Exclusive: SUSTO Share New Song “Homeboy,” Announce Album Out Next Year
Ever Since I Lost My Mind is out Feb. 22, 2019
Image courtesy of the artistCharleston-based alt-folk band SUSTO are returning early next year with their third album, Ever Since I Lost My Mind (out Feb. 22, 2019, on Rounder Records), and today (Dec. 7) they’re sharing the first single from the record, “Homeboy,” which is premiering here at Paste. You can listen to it below.
Ever Since I Lost My Mind follows 2017’s & I’m Fine Today and 2014’s self-titled debut. Ian Fitchuck, who co-produced Kacey Musgraves’ Golden Hour, produced the record. SUSTO frontman and lyricist Justin Osborne says this album feels like a natural fit for the group’s third effort.
“I think it has a lot of elements that you might recognize from the first album or you might recognize from our second album,” Osborn says. “I think in that way it just feels like a very natural progression into the third record. I write songs that deal with a story from my life so they end up being very much like painting a picture of what’s been going on in my life, the feelings I’ve been processing, and I hope people can relate to that or at least enjoy it.”
We can’t yet speak to the rest of the record, but “Homeboy” is both relatable and enjoyable. A rumbling Americana track-turned-rock jam with touches of modern production, “Homeboy” is about that feeling when all your friends start leaving home (in Osborne’s case, Charleston, S.C.) to chase their dreams. You’re happy for them, of course, but you can’t help feeling a little left behind, cheering them on from afar.
Here’s what Osborne said about writing the song:
I kind of found myself on the other side of the fence, the people in town being like “Ok I wanna get out of here. I want to see it from the other side.” And at the same time experiencing this profound homesickness, or FOMO, because I love what I do, and I am so glad I get to do it, but some of my friends were spending their last days in town when I was gone. So I felt like this era was ending, and I was already gone. So it’s kind of a reflection of that, of just wanting change in your life and making that change happen. And also once you get there, looking back and seeing where you came from. And sometimes the grass looks greener ahead, and sometimes the grass looks greener behind, and I think the song just kind of goes on both sides.
Osborne references two close friends who sought out life in bigger cities, one of whom was eyeing L.A. and one of whom relocated to Argentina. “Homeboy of mine, it’s time, he says he’s moving to Los Angeles,” Osborne sings over chugging acoustics. “Man I’m gonna miss him.” At the chorus, however, something unexpected and cool happens: “Homeboy” becomes a restless rock number, like if a mid-2000s pop-punk band took a stab at alt-country. It’s fuzzy and fun, the kind of groovy roots-rock that’s sure to please fans of groups like Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats.
Listen to “Homeboy” below. You can pre-order Ever Since I Lost My Mind right here. Further down, watch SUSTO’s 2017 performance in the Paste Studio. Keep scrolling for the Ever Since I Lost My Mind cover art and SUSTO’s tour dates.
Ever Since I Lost My Mind Album Art:
SUSTO Tour Dates:
December
08 – Waverly, Ala. @ Little House @ Standard Deluxe
09 – Mobile, Ala. @ Callaghan’s Irish Social Club
12 – Columbia, S.C. @ The White Mule
13 – Charleston, S.C. @ Woolfe Street Playhouse
14 – Macon, Ga. @ Creek Stage @ The Rookery
31 – Birmingham, Ala. @ Alabama Theatre
25 – Raleigh, N.C. @ Lincoln Theatre