Susto – & I’m Fine Today (Missing Piece/Caroline)

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There’s nothing better than discovering a new band that seems to be making just the right music at just the right time. For me, that band is Susto. Hailing from Charleston, South Carolina, I first heard them at last year’s Austin City Limits Festival. Now, the release of their second album, & I’m Fine Today, fulfills the promise I heard when I saw them perform in Texas.

Susto started out as a solo project for Justin Osborne, a young man who moved to Charleston after going through several life-changing events. He was looking for a new start…trying to escape whatever happened before.

& I’m Fine Today sounds like the aural record of what his life must have been like before he relocated to Charleston. The 11-track album is full of stories of substance abuse, burned-out rock stars and rain-soaked weddings.

Osborne seems to have a knack for coming up with opening lines that draw the listener in immediately. Check these out:

You could be comatose in a parking lot; I could be sleeping on your floor (Far Out Feeling)

I had a dream we were doing hard drugs in the street alley. You were lying dead next to me (Hard Drugs)

Is there anybody smoking weed with God (Waves)

We woke up in a single bed, in the room where your grandmother died (Havana Vieja)

Despite its sometimes morbid subject matter, the album is full of hope and the joy of making music. These are not songs about death, but stories about life.

Far Out Feeling kicks things off with a jangly guitar and a 70s-style country-rock groove. The shimmering production really takes off when the string section comes swirling in, washing away the dark undercurrent of the opening lyric. It’s a portrait of blue collar America as Osborne sings, “You could be working at the shopping mall, I could be making my rent down at the pawn shop”.

Sure, its tough out there in Trump’s America, but there is an air of optimism as the listener is urged to “take a step back and feel it, this is for real”.

Next up is Hard Drugs. Again, the lyric is dark (see above), but the mood it hopefully. Musically I’m reminded of Wilco’s AM album as the singer admits his problems…”I’ve had a long term trouble with substance abuse”, and is concerned for his friend who is in an abusive relationship.

Third song Waves, is louder and more joyous…with a big rumbling bass line, a rippling synth line and lyrics about surfing with dolphins….just ride it out.

Osborne seems to throw himself into every song. Cosmic Cowboy finds him contemplating being a southern man and an atheist, in Wasted Mind, he’s “sittin’ around making records with friends”, while Mystery Man tells of meeting a musical idol who has seen better day and features another great opening line…”First thing I saw, you were falling apart on stage”.

There isn’t a bum song among the 11 tracks here making & I’m Fine Today a (very) early contender for album of the year.

Marty Duda

 

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