TRACK REVIEW: Suki Waterhouse - Melrose Meltdown

TRACK REVIEW:

Suki Waterhouse

Melrose Meltdown

8.7/10

The track, Melrose Meltdown, is available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDbD_07FLuE

RELEASE DATE:

25th January, 2022

ORIGIN:

London, U.K./Los Angeles, U.S.A.

GENRES:

Baroque Pop/Dream Pop/Alt-Pop

The album, I Can’t Let Go, is available from 22nd April, 2022. Pre-order the album here:

https://www.resident-music.com/productdetails&path=168&product_id=86977

LABEL:

Sub Pop Records

TRACKLIST:

Moves

The Devil I Know

Melrose Meltdown

Put Me Through It

My Mind

Bullshit on the Internet

Wild Side

On Your Thumb

Slip

Blessed

PRODUCER:

Brad Cook

__________

I want to start out with a couple of points…

that I would not normally do for other artists. Because Suki Waterhouse is an actor and model, she comes from a different background and brings a different set of skills to music. It is not unusual for actors to also release music. Today, we have new artists like Maisie Peters who sit between the two crafts. In fact, iconic model Heidi Klum is going to release her first single soon. I think there is a slightly snobby attitude when it comes to actors and models releasing music. Maybe a sense that the purity is distilled or they are not as authentic as other musicians. In the case of Suki Waterhouse, she is a born artist. She released music years ago, yet it is now that she is really looking ahead to a longer and more prolific career. In terms of significant output, she releases her debut album, I Can’t Let Go, in April. I love her music, and I think that her acting experience and C.V. elevates and impacts the songs. She brings new disciplines and nuances into her work. In her early-thirties now, newer songs like Melrose Meltdown (which I will review soon) are not the same as her tracks from a few years back. Rather than present a diversion, I am going to start by discussing Waterhouse as an actor. Last year, she appeared in the supernatural film, Seance. Remix Magazine spoke with her about it:

“Currently based in LA filming an upcoming TV adaptation of New York Times bestseller Daisy Jones & The Six, the charismatic Brit radiates positivity. “It’s SO nice to be back at work again and finally doing stuff!” Suki responds when I ask how she’s doing right now. Refreshingly, her year has been much the same as mine, minus the blacked-out windows and constant sound of drilling echoing in her complex. “Like everyone else this past year I haven’t had much escape. I was in an apartment that had building work going on all the time. After having had blacked-out windows, I think my body is only just reactivating to seeing sunlight! I feel like I’ve been a cavewoman eating yoghurt for what feels like two years…” Again, relatable.

PHOTO CREDIT: RLJE Films

Suki is playing new girl Camille Meadows at the prestigious Edelvine Academy for Girls in new horror mystery Seance. “A really fun, cool, go-back-to-school horror movie,” is how Suki describes it. “Not too scary that you’ll be terrified the entire time and up all night though. It’s dark but kind of funny as well. I like the way it doesn’t take itself too seriously.”

Marking a change in genre for Suki, she was drawn to the role not just for a new challenge but the nostalgia. The actress drew inspiration for the role by digging into her own school days. “I think so much of our lives as grown-ups is shaped by those years. From being the ‘outcast’ to that mission to help a friend. It was like a full-circle experience going back there, except this time around having more empathy for myself,” she recounts.

In the film, we see Camille (Suki) take part in a Seance to find out what happened to a fellow classmate after a mysterious suicide. The supernatural nature of Seance begged the question, where does Suki sit in terms of the supernatural world in real life? “I’m not super attuned to that world, although in saying that I have certain things I ‘see’ quite regularly. I experience sleep paralysis, which feels quite paranormal." Describing it as that moment before you wake up where you ‘feel trapped in your own body, like you’ve been abducted by aliens’, Suki says it’s as close as she’s got to being ‘spooked’.

Her army of two million fans on Instagram might be surprised to learn, despite fronting campaigns for the likes of Burberry, Tommy Hilfiger and Salvatore Ferragamo, Suki is first and foremost an actress. Masterfully navigating the line between screen and fashion, I asked the multitalented performer where her heart lies most. “I haven’t modelled for years,” she tells me. “I actually started acting, as well as singing, really young before I even got into modelling. Acting for me was always an outlet outside of school that was for me. I never did it in school, I was way too embarrassed. My theatre group was always my secret world.” Turns out, there’s another world that has her heart though too. “Music has been a big focus for me – I’m really excited about that. I’ve been doing it my whole life, working up to an album that’s coming out soon.” … "Stay tuned," she teases”.

Keep an eye out for future Waterhouse acting projects. She is appearing in Daisy Jones & The Six soon (it is an adaptation of the 2019 novel from Taylor Jenkins Reid). Waterhouse is hugely multi-talented. Whether she is going to base herself out of L.A. or London, I think that her music will take on a bigger significance very soon. With a debut album forthcoming, many new listeners will discover her incredible music. Prior to coming more up to date regarding her interviews and exposure, there is a piece from a few years back where we get to know a then-twenty-seven-year-old emerging and coming through. Like so many new artists who were putting out work in 2019 and 2020, the pandemic has delayed things. Waterhouse was building momentum in 2019. Things have taken a bit of a weird course since then. What strikes me about Suki Waterhouse is her creativity and how much passion she has. A multidisciplinary talent, here is someone who turning heads and standing out:

“The allure that 27-year-old Suki Waterhouse radiates is undeniable no matter what platform she is seen on–and she has pretty much all of them covered. The English model was discovered at age 16 and since then has posed for designers such as Tommy Hilfiger, Alice + Olivia, and Burberry. Waterhouse’s modeling career led her to her own photography exhibition at Eb and Flow gallery in London, followed by the launch of her accessories brand Pop & Suki, which she co-founded with longtime friend Poppy Jamie, and helped grow her 1.5 million Instagram following, too. With her cool charisma and bold ambition, Waterhouse successfully made her foray into acting in 2016, earning roles in films such as The Divergent Series: Insurgent, Assassination Nation, and Detective Pikachu.

The creative stamina that Waterhouse possesses is clear from her never-ending and ever-growing list of projects that stretch across industries. “Once I finish something I’m quite like, okay, what else do I have on the list?,” Waterhouse tells me. The multi-hyphenate talent ventured into music in 2016 and has been self-releasing singles every so often since then. “There’s a very immediate reaction when you put out music. But, music is also something that people keep discovering, so it kind of has a really long life,” the singer says.

PHOTO CREDIT: reformation

Waterhouse released her single “Johanna” in late 2019 with an accompanying music video starring legendary New York City performance artist Amanda Lepore. “I was more nervous with her than probably I would be with anyone else. I used to go and watch her a lot when I first went to New York when I was 17. She’s so larger than life and made a big impact on me,” Waterhouse says of working with Lepore. The video casts Waterhouse as a male bodyguard and Lepore as a glamorous Hollywood darling.

While Waterhouse croons about unrequited love on the song, her portrayal of Fred the bodyguard in the video is a reflection of some of her own internal struggles and insecurities. “I was thinking about how I was going to present myself and I kind of wanted to not look like myself. Maybe because I was nervous,” she says of her role in the music video. Waterhouse dons a dark men’s suit and glasses in the video, a bold contrast to her on-screen counterpart but not totally far from Waterhouse’s actual personal style.

“I sort of wanted to hide behind a suit that feels very authoritative. I think a lot about wearing suits and men’s clothes. I’m either dressed like a cupcake or in suits and boy’s clothes a lot,” she offers. Waterhouse adds that she finds it interesting that in today’s society, a suit is the expected uniform for most bankers and “greedy men” but there is an androgynous and authoritative connotation when she wears a suit.

“It’s like such a basic bitch outfit so why do we associate it with being powerful and strong?,” she asks herself. Waterhouse celebrates both her femininity and masculinity in her fashion choices, but admits that both styles have limitations and a certain level of power to them”.

To confirm how strong Waterhouse is as an artist, she signed to Sub Pop recently. I find that Waterhouse brings a bit of film and acting to her music. When NME spoke with her back in October, they highlighted her Thelma & Louise-inspired song, Moves:

“Suki Waterhouse has signed to Sub Pop and shared her first two songs under the label with ‘Moves’ and ‘My Mind’. Listen to them below, and check out NME’s interview with the British actor and musician.

Waterhouse has been releasing her own music since 2016, when she put out her debut single ‘Brutally’. Over the last five years, she’s shared a further four tracks that marry ‘60s girl group influences with dreamy, melancholy-tinged pop, each showcasing a knack for writing evocative lyrics and songs that linger with you long after they’re over.

“I’ve always been comfortable making music and playing it and even having the life of a musician, but I’ve always been so scared of actually putting out records,” she told NME over Zoom from Los Angeles last week. “The ones I’ve done before it’s been one song a year and I’ve really been trying to push myself to do that.”

Although it’s been a long time coming, Waterhouse’s debut album will finally arrive next year via the legendary Sub Pop. “It really was a surprise,” the musician explained of inking the deal. “I made the album by myself and then was sending it to some labels. I sent it to Sub Pop and didn’t get a response for months, and then nudged them again.” When the label’s team listened to the record, they came on board and snapped up the album.

‘Moves’, the first fruits of her relationship with the historic imprint, shows why. It is a timeless piece of pop that beautifully straddles romanticism and sadness, Waterhouse’s voice a gorgeous anchor as she shares small details from her life.

“That song is like a collection of diary entries put into one idea from over 10 years,” she explained. “Years ago, someone said to me that I looked like Suzi Quatro when I was out one night. I remember I didn’t know who she was at first, but I was like, ‘I think that’s a cool thing, I’m gonna try and keep being like this person’ and then going home and looking her up and hearing the Chris Norman version of her and him doing ‘Stumbling In’ and going down a total Suzi love hole.”

‘Moves’ was also inspired by feminist film classic Thelma & Louise, with Waterhouse imagining “the kind of song they’d be listening to when they drove off the cliff”. “‘Moves’ came from a place of strength, but also feeling a sense of abandon,” she added. “I was listening to a lot of Shangri-Las at the time and ‘60s girl band songs, which had a seduction to them but also a [sense of a] last chance and something desperate. My songwriting all comes from my places of helplessness, even if there’s a powerfulness [to it]”.

A few days ago, Atwood Magazine spotlighted a vulnerable, beautiful, stirring and highly promising young artist who was taking her next steps. Maybe there are similarities with Lana Del Rey or Jazz legends of the past regarding her vocal. Something of the cigarette-lit, smoky, romantic and vintage vision comes from her lungs - like you are in the 1950s or 1960s and walking alongside a hypnotic and hugely heart-stopping singer. I will come to an interview where Waterhouse discusses her influences soon:

“While she’s been content with a slow-burning music career, releasing one single per year since 2016’s “Brutally”, 2022 marks the year where Waterhouse is finally letting us into the musical universe she’s been creating since the age of 13. “I’m the same person that was looking out the window of the house that I grew up in and writing the same version of love songs that I was writing all the way back then”, says Waterhouse, about the confessional and romantic songwriting that’s been helping her navigate life, love, and the pressures of a public identity, among other things.

Waterhouse sings as if she’s pouring her heart out to a dimly lit bar, clouded by cigarette smoke, so entranced by the music that she doesn’t care if anyone is watching her. There’s a folky quality to her sound and the intimacy of her lyrics that hypotizes anyone who listens. She’s been chronicling all these years through music, each song a different chapter of the diary of her life, and now she’s ready to let us in.

“Moves” and “My Mind“, both singles off her album, find the balance between being certain about taking a step towards vulnerability and love and feeling like you’re losing grip of your sanity. “Moves” is bold and a classic, injected with the energy that only someone who is determined to give love a chance has, while “My Mind” is introspection at its best. Waterhouse’s latest single, “Melrose Meltdown” (a song that’s infamous among her friend group), is as gripping as a love story with a tragic ending. Cinematic and remarkable, “Melrose Meltdown” could easily soundtrack the climax of a movie about star-crossed lovers and ill-fated endings. I Can’t Let Go, Waterhouse’s debut album, is set for release April 22nd, 2022 via Sub Pop, and promises to let us in on the other chapters of her story”.

Sticking with that same interview, Atwood Magazine asked her what it was like having a music career when her name was also known. As her output has been slightly patchy in terms of prolificacy, now she is at a stage when things are starting to take off. A unique artist who is going to strike big in 2022, this year seems like an awakening for Suki Waterhouse:

“AS AN ALREADY PUBLIC PERSON, BUT ESPECIALLY SOMEONE WHO’S EITHER MODELLING OR ACTING, TO FINALLY EXPRESS YOURSELF TO PEOPLE AND HAVE PEOPLE BE REINTRODUCED TO YOU IN THIS PROCESS, SO WHO IS THE SUKI WATERHOUSE THAT PEOPLE ARE GOING TO GET TO KNOW THROUGH YOUR MUSIC?

Suki Waterhouse:I was thinking about this the other day, so I never have actually been very good at, you know, the kind of “using your voice” or taking to Instagram and telling everyone every detail of why something’s wrong about the way you’ve been perceived, or like the exact details. I find it really difficult. I want people to know, how things felt, and I want you to be able to know how things feel. The details I don’t think matter as much as the feeling. And then I love that thing that you get to share with people where it’s like people know how something felt, and they get it, sharing a feeling more than the detail filling in. I made the album for girls, women who have fallen in love many times and lusted a lot, and maybe have also been a bit of a heartbreaker as well. That’s how I can sum it up.

YOU TALKED ABOUT THE FEELING A LOT AND THERE IS SUCH A UNIVERSALITY TO THE THINGS YOU SAY IN YOUR MUSIC, BUT IT ALSO COMES ACROSS AS VERY SPECIFIC TO SITUATIONS, LIKE “I’M GOING TO PUT SOME MOVES ON YOU”, THAT IS SOMETHING EVERYBODY HAS FELT SOME TIME IN THEIR LIFE. IT CAN FEEL VERY SPECIFIC TO YOU IN YOUR SITUATION BECAUSE IT FEELS VERY GENUINE WHEN YOU'RE SINGING, BUT IT ALSO AUTOMATICALLY IS APPLICABLE TO THE LISTENERS LIFE AND THAT CREATES SUCH A DEEP BOND WITH THE MUSIC. THERE IS SOMETHING SO BEAUTIFUL ABOUT JUST SINGING ABOUT LOVE AND YOU KNOW, POURING IT INTO SONG.

Suki Waterhouse: When I wrote “Moves” I was kind of in this place where I had been heartbroken quite a few times before and it was sort of about, when you’ve been heartbroken a couple of times, actually the risk of going for somebody and saying ‘I’m actually going to put myself out there and and invest in this and want this and fully go for it’ becomes way more way more risky. There’s a small chance that you might have the reward but there’s also a way bigger chance that you might jump off the cliff and like break all your bones and like fall on your face. So that did have that kind of naivety to where it’s like ‘Oh, I haven’t done this in a long time and I’m kind of ready’ because falling in love a lot is very tiring. You get exhausted by it at some point. That was the gearing up to go for it again.

BEING ABLE TO WRITE AND EXPRESS YOURSELF, AND HAVE THAT MUSIC CAREER START QUIETLY AND SLOWLY, WHEN YOU HAD THIS WHIPLASH OF PUBLIC ATTENTION AND WERE NAVIGATING A CONSTRUCTION OF IDENTITY THAT BECOMES PUBLIC AS WELL, AND FINDING OUT HOW TO SAVE YOURSELF AND YOUR ESSENCE IN THE MIDDLE OF IT. I CAN IMAGINE IT’S JUST INSANE. HOW DID MUSIC HELP YOU GO THROUGH IT?

Suki Waterhouse: I really think it saved me in so many ways, because it’s like making a statue of exactly how you were and how you felt in that time. And it’s memorialising it, and I can listen to the first song that, in that moment, when I was my worst at about 23, I wrote “Brutally” and I was sobbing the whole time while I wrote it. I always had that need to write it down. And I think that, at the end of the day, I’m like, no matter how hard the times that you’re in might be, I always had the inclination to document it. That kind of confessional journaling, just to keep all of it down. And I would take a lot of photos as well of little things everywhere. I have so many photos, just to remind yourself of objects and everything, that always felt incredibly important. So it wasn’t knowing that I was wanting to start a music career or anything. It just felt very important to remember because I didn’t feel like I could like share exactly what where I was with anyone else. So it kind of it was making myself feel alive and remembering what had happened. I think as long as you write it down and make it into something, then who the fuck cares? That’s always more important to me, as long as you’ve made something from whatever you are going through that’s the best.

I READ THAT YOU MADE THE ALBUM AND AFTER IT WAS DONE YOU STARTED SENDING IT TO LABELS. SO YOU HAD FULL CREATIVE LIBERTY AND FREEDOM, IT WAS YOUR OWN PROCESS WITH YOUR PRODUCER. HOW DO YOU THINK THAT HAVING THIS MUCH FREEDOM AND NOT HAVING ANY EXPECTATION ON YOU HELPED YOU MAKE THE ALBUM?

Suki Waterhouse: That was the great thing. So I had this own thing on my heart weighing really heavy like ‘I have to do this’, but also it was really nice for me just self-releasing, you know, one song every now and then and watching people react to that. Especially “Brutally”, I think that was a big deal for me because I put that song out and it just encouraged me very much to keep going. But the great thing about all of this songwriting, I never had a label being like, ‘hey, like better get this in by this day’. No, whatsoever. You’re never totally ready, but you just get to a point where you’re like, ‘I’m as ready as I can be’.

It’s funny the way stuff happens. It was more to do with the producer, Brad Cook, who I absolutely like love, like some of the records he’s done with Hiss Golden Messenger and Waxahatchee. I was like, I think that is who it would be. Because before then I didn’t actually know who would be the person to take like the recordings and make them into something that we could do together that would be a cohesive sound. I knew about him. And then my friend Dave Sitek from TV on the Radio, who I’ve written with before, he knew him too. So I managed to send the demos to him and he had two weeks and said, ‘If you can come to North Carolina, then we can do it’. And that is quite a strange thing, in a way, because usually you meet the person and know what they’re going to be like, and you’ve worked with him loads and I had never met him at all. But I called him and he’s like, ‘Well, what are you listening to right now?’ And I said, Lucinda Williams “Fruits of my Labour”, which is like the only song pretty much that I’ve listened to for like years, like every day. And he’s like, ‘Well, that’s my favorite song’.

I just knew, in a funny way, that everything would be okay, but very much just being like, this is something that needed to come out of me, it’s not had any outside force telling me to do it. I didn’t expect to find a label. I was just at the point where I wanted to self-release it. And then I started sending it to labels just to see what would happen. And, I mean, Sub Pop, I would never have fucking thought that they would want to do it”.

There is a lot of excitement and anticipation regarding the new album from Waterhouse. It is going to be one of those L.P.s you will want to own on vinyl (I have put a link where you can pre-order at the top). Coming back to that NME interview that I sourced, she talked about working with producer Brad Cook (who has produced records for the likes of Bon Iver and Waxahatchee):

“Waterhouse flew to North Carolina to start recording with him, with original plans to make her album in a “really old, beautiful church”. “And then someone came in and said, ‘We’ve booked this’ so we had to pack up and move,” she said. “We ended up making the record in a bridesmaid’s makeup room in a wedding hall. Where I sat listening to everything and singing all the vocals was literally a bridesmaid’s dressing room with a pillow that said ‘Live, Laugh, Love’.”

Making an album was something Waterhouse had been wanting “for so long” and reasoned she had pushed herself now, at 29, because she “had all these things I’ve never spoken about that I felt like I had to tie up before I go into my thirties”.

“[Music] is the only way that I really know how to express certain things, so it definitely felt like, ‘I’ve got to get this format’.”

With an album ready to go, the musician can now turn her attention to performing live. She made her first festival appearance at BottleRock Napa in California last month, having “barely done a show” at all before. “I definitely had that feeling where it feels like your teeth are going to be sick,” she said. “But as soon as I walked on, I was really happy to be there and just really comfortable”.

Although some have noticed a possible dig at Bradley Cooper in the opening verse of Melrose Meltdown - Waterhouse herself would probably not shy from this take -, I am not going to interpret it that way! The lyrics are so evocative, poetic and stirring: “Deep horrible blues/Watching you work the room/There's a frequency of trouble/In the car to Malibu/I'll be crying on your milk-white sheets/Hoping one day we're married/In a house you'll build around me”. I detected elements of modern artists like Lana Del Rey, but also of legends like Etta James and Julie London. As someone who grew up in the 1990s and ‘00s, perhaps one might expect Suki Waterhouse to have a different set of influences. Many artists of her age are taking a different musical course. That said, I Can’t Let Go is an album that will explore different genres and musical time periods. Before that first verse arrives, there is a brief rush and drenched beauty of strings. Rather than extend the introduction, Waterhouse’s vocals come in. There is an urgency to them, yet they are caramel and honeyed. Gorgeous and tender, there is also this womanly soulfulness from a strong and dignified soul. Trying to keep straight and her tears away, one can detect emotion and some sense of resignation from her profession and revelation. With some slight electronic stab and injection, we get the strings brooding and slightly haunting. The first couple of lines to the pre-chorus, in a way, seems to nod to the style and musical influence of Melrose Meltdown: “I guess I believe/I believe in old-fashioned things/Imagining us/But the longer I stay, I can see you/What's happening? What's happening?”. The video (directed by Sofia Malamute) sees our heroine in a pink gown with long gloves on a sparse set. Strangely captivating in its simplicity, it adds new dimensions to the lyrics. This sense of a hazy dream or an emotional hit.

The chorus provides the biggest punch and swell. Although most of Suki Waterhouse’s romantic experiences and life memories would have happened in the U.K., it is clear that California’s Melrose Avenue is inspirational and key. Maybe nodding to a relationship Waterhouse is trying to exorcise and project or a more fictionalised investigation of romance and loss in the West Coast sun, the chorus does definitely get under the skin: “Welcome to my Melrose meltdown/Nobody ever breaks up, we just break down/We really fucked it up in diamonds and drugstores/That's what we came for/And when you get it, you got what you need”. The lyrics are almost film-like. I alluded to the fact that Waterhouse’s experience in acting goes into the music. She has this cinematic and widescreen approach that makes her lines so much bigger and more moving. I wonder whether there was a more literal concept for the music video, where we see Waterhouse driving through Melrose, or looking lonely and thoughtful or a balcony as she looks out into the night. Waterhouse’s voice is breathy and alluring.

PHOTO CREDIT: Sofia Malamute

There are definite nods to a certain Lizzy Grant (which is definitely no bad thing!), although Waterhouse very much brings her own experiences and cadences to the vocal. She is also influenced by and channels elements of Sharon Van Etten, Valerie June, Garbage, Frazey Ford, Lou Doillon, and Lucinda Williams. There are scent notes of regret and longing, together with anger, reflectiveness and dreaminess. Stirring all this together, we get a rich vocal performance that beautifully pairs with the stirring strings. The composition almost acts like a film score, as Waterhouse narrates her lines The turn of phrase and wording is brilliant: “Handing out gold stars for tailor-made behaviour/I can see your demons shining like prizes/I'm sat out on the balcony/Too sad to go to the party/It's a crime loving you so, it's a crime letting you go”. The structure of the song is also excellent. We then get a pre-chorus, the chorus again, the bridge and one final chorus. The bridge seems to suggest that her former sweetheart - whomever he happens to be - has taken quite a lot out of her Maybe there is a degree of defeat: “Got what you need/When you hang up and say, "I'll see you later"/Got what you need/Write it down, California paper/Got what you need/Forevermore, my anti-hero/For loving and letting me go down, down”. We do get a bit of Waterhouse being driven, as the camera focuses on her swaying back and forth in the back of what seems like a truck. Waterhouse repeats the chorus line, “We just break down”; the madness and torment that has arisen from a challenging experience. A fantastic song from the upcoming album, I Can’t Let Go, make sure that you watch out for the amazing Suki Waterhouse.

I Can’t Let Go is shaping up to be an album that everyone will need to own. Before rounding off, this is what we can expect from an L.P. that is from the heart and soul of the amazing Suki Waterhouse. Make sure you pre-order your copy:

“Nowadays, voice memos, videos, and pictures chronicle our lives in real-time. We trace where we’ve been and reveal where we’re going. However, Suki Waterhouse catalogs the most intimate, formative, and significant moments of her life through songs. You might recognize her name or her work as singer, songwriter, actress but you’ll really get to know the multi-faceted artist through her music. Memories of unrequited love, fits of longing, instances of anxiety, and unfiltered snapshots interlock like puzzle pieces into a mosaic of well-worn country, nineties-style alternative, and unassuming pop. She writes the kind of tunes meant to be grafted onto dusty old vinyl from your favorite vintage record store, yet perfect for a sun-soaked festival stage. These compositions comprise her upcoming 2022 full-length debut album, I Can’t Let Go [Sub Pop Records].

“The album is called I Can’t Let Go, because for years it felt like I was wearing heavy moments on my sleeve and it just didn’t make sense to do so anymore. There’s so much that I’ve never spoken about. Writing music has always been where it felt safe to do so. Every song for the record was a necessity. In many ways, I’ve been observing my life as an outsider—even when I’ve been on the inside. It’s like I was a visitor watching things happen.’

Growing up in London, Suki gravitated towards music’s magnetic pull. She listened to the likes of Alanis Morissette and Fiona Apple. Meanwhile, Oasis held a particularly special place in her heart. She initially teased out this facet of her creativity with a series of singles, generating nearly 20 million total streams independently. Nylon hailed her debut “Brutally” as “what a Lana Del Rey deep cut mixed with Joni Mitchell’s ‘Both Sides, Now’ would sound like.” In addition to raves from Garage, Vice and Lemonade Magazine, DUJOR put it best, “Suki Waterhouse’s music has swagger.” Constantly consuming artists of all stripes, she listened to the likes of Sharon Van Etten, Valerie June, Garbage, Frazey Ford, Lou Doillon, and Lucinda Williams. In late 2020, she finally dove into making what would become I Can’t Let Go. Falling in love with Hiss Golden Messenger’s Terms of Surrender, she reached out to its producer Brad Cook [Bon Iver,War On Drugs, Snail Mail, Waxahatchee].

“I’ve been dreaming up this record for years,” she recalls. The weeks I spent in North Carolina with Brad were by far the best of my life.’

The first single “Moves” illuminates the nuances of her sound. Guitar echoes through soft piano and a veil of reverb. The momentum builds, and she warns, “I might put some goddamn moves on you, babe I know you need it.”

“Moves’ is a song I first started writing one night on the couch, picking up the guitar and seeing what came out,” she explains. “It was a moment where I felt the urge to both sever a previous bond, while putting my faith back in trying a different path. I often think, ‘what happens when you are struck by someone who changes the course of your entire life?’ The song speculates on that journey, one that moves beyond lust and physical longing, where you know that you now have something to give.”

The companion single “My Mind” pairs breathy vocals with an airy riff paced like a tumbleweed as her angelic hum takes hold.

Next up is “Devil I Know.” A sparse beat trudges in tribal-style rhythm, while she leans into the cataclysmic chorus, “Back in hell at least I’m comfortable, need your body when my fire’s gone.”

There is also “‘Melrose Meltdown,” which Suki describes as “A shattering of illusion, undoing from a cage I'd been kept myself in where I'd thought was safe. It’s a sweeter send off, but there is an anger there when I sing it’.

I Can’t Let Go culminates on “Blessed.” Her voice ebbs in and out of the cracks between lightly strummed guitar and delicate synths as she exhales, “I could be something.”

“‘Blessed’ was right at the end,” she goes on. “It’s a song about the delicacy of family, a reflection on the moments that tested the fabric of it, when supposed light contains shadows. Ultimately, you’re cherishing the mistakes.”

In the end, Suki not only catalogs her life up to this point in the album, but she also fulfills a lifelong ambition.

“When I’ve been stuck or feel out of touch with a sense of inner meaning and outer purpose, I’ve found both through searching my memories and finding those events buried in the shadowy areas of the psyche where they were ignored,” she leaves off. “So many times of change in my life have required return visits—especially at the transitions through to the next stages. The album is an exploration of those moments when there is nothing left to lose. What is left and can’t be thrown away is the self”.

A tremendous artist who will release more albums in the future, I Can’t Let Go is an album that I am looking ahead to. With stunning songs like Melrose Meltdown showing what a talent Suki Waterhouse is, there will be a lot of positive reviews. Producing music that is so soulful, heartfelt and memorable, Waterhouse is clearly an…