeper’, ‘Daughter’, ‘Didn’t Mean to Care’ and of course ‘People Like Us’.
Stuart Bailie
Susie Blue launches Venite Ad Me with a night at the Ulster Sports Club, Belfast, November 7. This is part of the Sound of Belfast programme. Ticket info here.
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