Paul King
Finding inspiration to create something new can be a daunting task for any working musician when they begin to embark on creating music for a new album. But for SUSTO pronounced (SooSto) frontman, Justin Osborne, this was exactly the opposite scenario. Osborne, a seasoned musician, is no stranger to the rigors of creativity having already completed four full-length albums. What gives SUSTO’s latest album titled “My Entire Life” a bit more crunch is the juxtaposition Osborne’s actual life has taken over the past few years. In fact, Osborne’s life up to a certain point read very much like a country song with one sad verse after another.
Just about the time that SUSTO’s fourth full-length album titled “Time in the Sun” came out, Osborne was living the blues. He went through a divorce, he had difficulties rebuilding his band post-pandemic, and he felt the pain and helplessness of witnessing family members struggle with addiction and mental illness firsthand. To top that off, Osborne also lost his father. Yet, despite these challenges, Osborne ultimately found himself in a new headspace. It was from this jumping-off point that Osborne’s life began to brighten up, in essence giving him a new take on the world both figuratively and creatively.
“The last couple of years have been pretty transformative for me,” Osborne says just after landing in Austin. “I became a dad right before our last record came out and then my dad passed away, and shortly thereafter, my daughter’s mom and I split up, reasonably, amicably, but still that was a big shift.”
Osborne says in the midst of some of his darkest days, he actually fell in love again, recently remarrying for a second time.
“It’s just been kind of a whirlwind, and I’ve just been basically trying to ride it,” he says.
Part of that ride is scheduled to take place at Tulips at 112 St. Louis Avenue, on July 29 where SUSTO will perform for its second-ever Fort Worth show in support of their new album.
According to Osborne, playing and recording music was in some ways his only outlet for the things he found himself dealing with during this influx of changes. “I just found myself being in situations I never envisioned myself having to be in,” Osborne says. “All of this stuff kind of got translated into the record.”
The way Osborne explains it, the new record is a mosaic of all of these life changes and challenges. His conspirators on this project include longtime producer Wolfgang “Wolfy” Zimmerman, SUSTO Co-founders, Johnny Delaware, Marshall Hudson, and his now wife/co-writer Caroline Foyle. Much of the album was recorded at The Space, in Charleston, South Carolina, with major sessions also taking place at Echo Mountain Recording in Asheville, North Carolina, and Chase Park Transduction in Athens, Georgia. Delaware (Drummer) had moved to Mexico shortly after work on the album began, so some tracking was done at his home studio in Mexico City.
The band took full advantage of this scenario creating a “recording pilgrimage” to the Mexican town of Tepotzlán (the mythical birthplace of the Mesoamerican deity Quetzalcoatl). It was during this era that the band turned an Airbnb into a remote recording studio, with the help of members of the Mexican Institute of Sound. This setting seems fitting for a band whose name is Spanish for an intense fear understood as a condition of the soul.
“For this record, we leaned hard on the core crew that makes up SUSTO,” Osborne says. “Instead of reinventing ourselves for this record, this time we just tried to be better at what we already do, which is a fusion of folk, rock, and psychedelia.”
Osborne verified that nearly half of the tracks that appear on “My Entire Life” came out of the sessions for SUSTO’s previous album “Time in the Sun”. “This record has some songs on it that even predate the last record, which means the material has been in works for over five or six years.”
Per the stained-glass mosaic artwork on the cover, created by artist Gordy Livingstone, Osborne says it reflects how he’s been feeling inside since this period of change first rocked his world.
At first, Osborne thought of the Livingstone art as an inspirational piece that might spark other ideas. But after sitting with this image while in the creating process, Osborne says it began to resonate with his psyche.
“When we were finished with the sonic side of the record, it just felt like it spoke to my experience in the form of imagery,” he says. “We mention birds in this record and flying, and that fit with the white dove on the cover perfectly.” Osborne further explained that he felt like he embodied the man in the painting all the way down to the knuckle tattoos.
“We have this thing with our albums where like every other album cover is a self-portrait and then every other one is like a painting,” he explains. “We thought with this one since it’s the fifth album, we could try and do both a self-portrait and a painting.”
As for their sound, much like the stained-glass windows that adorn their latest record, SUSTO takes their musical influences from many sources. “I grew up listening to country music and a lot of southern rock,” he says. “But I also like punk rock and folk music. I really enjoy Bob Marley and singer-songwriters like Jim Croce and Towns Van Zandt.”
With all of these influences contributing little bits of musical tapestry to this quintet, Alt-Country is where Osborne says he thinks SUSTO has found its sweet spot.
“I feel like this is the right umbrella for me to be under,” he says. “I feel like that vein of Alt-Country is really a prominent part of what we do. I mean our influences are all over the place. I am still inspired every day by new music and bands we tour with. It’s a never-ending journey being a music fan.”
