Ambient country as a sub-genre has been around for a while, and the New York trio SUSS have in many ways become synonymous with it. In many ways, it takes veterans like Pat Irwin (B-52s, Raybeats, 8 Eyed Spy), Bob Holmes (Rubber Rodeo), and Jonathan Gregg (The Linemen, Jonathan Gregg & the Lonesome Debonaires) to work within a relatively new sub-genre and become considered as some sort of progenitors of it.
For their six previous albums, and Counting Sunsets, their latest (seventh) SUSS have developed both their own style and built a sub-genre in their own manner, and as the music they are creating, very slowly. Their slow-building, slow-developing music is built around pedal steel, National guitar, mandolin, harmonica, baritone guitar, and harmonium, woven together with synthesisers and subtle loops.
While this description sounds quite simple, turning such a concept into meaningful and ultimately listenable music is quite a complex process, as doing it slowly can easily reveal any potential weaknesses and holes, because, as Sun Ra used to say, “space is the place”, and the space between the notes in such music is as important as the space filled with notes. And this is exactly where SUSS excel, not only with their instrumental mastery, but with the deep understanding of both genres they are combining here – instrumental Americana and ambient music as such.
There’s no useless meandering here, and again, it is all about creating spaces that can recreate a vast, cinematic whole that puts meaning both into country and ambient at the same time.
