My Name is Suzie Ungerleider

Suzie Ungerleider

After renouncing the Oh Susanna name, Suzie Ungerleider is using her tenth studio album to reintroduce the artist behind the moniker. From the album’s outset, Ungerleider ruminates on many topics, presenting each one with wisdom and wit. As her soaring vocals mesh with a restrained soundscape on the first half of the album, Ungerleider’s songwriting draws focus without sacrificing musicality. However, following “Baby Blues,” the understated instrumentals become less complementary as they fade into the background, leaving the end of this project feeling somewhat unbalanced. Despite this shift, Ungerleider’s lyricism never falters, and while I may not remember the melody of “Ships,” I will always remember the emotions I felt when faced with one of its heartwrenching questions: “What did you see when you were young that made you hide your face and bite your tongue?” It’s poignant, cutting lyricism like this that makes Suzie Ungerleider’s reintroduction one of her most raw and vulnerable efforts to date.