“Someone once told me that my hair reminded them of a mum called Susan,” the all-lower-case susan laughs, recalling the moment their stage name was born. Suddenly the gold ring reading ‘MUM’ on their finger makes a little more sense. “It just stuck after that. I even had to collect a parcel addressed to ‘Susan’ and I couldn’t even prove it was for me!”
In a refreshing tranquil coffee shop off the busy brick lane, it has been a few weeks since dreamy pop outfit 'susan' and their have played their first self-organised show. Surrounded by friends, the night is a collection of artists and musical supports, finished off with the debuting the brand new EP ‘spit on it’.
Like any gig, the goal is to escape the real world for a couple of hours, and leave any inhibitions at the door. “It’s like the Caribbean in here!” is heard from the doorway of the bunker-like venue, as funk and soul music blares out from the decks of their opening DJ.
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The location is unassuming enough, tactfully tucked away beneath a railway track in Brixton. However, the tropically decorated bar illuminated by heavenly tangerine hues couldn’t be further from the gloomy tower blocks outside. The atmosphere felt like a family affair. Everyone greeting each other with familiar hugs, continuous laughter followed by the shutters of film cameras, and the unmistakable clunking of Balenciaga trainers doing fierce two steps across the floor.
With that said it’s quite hard to believe the setlist of the night would be homaging the darkest feelings of being lost, alone, and trying to navigate a confusing youth. Making a positive outcome of such emotions is a craft, and susan aim to do exactly that. ‘spit on it’, in short, is a surprisingly candid anthology of what it feels like growing up and feeling out of place.
Both susan and their musical counterpart James Hollingsworth fit all too well into the London art scene, adorned in effortlessly stylish get ups that leave everyone else feeling torn between either insane jealousy or total intimidation at the effortlessness of it all. Sort of like those people in the Bussey Building smoking area you’re always a bit too scared to ask a lighter from.
Despite all this, their roots are in the North. With susan originally from Nottingham, and guitarist and instrumentalist, James, from Newcastle. Perhaps it was the northern drawl, but there was something oddly comforting when you’re met with “Y’alright love?” In a room full of stoney faced Londoners.
The endearing ordinariness of the name susan is an unexpected juxtaposition to the dreamy grit of their ambient pop. Aside from it’s origin being inspired by Susan’s effortlessly chic bob, the meaning behind it isn’t as significant as people may think. “It’s just a name I ran with. Even my friends call me Susan, and some don’t even what my real name is.”
The allusion of gender exploration is an element, but not the forefront of what the duo are about, it’s much more than that. “There was a time where I’d buy clothes thinking, ‘this is very Susan’, but as a 16-year-old lad, it was more of just an excuse to dress more ‘feminine’. Now it’s not even an excuse, I’ll buy things because I like them.”
The fluidity and conceptual nature of susan the performer even more intriguing. Where do the lines blur between where the real susan stop and stage susan begins? Is there one?And does that even matter? Interestingly, they assure that the fusion of the two isn’t an alter ego, and that they have simply always embodied both elements.
“Finding one’s self makes you realise its more fluid. Messy.” The open and carefree attitude to which they speak of what so many experience is nothing short of compelling. There was an surreal complexity to being in the room and in conversation with susan; as though they were actually a three-in-two identity. susan, James, and susan, I think. The need to find a distinction between them growing more futile. Create a person beyond a description, that not only stands for themselves as a duo, but also as them, a performer, is certainly impressive. A lyric of his that comes to mind is, “I’m so fucking universal”, and it couldn’t be more true.
Songs such as ‘Masculine’ and ‘Empty’ are both candid takes on the struggles surrounding gender identity. It’s interesting to hear an authentic perspective of exploring the subject, as much as it is to witness the bewildering reality of what comes along with it. “I’d basically had the biggest breakdown I’d probably ever had in my life.” Susan starts with stiff laugh, revisiting the period that inspired their writing the most.
“London made me question everything? At university you’re forced to be yourself, figuring out who you are on your own. The mixtape is very much about that time.” Discovering your identity, and sexuality is a monumental period of many people’s lives, specifically the LGBTQ+ community. So why is it that this area of the music industry still seems reasonably untouched?
“Unless it’s wrapped up in a bow, people don’t want to talk about it. It’s not a friendly issue, you know what I mean? People are getting killed for it. People are uncomfortable with it. You won’t catch many singers talking about sexuality or gender, even less so in a positive way.”
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| photography by Darryl Machivenyika |
If susan’s neither-here-nor-there attitude towards questions of gender is tricky to pin down, it seems positively clear-cut compared to the duo’s definition of their musical partnership. “We’re not a band, it’s just susan. We don’t really know,” They shrug. “We haven’t decided anything because we’re fine as we are,” adds James. “I don’t know. It’s a weird one,” says susan. They both laugh, if stumblingly, almost like when a semi-exclusive couple have just been asked what their label was.
From the outside, one would think the lack of dictatorship in the band, as well as recently becoming self managed, would lead to flurries of chaos. Yet, despite “c*nty” outspokenness susan carries in their partnership, the diva musician stereotypes are nowhere to be seen. This much is clear, not only from sitting down and chatting away about subjects far too controversial for a coffee shop at 3pm, but from watching their showmanship on stage. These guys are professionals.
“I think It’s important to keep it as you in the limelight.” James then admits. “You are susan, and you started this.” James’ side project under the name of James Casperr on Soundcloud, is a softened, more lo-fi style, on a different end of the spectrum to susan. “It’s almost like alternative r&b,” says James. “It’s mainly inspired by artists like Steve Lacy and Omar Apollo. It’s very chorus led, and warm sounding music. Is that a shit description?” He laughs, but warm it is, with smooth instrumentals and honeyed vocals, its sure to send anyone to a blissed out state.
Having a self described,“indie band background”, James’ influence in music is of a more traditional sense. So when paired with susan’s more experimental pop inspired range, the product is something that can’t be restricted by genre. In Generation Z, anyone with a computer can put music out into the world, and the ‘soundcloud rapper’ phenomena shows just how easy to get swallowed up by everyone else fighting for the exactly same career.
But music needs to be refreshing and new, and it’s something that susan has definitely achieved. “I definitely try implementing new things I’ve got from susan. Setting an atmosphere with sounds is something I hadn’t really done before.” He adds. Influencing each other with new ideas is what makes working together as beneficial as it is creative.
“I wrote and produced the song ‘Empty’ in my room,” susan recalls. “And I sent it over to James asking if he wanted to add anything. He ended up adding a guitar which completely changed the sound for the better. It was so necessary. Now it’s one of our favourite songs to perform. ” They say. “Me too.” Adds James. “There was a time last year it was the last show of the tour, and this emotion just kicked in. I was literally shaking as we played.”
Something they pride themselves on, is that ‘Spit On It’ avoids the typical themes of heartache and break ups. The decision was intentional, with the direction of the EP instead being focused on the darker and more bleak sides of human emotion. “I like writing out of spite, moods like spitefulness, sombreness, masculinity. After a breakup for example, you’re past the point of just sad, you feel genuinely pathetic.” Susan says, followed with a cheeky grin.
“You’re just a wet lettuce, you know?” Never had such a specific analogy been so painfully true. “I take pride that there aren’t any typical break up songs on the EP. I prefer to write out of spite.” It’s fascinating to see someone as naturally exuberant and charming as susan, to have such bite. Being able to find a joy in the worst situations, with such gleeful sadism must be the cheapest form of therapy.
An element of the show that was particularly striking was the gallery like flare to the space. Graphic prints and artwork were hung delicately above the merch stand, contrasting quite dramatically with susan’s ‘spit on it’ t-shirts, printed with the genes use of Yves Saint Laurent’s typeface.
Seeing as art was dotted around the venue, ironically choruses of “It’s Grayson Perry!” roared from the crowd every so often, a nickname susan’s friends gave him referencing their starkly uncanny hairstyles. While they look the part of the ‘dressed up but dressed down UAL student walking around the Tate’, their alliance with the art world is mainly just by association. It juts so happened that a close friend of theirs studied illustration, and three of them wanted to collaborate.
“We often get grouped in with ‘the art crowd’ even though we’re musicians. We’re friends with creative people, and I definitely prefer playing in arts spaces. And why not hang art in creative space?.” They say. “I think it’s so important, because we’ll be put on bills with performance artists, and it showcases all types of talent. Whether they’re visual artists, or noise artists, anything.” It could be said that susan as a collective is a performance in their own right. “We played in Nottingham, and we were probably the most commercial ones there. So it brought in a crowd interested in that, but it also allowed them to see what other types of performance are like. It opens people eyes to something different.”
In the same vein, ’spit on it’ was constructed not dissimilarly from performance art. to show the ugly face of all the emotions we don’t like to talk about, and as susan’s Soundcloud describes, its made to “challenge the thought process” of gender, and masculinity, where “hard hitting lyrics” are used to exploit sensitive feelings in messy, dark pop. Doing so in such a fraught political climate is gutsy, and frankly, important.
“You don’t remember the good bits once you’ve come out of such a hard time.” Susan says, appearing the most sombre they have been all day. “You’re less inclined to write about how great you are.” Although the more recent rise in succession of LGBTQ+ musicians in has shown a progression, the industry still has a long way to go. In a so-called ‘liberal’ and ‘politically correct’ it can’t be right for focus gender identity and sexuality to still be stuck in such a grey area. “I do think its moving there,” susan contemplates, “But it might take a while to get out of niche cult followings and into commercial.
“Artists like the late SOPHIE talk about that topic, but you’d rarely catch anyone else in the charts doing the same.” Despite producer and singer SOPHIE being a minority within trans music visibility, colossal steps have definitely been made after her record ‘Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-insides’ was nominated for Best Dance/Electronic Album at the 2018 Grammy Awards. The nomination was an important moment in history, that was unfortunately overshadowed by a fateful interview at the event, where an interviewer misgendered her on camera.
“King Princess too!” James adds with enthusiasm. “Her song ‘Pussy Is God’ is a banger. It has quite a tongue-in-cheek feel to it but it’s obviously really important for her to comfortably and openly talk about being gay.” Even SOPHIE and King Princess who are signed to their respectably affluent record labels, are denied voice on a commercial level. Signing sexual minorities is one thing, but allowing their truths to be transmitted to the masses is another.
For the seeable future though, a cult following is their main goal. “I would love a cult following one day. How sick would that be?! I think it’s different to commercial, which to me seems very toxic. Sam Smith has said in interviews that they wishes they’d never gone globally commercial like they have.” Sam Smith’s sexuality and romantic relationships were the talk of every media outlet since coming out as gay.
However, their recent announcement of a non-binary identity, has already made be an impactful step in the right direction into the acceptance of the entire gender spectrum. susan are focused on reaching a wider audience, They say. “You have to be successful to make money and vice versa, it’s a risk of how far you want to go with your career. Björk and Lana Del Rey are obviously huge artists, but still very cult. I’d fucking love that.”
Written by Rose Cornish 2018
© Rose Cornish 2024
In loving memory of Darryl Machivenyika
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