The unfortunate circumstance of Susanna’s music is that her music will likely always be obscure. Her style is too esoteric to be listened to by anyone except the type of music critic who likes to listen to one album by an artist they don’t know and give it a numbered score after one listen. They’re probably going to rate it poorly, because they don’t know who Susanna is and they think this is boring, so why should they bother to give it praise, or a second listen and an in-depth analysis? However, I believe Susanna’s art goes deeper than the way that most people likely approach her music. Each part is more than an obscure album to rate; this album in particular is crucial to her unique, conceptual discography that holds a lot of personal value to me, and it requires more than one passive listen to fully understand. In fact, Susanna’s music was a gateway for me into both experimental and folk music throughout my teen years, which may seem hard to believe because of how unknown she is, but it’s a long story.
Years after first hearing this album and exploring different folk music, I still don’t think I’ve heard anything as restrained, quiet, and sparse, and I love it for that. It’s unique within her discography in that, while Susanna’s music has always been minimalist and low-key, Sonata Mix Dwarf Cosmos is the peak of sparse, depressing, yet beautiful and simple songwriting. It’s her first “solo” album, the first one to feature entirely original songs, and the first to feature no electronic accompaniment, which already shows that this album is considered an important milestone for the singer, but represents an emotional nadir.
The album as a whole paints one picture, but after listening to it dozens of times, I see something different and special in each song, with every detail from Susanna’s vocal inflections to the instrumentation to the lyrics becoming more significantly meaningful to me. I can't give it anything less than a perfect score when I consider how much this album has meant to me all these years. This album is the feeling of stepping out onto a pristine layer of snow before sunrise while everyone is asleep. This album is also a moment of solitude within one’s room to reflect on a tumultuous experience. This album comforted me because it helped me know that someone else had the same need for a restrained quietness to understand the inner demons.
Susanna’s voice is clear and melodic, but sometimes rises just barely above a whisper on some of the saddest lyrics on the album. The instrumentation is subtle and very minimalist, but works effectively. Susanna plays the piano sparsely with long pauses, but not without purpose, and the melodies sometimes have a palpable darkness to them. Certain songs, such as “Demon Dance”, “We Offer”, and “Born in the Desert” shift toward darkness in their choruses and change the mood of the song. Guest musicians contribute to the atmosphere of the album without breaking it, such as the harpist on “Hangout”, the despairing, droning electric guitar on “Stay”, and the low, devious strings on “Demon Dance”.
Finally, the lyrics are what makes this album truly beautiful and relatable. The lyrics cover a few different personal, too-close-for-comfort topics, from a question of how we get our morals on “People Living”, to feeling alone within a broken family on “Home Recording”, but the main theme of the album is love and relationships. The album questions who’s the one at fault within the singer’s problematic relationship. “Hangout” longs for them to be together again, but “Stay” questions whether or not it’s worth it to remain together, and ultimately decides to stay. “For You” is a love song that makes references to Susanna’s real-life marriage to another musician and has her apologizing for her faults. However, the following “Demon Dance” highlights the conflict within the relationship again: “You intend / To keep hurting me / I admit / Gonna keep on loving you”, after which the singer changes the pronouns of the chorus from her lover to herself. Despite her inability to leave the relationship or determine who’s at fault, the album has hope, which shows itself in its emotional peak “Better Days”, and “Lily”, a prayer for the warmth of spring to come again.
Rating: 5/5
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