SUDS – The Great Overgrowth | Album Review

Now that the nights have drawn in and the bliss of early autumn has dissipated, it goes without saying that all of us would benefit from some warmth. Thankfully, SUDS have just the ticket with their reassuring and soothing debut.

The debut full length from the indie-emo stalwarts, The Great Overgrowth serves as the thematic followup to their 2022 EP In The Undergrowth. As those who heard this brilliant EP shall know, the record is a collection of songs that document the frustration, anxiety and ceaseless exhaustion of being entangled in chaos of mental turmoil and the perpetual movement of modern life. The Great Overgrowth, however, is a more cultivated and free-spirited body of work. Articulated with the emotional vulnerability of modern emo marred with the wistfulness of tender indie, The Great Overgrowth see’s SUDS escape from the darkness of the mental thicket to embrace the pine-scented freedom of the open world. Stray vines and brambles may be still wrapped around their limbs as they stride towards the light, but with it’s swelling optimism and brooding melodies, The Great Overgrowth is a charming, soothing and wholly comforting release.

This sense of optimism doesn’t result in a total change of sound however. ‘A Terrible Thing’, the album’s opener, is a natural continuation of the pensive emotion found within SUDS’ 2022 effort, albeit with a more unshackled sound that becomes vividly wonderful with the track’s swelling conclusion. The following likes of ‘Changing’ bares further credence to this, with the buoyant melodies and the calming croons of vocalist Maisie Cater giving the track a brilliant aerobatic quality that infuses it with a sense of rejuvenated energy. In fact, with it’s lyrical content exploring the constant state of flux we are all in as we progress through life, the track is a brilliant and inviting encapsulation of SUDS as collective creative and The Great Overgrowth as a whole.

Yet, despite this sense of optimism and musical buoyancy, there are moments within this record that do see the band somewhat looking back into the shadows in which they have emerged from. However, this is not to say that this is a total withdrawal; it’s more-so a look back on the journey they have embarked upon. ‘Gone For Good’, ‘Howl’ and lead single ‘Hard For Me’ are wistfully pensive and tenderly forlorn in their presentation, but with these tracks finely portraying some more subtle folk inner-workings, especially within the almost literature-orientated lyricism, these songs still wonderfully present the soothing qualities that make this record so appealing. In fact, when heard alongside the more bouncy, adolescently energised and emo-tinted likes of ‘Freckle’ and the respective title track – featuring Cal Hudson of Other Half – these cuts provide brilliant juxtaposition and further highlight the brilliant dichotomy that serves as the crux of SUDS.

In all, The Great Overgrowth wonderfully shows how SUDS have swiftly and seemingly effortlessly become a stable of the national emo scene. Just this year alone the band have toured with some of the titans of the circuit and have performed at some of the most dotted events in the alternative music calender; not only does this record affirm their rise to prominence, it also shows how the band are only just truly beginning their career. For us, The Great Overgrowth may be a warming blanket of sound ideal for the encroaching grim winter months, but for the SUDS, it’s proof that the band have left behind the undergrowth of relative obscurity and are now striding proudly through the pasture inhabited by the greats of the genre.