SUSS’ Pat Irwin, Bob Holmes, and Jonathan Gregg are, for all intents and purposes, the inventors and perhaps finest purveyors of what’s known as “ambient country”. They even came up with the term, but its origins can be traced back to everything from Brian Eno’s meditative soundscapes to Ry Cooder’s atmospheric score of Wim Wenders’ iconic 1984 film Paris, Texas. Often imitated but rarely duplicated, the SUSS sound is unmistakable, and with their latest album, they haven’t slowed down a bit.
Counting Sunsets sees the trio doing what they do best: providing a dreamy, hazy, minimalist soundtrack for a desolate desert, embracing the sounds of pedal steel, National guitar, mandolin, harmonica, baritone guitar, and harmonium, interweaving it with synthesizers and loops. This latest album incorporates a theme, at least in its song titles. The ten tracks are named “Sunset I”, “Sunset II”, “Sunset III”, and so on.
The lush, often distant keyboards that open the first track eventually give way to the strumming of acoustic guitars, providing the perfect mix of country and ambient. Synthesizers and loops become more prominent in the next track—as well as in the modern-leaning landscape of “Sunset IX”—but SUSS rarely stray from the proven formula, providing just the right air of mystery.
Songs like “Sunset IV” benefit from the distant hum of field recordings, as if Counting Sunsets was partially conceived in the desert around a campfire, as synth-supplied vocal patches seem to conjure up ghostly apparitions. Each of the tracks seems thematically woven together yet still distinct, like different episodes with the same characters and players. There’s a cinematic element to this music—Cooder’s aforementioned score is likely an influence—and on tracks like “Sunset VIII,” with its graceful piano notes against the keening pedal steel, one can picture scenes played out onscreen alongside the music.
The idea of the American West fused with sequencers and synth beds is alive and well, thanks to artists like Marisa Anderson, Chuck Johnson, and William Tyler, among others. SUSS are arguably at the top of the heap and have distilled this concept into a beautiful science. Counting Sunsets immerses itself in its self-invented genre and takes the listener on a deliberate, deeply atmospheric journey.