Quality Americana

The moment “Nevada City” starts, you feel immersed in the world Susy Sun created.

Yakima, Washington

Sun grew up in Yakima, an agricultural town in rural Washington.

“I grew up immersed in that culture,” Sun said about the ranchers she was raised around. 

She studied Spanish and learned traditional recipes from her neighbors and friends. The small town values were important to her upbringing, but the traditional lifestyle didn’t leave a lot of room for artistic expression. 

Los Angeles

Sun has spent the last decade in Los Angeles releasing independent albums, performing and teaching classical piano.

“There’s so much Mexican culture here,” Sun said about her new home in Los Angeles, though there are days when she dreams of being away from the city.

When the lockdown hit, Sun took several road trips to Washington to see family and escape the eerie feeling of social distancing amongst millions of neighbors. 

“Everything was shut down,” Sun said. “It was a very isolating time, and I feel like a lot of fear was invoked during that time and it was hard to stay in community.”

Yuba River

It was on these road trips that Sun found Nevada City, a Nisenan founded settlement on the Yuba River in rural northern California. 

“The west coast is beautiful,” Sun said. “I feel very connected to the land. That’s a big inspiration for me.”

“If a River Could Talk” and other songs were written in this spiritual land and they formed the original ideas for the album. The instrumentation is as peaceful as the visions in your mind while listening to Sun muse about the Yuba and philosophical ideas. “What would a river say?,” Sun sings. “Please enjoy your stay and have a lovely day.”

Classical Training

Sun said that her classical background and the intense competitions she entered in her teenage years, as well as joining the church choir formed the foundation for her unique style. It’s a beautiful interpretation of folk music with a phrasing and style that you rarely, if ever, find. Sun’s vocal range lets her fully express the artistic ideas, and the way she sings certain words and phrases really can force out intense emotions while listening. 

“I never really studied voice,” Sun said. “It was always piano, so I kind of just sang naturally the way that felt good to me.” 

Sun comes from an indigenous background and felt a connection while in Nevada City, and attributes her heritage for helping her express her ideas while singing. 

“It’s evolved over time,” Sun said, “as I mature and get more connected to my instrument too.”

Sun wrote and recorded songs on the acoustic guitar for the first time on River Talk, and this contributed to her being able to fully explore the vocal melodies. 

“I think that inspired me and encouraged me and allowed me to sing differently too,” Sun said. “This record was about giving more space, and focusing more on the melodies and letting them kind of go all over the place, and the instrumentation kind of just floating around it. It was a little bit of a different approach from the last records that I made which were more live band.”

Nevada City

As Sun returned to LA and back into the isolation, she penned “Nevada City.” 

“They even closed the parks,” Sun said about being in Hollywood. “I just started fantasizing a lot about what it would be like to just be able to be by the river in nature like that, and be in a small community as opposed to living in this huge city, which I love, but you can feel isolated even though there’s so many people around.”

The Village

Sun held a record release show at the Village Studios, an iconic landmark that’s “produced many of the world’s favorite songs of all time.”

The Village dates back to 1968 when Geordie Hormel transformed the once Masonic Temple and yogi meditation center into a recording studio. It’s produced hit records for B.B. King, the Rolling Stones, Lady Gaga, and soundtracks for films Dead Poets Society and The Shawshank Redemption.

“It’s just like one of those places where everyone you can think of has made a record there, from hit soundtracks to Fleetwood Mac,” Sun said.

They filmed a series of videos for River Talk with a full orchestra that is planned for release. She’s already working on her fourth studio album, and said that the works for River Talk took a long time to compose and involved a lot of reflection. 

Support the Artist

River Talk finds peace through nature, and has a natural healing quality for the listener. It’s a brilliant, original collection of expertly produced folk songs that will inspire you as much as they ask you to reflect.

Sun said she has plans to explore these ideas with an instrumental album in the future. More information about Susy Sun can be found here.

Support the artist by purchasing and streaming River Talk on Bandcamp.

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