Hear Susto’s Laid-Back New Songs ‘If I Was’ and ‘Está Bien’
Charleston, South Carolina-based rockers Susto have a name that loosely translates to “ongoing spiritual panic attack” in Spanish, but two new tracks premiering on Rolling Stone Country show founder and frontman Justin Osborne to be supremely chill — in a worldly, self-questioning sort of way.
Both “If I Was” and “Está Bien” appear on the band’s third album, Ever Since I Lost My Mind (their first with Rounder Records, due February 22nd), and both were produced by Ian Fitchuck — who recently shared an Album of the Year honor at the CMA Awards for Kacey Musgraves’ brilliant Golden Hour. Both are also serenely laid back, with gentle instrumentation and thoughtful vocals inviting the listener to step out of their daily grind and into more intentional headspace, but that’s where the similarity ends.
With the dreamy stoner’s delight “If I Was,” Osborne takes a hazy trip into existential thought, doing so with an ultra-relaxed brand poetic nonchalance that channels Dawes’ Taylor Goldsmith. A hesitant guitar seems to playfully float into and out of earshot, while Osborne imagines life if he were a savior, then a teacher, and finally embracing his role as “just a singer, with an electric guitar in my hand.”
“I wrote this song one morning at my house, after my morning ritual which is to smoke weed and pick up the guitar,” Osborne explains. “The lyrics really came out naturally and I think it’s a personal expression of someone trying to explain themselves to the world, the audience or anyone who might listen. Probably the best way to describe the song is as a declaration of awareness; awareness of who I am, who I’m not and who people may want me to be.”
Meanwhile, “Está Bien” looks outward. Presented as a classic Latin ballad and sung entirely in Spanish, the track comes off like a sunset ode to cross-cultural friendship, with a steady-strummed acoustic guitar and warm, light touches of piano joining Osborne’s sometimes raspy vocal. In the period before the band got established, Osborne studied abroad in Cuba.
“There’s so much focus on the USA’s relationship to Latin America now in the news, and I hope this song can be taken as a manifestation of love and friendship between people,” he says. “When you’re ok, I’m ok.”
With a batch of remaining songs that range from hook-oriented roots pop to heavy grunge, Ever Since I Lost My Mind arrives on Rounder Records February 22nd. The band will embark on a coast-to-coast tour this month, with dates scheduled from Savannah, Georgia, to Seattle, Washington, through April 20th in Washington, D.C.
Here’s a complete list of Susto’s upcoming tour dates:
January 26 – Raleigh, NC @ Lincoln Theatre
February 21 – Isle of Palms, SC @ The Windjammer
February 28 – Athens, GA @ Georgia Theatre
March 7 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West
March 8 – Greenville, SC @ Radio Room
March 9 – Savannah, GA @ Savannah Stopover
March 12-14 – Austin, TX @ SXSW
March 15 – Dallas, TX @ Not So Fun Wknd
March 20 – Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar
March 22 – Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour
March 23 – Santa Cruz, CA @ Catalyst Atrium
March 25 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
March 27 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
March 28 – Seattle, WA @ Chop Suey
March 30 – Spokane, WA @ The Bartlett
March 31 – Boise, ID @ Neurolux
April 4 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
April 7 – Boulder, CO @ Fox Theatre
April 10 – St. Louis, MO @ Blueberry Hill
April 11 – Louisville, KY @ Zanzabar
April 12 – Nashville, TN @ The Basement East
April 14 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Club Cafe
April 15 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
April 17 – Allston, MA @ Great Scott
April 19 – Philadelphia, PA @ MilkBoy
April 20 – Washington, D.C. @ Rock n Roll Hotel