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."
La Mia
Susto Lyrics
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I saw it in your eyes and now I feel it in my bones
Have you ever felt this way?
I can feel it now but I don't know how to say it
We were talking in the cab and talking in the streets
Do you not mind it when I tell you have I feel?
Can I see you sometime soon?
And I can't keep my eyes off of you
I've been drinking my fill tonight and counting my time
But suddenly I'm lost nowhere in the Maquina lights
So you don't mind that I'm a little older than you?
Can I get one last smile and a cigarette too?
Say that you don't have to go away to Varadero
I would love to have you here
There's not much time, you know
Before I have to go back to where I'm from
In Susto's song La Mia, the lyrics express the singer's inner turmoil and fear of confessing their feelings to someone they are clearly infatuated with. The opening lines set the tone, hinting at an impending emotional breakdown. The singer then acknowledges that they sensed their affection reflected in the eyes of the person, and now it has incidentally become a part of them. The following lines of the verse ruminate on the nature of feelings, whether they are a language that can be expressed or remain inseparable from one's consciousness.
The chorus describes how the two individuals were conversing in various locations, and the singer asks if the other person minds their affirmative candor. The singer expresses an eager desire to spend sometime with them. In the second verse, the singer admits to having drunk more than usual, which could imply that it has eroded their inhibitions. They may have become more vulnerable to their emotions, to the point of feeling lost in the "Maquina" lights or discotheque. The singer inquires if the age difference bothers the other person, while simultaneously asking for one last smile and cigarette, hoping to freeze this moment. The final lines articulate a plea from the singer to the other person, to not go away to Varadero, but rather stay with them. The singer admits that they are aware of the transience of the moment and time.
Overall the song's lyrics convey a sense of longing, soul-searching, and a desperate plea for reciprocation. Its gritty and authentic style of songwriting represents the diversity of experiences that can resonate between human connections.
Line by Line Meaning
I can feel another one coming on
I sense that an emotional outburst is approaching
I saw it in your eyes and now I feel it in my bones
Your expression has foretold this feeling, and I can now feel it in my innermost being
Have you ever felt this way?
Have you also experienced this feeling?
I can feel it now but I don't know how to say it
This feeling is taking hold of me, but I am struggling to put it into words
We were talking in the cab and talking in the streets
We conversed both in the car and on the roads
Do you not mind it when I tell you have I feel?
Are you okay with me sharing my emotions with you?
Can I see you sometime soon?
Might we make plans to meet in the near future?
I can't get my mind off of a feeling
My mind is preoccupied with this emotion
And I can't keep my eyes off of you
You captivate my gaze
I've been drinking my fill tonight and counting my time
I have consumed a sufficient amount of alcohol tonight and am keeping note of how much time we have left
But suddenly I'm lost nowhere in the Maquina lights
Suddenly, I feel disoriented in the midst of the Maquina lights
So you don't mind that I'm a little older than you?
Does it bother you that there is an age difference between us?
Can I get one last smile and a cigarette too?
Might you grant me a final smile, along with a cigarette?
Say that you don't have to go away to Varadero
Tell me that you need not leave for Varadero
I would love to have you here
I would be delighted if you stayed here with me
There's not much time, you know
We are running out of time
Before I have to go back to where I'm from
Before I must return home
Contributed by Mackenzie O. Suggest a correction in the comments below.