Words by Jason Lee
Cover image by Manon Macasaet
Most horror stories are really just love stories in disguise when you think about it like how the very first Friday The 13th flick is really about a mother’s undying love for her son to the point that she’ll happily hack up a bunch of camp counselors including Kevin Bacon and his traumatized trachea to avenge her sweet Jason’s tragic drowning death (that is, until he leaps out of the lake like Swamp Thing reborn) with later installments following the grisly misadventures of a heartbroken momma’s boy working out his rage issues to the detriment of scores of hapless, horny teenagers…
…a lesson Suzy Clue has seemingly taken to heart on her debut single “Remember Me” appropriately released on Friday the 13th what with its mix of amorous pining away and simmering sonic rage opening with some elongated guitar-strumming over which S. Clue breathily queries, “Do you remember me? Are you fond of me still? Are my pictures on your phone?” and up to this point the song could seemingly be on its way to being a Def Leppard-esque power ballad fed through a grimy 90s sensibility…
…but then when the chorus roars in at the one-minute mark it quickly becomes clear the only sugar Suzy’ll be pouring on you will be directly into open, festering wounds of “heartbreak, loss, and clash of melancholy and guttural rage of being left behind by the one you love” as articulated in the song’s press notes with our singer-songwriter-bassist howling into a gale of textured guitar, “don’t you think I’m enoughhhh, enoughhhh,” sonically twisted and overdriven past the point of being merely “grungy” but maybe more like “swampy” in terms of nearly losing its structural integrity…
…thus providing all the subtext one needs for the loss of one’s own psycho-sexual integrity or as Wordsworth put it “emotion recalled in un-tranquil waves of serrated noise” and right away you get the notion that despite the cute pink ‘do Suzy Clue is one rock chick not be messed with any more than say Suzi Quatro or “Suzie Q” as memorialized by Dale Hawkins and later CCR both of whom plead their titular unrequited love “to be true and never leave me blue” but fat chance of that….
…and seeing as D. Hawkins has often been called the “father of swamp rock boogie” it’s fitting that the music of Suzy Clue (a name that sounds an awful ot like Suzie “Q” dunnit, conspiracy or not?) or at least this one song anyway should have a strong swampy aesthetic to it tho’ updated for 2023 obvioiusly and no wonder Suzy’s tight with at least one other ’S’ stands for swampy musical artist, namely, Sabrina Fuentes of Pretty Sick, just two of an ever-growing wave of NYC-based femme- and queer-oriented post-post-grunge tho’ both have strong London ties as well with Suzy being perhaps the only one who’s an Albanian-NYC-London transplant and hey we’re here for all of it…
…so give “Remember Me” a spin once you think you’re amply prepared and then check out the official bio below for a bit more personal history and larger context and most importantly if you reside in or around New York City you won’t wanna miss Clue’s couple of shows coming up later this month, namely, the official single release bash at Baker Falls or Knitting Factory or whatever it’s called now (!) on 10/25 complete with a stacked lineup, and then a few days later, opening for none other than Pretty Sick on 10/28 at the Deli-endorsed house party happenin’ hot-spot The Hancock…
Suzy Clue was born in Albania and raised in NYC from age 8 onwards. She found her roots in the South London music scene collaborating and playing alongside artists like Pretty Sick, Double Virgo, Viji, and Mitsubishi Suicide. Suzy says, ““Remember Me” explores themes of heartbreak, loss, and the clash of melancholy and guttural rage of being left behind by the one you love through the sounds of heavy shoe gaze, emo, indie, and alternative rock.
Clue partnered with various friends in NYC and London to produce the project such as four-time Mercury Prize nominated producer and label head of Speedy Underground Dan Carey (Fontaines D.C., Kae Tempest, Wet Leg) and producer/engineer Attila Lee Anrather (Clovis, Quarters of Change) and is releasing it through Sparta, launched by 300 Entertainment.
Suzy has created buzz for herself in London after showcasing a powerful performance opening up for Pretty Sick at The Lafayette to a sold out room of 650 people. Upon Suzy’s return to NYC after being in London and France in the past two years, Clue immediately played another impressive sold-out show opening for Porches at Baby’s All Right.