Justin Osb… Read Full Bio ↴Susto is an American indie-rock band based in Charleston.
Justin Osborne needed a break. He'd been writing music and making albums since he was 15, and by the age of 26, he felt like he was spinning his wheels. He knew he needed a change, so he ended his old band Sequoyah Prep School and moved to Cuba. He thought he might be done with music for a while, but the songs just kept coming.
"I had this idea in my mind that I was going to try and join some kind of Latin American Leftist movement. I wanted to jump off a cliff," Osborne says. "Once I got there I immediately started hanging out with musicians and going to shows. I started showing them the songs from this project that was kind of just an idea in my head.
"They were like, 'man, don't throw away your passport, go home and continue to make music,'" he says. "I was encouraged by them to try again."
Osborne was already writing the songs for what would be SUSTO's 2014 self-titled debut when his producer Wolfgang Zimmerman introduced him to Johnny Delaware, a guitarist and songwriter who had moved to Charleston, South Carolina to make an album with the producer.
SUSTO is a Spanish word referring to a folk illness in Latin America that Osborne learned as anthropology student, meaning “when your soul is separated from your body,” and also roughly translates to a panic attack. For Osborne, the music of SUSTO was something he had to get out into the world.
SUSTO released their debut album independently and toured relentlessly to get the word out. They were an immediate hit in their hometown, packing venues, getting airplay at all the bars and even making a fan of Band of Horses' Ben Bridwell. "I got an e-mail from him, telling me he loved the record and wanted to meet with me and Johnny," he says. "That was actually the day I wrote my professor, and I said, ‘I'm not coming in.’"
The members of the live band that Osborne and Delaware recruited — Corey Campbell (guitar, keys, backing vocals), Jenna Desmond (bass), and Marshall Hudson (drums, percussion) contributed to SUSTO’s new album & I'm Fine Today, which will be released via Caroline. "We just wanted to go further. We started something with the first record, and we want to keep going in that direction," Osborne says of the album, which finds them taking the spacey country rock of their debut into the stratosphere, piling on layers of sighing keyboards, galloping rhythms and frayed, noisy guitar solos atop wistful melodies and lyrics that examine growing up and growing into yourself. “We put the first record out, and we worked hard, and it just feels like a good place to be,” he says, noting that while the first record focused on his own struggles, & I'm Fine Today is more concerned with looking at the world beyond the struggles in your head.
“I’ve learned to appreciate the fact that I just get to be here. It’s all perspective,” he says. “This album is about coming to terms with yourself and feeling okay with your place in the universe."
Dream Girl
Susto Lyrics
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But I don't know her even if she knows me and when I look up to see her, I see something gruesome.
She's gonna eat me alive with my skin in her teeth and my blood on her blue eyes.
And I don't know why I can't find a lover, One that I like or one that really feels like home.
Said goodbye to my daddy and my mother, to all of my friends and my three baby brothers, I'm gone.
I can't stay here no more.
I can't stay here no more.
I can't stay here no more.
She's not the one that I want but she's the one that wants me.
And I get so scared because I see her all the time with her long black hair and those bloody blue eyes.
She's gonna eat me alive.
She's going to choke on my skin, gonna spit out my blue eyes.
And I don't know why I can't find a lover, one that I like or one that really feels like home.
I said goodbye to my daddy and my mother, to all of my friends and my three baby brothers, I'm gone.
I can't stay here no more.
I can't stay here no more.
I cant stay here no one more.
Where you from?
Where you from?
Where have you gone to, my love?
Where you from?
Where you from?
where have you gone to, my love?
Cause I don't why I can't find a lover, one that I like or one that really feels like home.
I said goodbye to my daddy and my mother, to all of my friends and my three baby brothers, I'm gone.
I can't stay here no more.
I cant stay here no more.
I can't stay here no more.
No, I can't stay here no more.
I can't stay here no more.
The lyrics to Susto's song, Dream Girl, describe the singer's inner turmoil and desperation to find a lover. He is struggling with a recurring and haunting dream where he is held in the arms of a naked woman who is going to eat him alive. The woman in his dream knows him but he does not recognize her. Moreover, when he looks up to see her, he sees something gruesome. The image of her staying with him even when he is awake, and he sees her in the streets. The singer is scared and feels like he cannot find a lover who feels like home. As a result, he decides to leave his family, friends, and everything he knows behind to search for a lover who will make him feel safe and loved.
The theme of the song is about the search for love as a solution to loneliness and fear. The naked woman in the dream represents the fear of being consumed or overwhelmed by love. It is not clear whether the singer is running away from love or seeking it. The recurring line, "I can't stay here no more," is indicative of his desperation to find a new place and a new love. The overall mood of the song is one of confusion, fear, and longing.
Line by Line Meaning
Lately I've been having the strangest dreams of being held in the arms by a naked woman.
I've been having weird dreams of being embraced by a lady who is undressed.
But I don't know her even if she knows me and when I look up to see her, I see something gruesome.
Despite her recognizing me, I am unfamiliar with her, and when I search her face, I encounter something horrible.
She's gonna eat me alive with my skin in her teeth and my blood on her blue eyes.
I am afraid that she will consume me, leaving my skin in her teeth, and my blood on her blue irises.
And I don't know why I can't find a lover, One that I like or one that really feels like home.
I can't figure out why I can't meet someone I adore, someone who makes me feel at home.
Said goodbye to my daddy and my mother, to all of my friends and my three baby brothers, I'm gone.
I have bid farewell to my parents, friends, and siblings; I have left their company.
I can't stay here no more.
I can't dwell here any longer.
And when I'm awake, you know I see her in the streets.
Even when I'm awake, I encounter her in the streets.
She's not the one that I want but she's the one that wants me.
Although she is not my ideal partner, she desires me.
And I get so scared because I see her all the time with her long black hair and those bloody blue eyes.
I am terrified as I observe her frequently, with her lengthy black locks and blood-colored blue irises.
She's gonna eat me alive.
I am convinced that she will devour me.
She's going to choke on my skin, gonna spit out my blue eyes.
I fear that she will choke on my skin and spit out my blue eyes.
Where you from?
Where do you come from?
Where have you gone to, my love?
My dearest, where have you departed to?
Cause I don't why I can't find a lover, one that I like or one that really feels like home.
I do not comprehend why I am unable to encounter someone to love, someone who feels like home.
No, I can't stay here no more.
No, I am incapable of staying here any longer.
Contributed by Dylan N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.