Susie Suh

<body text="#000000" link="#666666" vlink="#000000" alink="#FFFFFF" bgcolor="#99CCCC">   EPIC RECORDS SINGER-SONGWRITER SUSIE SUH ANNOUNCES EAST COAST RESIDENCY TOUR Debut Album Out March 29 Takes Listeners on Emotional Journey Growing Up Asian-American First single "Shell" Hits Radio February 22 - Get A First Listen With Audio Links Below New York, NY. - With a successful west coast solo acoustic tour nearly complete, sultry singer-songwriter Susie Suh will head east for a four-week residency tour. Starting at the Knitting Factory in New York City on March 8, Suh will also play Boston and Philadelphia in anticipation of her self-titled debut due out March 29 on Epic Records. Produced by Grammy-award winner Glen Ballard (Alanis Morissette, Michael Jackson), SUSIE SUH tracks Suh's battles with her parent's cultural values, with love, with conflict of the heart and with her earliest dreams of being a musician. Emanating soul with her smoky voice and delicate instrumentation, this young singer-songwriter delivers her impassioned songs with such lyrical clarity that the listener has no choice but to walk in Suh's footsteps. Written at different times in her life, the album takes listeners on an emotional journey through Suh's experiences growing up as an Asian-American woman. Singing and performing since a very young age, Suh's career had an unusual beginning. At the age of 8, Suh joined a Korean children's choir for the Los Angeles television station KTE. At 13-years-old Suh moved away from her parent's home in a Los Angeles suburb to attend Phillips Exeter Academy boarding school in New Hampshire. Armed with her older brother's hand-me-down guitar, Suh instantly began taking lessons at her new school. Quickly realizing her gift for songwriting, Suh was now determined to have a career in music. While attending Brown University in Rhode Island, Suh decided to dedicate 3 months to her dream. Moving into a friends apartment in New York City the summer before her senior year, Suh spent her days writing and nights playing clubs and bars in the East Village. Her performances eventually got the attention of music industry veterans Charles Koppelman and Don Rubin and in 2003 Suh signed with Epic Records. SUSIE SUH On Susie Suh's self-titled debut from Epic Records, the 25-year-old singer-songwriter takes listeners on an emotional journey through her experiences growing up as an Asian-American woman. Forging her own path, Suh defies her parents' expectations and brings her introspective songs to life by boiling each of them down to their essence. "I wanted this first album to be as honest and sincere as possible with the intent focused around myvoice, guitar and words." The album's organic instrumentation complements Suh's smoky voice, tender delivery and gift for melody, which gives these 10 deeply personal songs an air of intimacy and a timeless appeal. Recorded over an eight-month period at various studios in California, SUSIE SUH was produced by Grammy Award-winner Glen Ballard (Alanis Morissette, Michael Jackson, No Doubt) and engineered and mixed by Scott Campbell (Dave Matthews, Shelby Lynne). Ballard originally agreed to produce a few songs, but wound up producing the entire album. "There is a world-weary and wise power in her burnished amber voice," Ballard says. "These stories come from a woman impossibly young to communicate so much experience, with the sexual urgency and poignancy of a Billie Holiday and the lyrical clarity of a John Cheever short story. I feel like every drop of every line is oozing from her pores, no crocodile tears, no excess musical or verbal baggage. I'm mesmerized by her ability to express the ineffable in her lyrics and by her ability to capture the human heart in conflict with itself. There is shade and dappled sunlight in her landscapes of the soul, but ultimately hope of love, of fulfillment, of connection." Ballard-who co-wrote the first single "Shell" as well as "Lucille"-pushed Suh out of her songwriting comfort zone. "I'm more deliberate when it comes to writing." Suh says. "I usually let things brew for a while. Glen is amazingly talented and works so fast that I felt like I was constantly trying to keep up with him. The songs I wrote with Glen are much more stream of consciousness, written in a couple of hours." THE SONGS Written at different times in Suh's life, the album tracks her pursuit of emotional and artistic liberation. "Shell" combines those themes into a hopeful song about trading self-repression for self-expression. "That was the first song Glen and I wrote together," Suh says. "It's just about letting go of yourself and all of your inhibitions and fears. In particular, it's about me having the courage to put out my music." The album's emotional core-"Your Battlefield"-is a song Suh wrote to describe the disagreements between her and her parents regarding her musical ambitions. Suh considered leaving college to pursue music full-time, but her parents vehemently opposed. Suh says the conflict was mostly a clash between her parent's traditional Korean values (they immigrated to California in the '60s) and Suh's American-bred independence (she was born here). "My parents came here with nothing and worked really hard to put us through school. Like most Asian-Americans, they really emphasized education and creating a prestigious name for yourself. I think parents try to live vicariously through their children because there are a lot of opportunities here in America that they never had growing up. In my family, music or anything creative was always considered a hobby, not something to be taken seriously. I definitely resented my parents and the pressure they put on me to be some kind of doctor or lawyer. Now that I look back, I thank them for discouraging me. Their lack of support actually fueled me more and made me feel like I had something to prove to myself and to them." The reflective tone and unaffected instrumentation of "Light On My Shoulder" distills Suh's desire to create simple and honest music that sets the mood quickly. "I started writing songs because of singers like Billie Holiday, Joni Mitchell, Beth Gibbons, and also hip-hop artists. I have always been moved by the emotion and pain in someone's voice. It's not about whether its folk or blues or hip-hop, it's more about the believability and sincerity that the artist conveys and if that resonates with you." Suh wrote "Recognition"-the oldest song on the album-when she was 16. Her delicate finger-picked guitar dovetails with the plaintive lyrics that question the ways in which people strive for love. "I realized at a young age that people try so hard to be recognized in order to feel worthy of love. I still grapple with those emotions and was groomed to be on that path, but now that I am older, I realize my self-worth does not depend on my success." HISTORY Singing and performing in choirs since she was eight years old, Suh's singing career had an unusual beginning. At the age of 8, Suh joined a Korean children's choir for a Los Angeles television station KTE. "We recorded traditional Korean folk songs and popular American music to be filmed in between shows on that station. Basically, we did singing commercials. We also traveled around the country performing and wore traditional Korean clothes and this really ugly white and blue sailor outfit." At age 13, Suh moved away from her parent's home in a Los Angeles suburb to attend the acclaimed preparatory school, Phillips Exeter Academy. Before leaving, her older brother gave her his old guitar. Suh instantly began taking lessons at her new school in New Hampshire. "I learned a couple of chords and immediately started writing songs. It was very liberating and for the first time I felt I found a medium where I could really express myself." By the age of 17, Suh recorded a six song EP in 3 days over her winter break, sold it to over 700 of her 1000 classmates, and produced her own sold-out show to coincide with the release. "After that show I realized that I definitely wanted a career in music." But that career would have to wait. After graduation, Suh attended New York University. After one year at NYU, splitting her time between classes and playing clubs, Suh considered quitting school to pursue music full time, but her parents insisted that she finish school. They persuaded her to leave NYU and transfer to Brown University where she could finish her English degree with fewer distractions. Not forgetting her dream of becoming a musician, Suh decided to dedicate three months to her music. The summer before her senior year at Brown, Suh moved into her best friend's apartment in New York City and spent her days writing and her nights playing clubs and bars in the East Village. Her performances eventually got the attention of music industry legends Charles Koppelman and Don Rubin. In 2003, Suh signed with Epic Records making her part of very rare club of Korean-American artists signed to a major U.S. label. "My mission has always been to create music that transcends boundaries; to make music that is universal," Suh explains. "I was born in America and I speak English, but I grew up with parents who speak a different language and are part of a different culture. I've lived half of my life on the west coast and the other half on the east coast. My whole existence has been about transcending physical and cultural boundaries." With the album completed and a winter tour planned, Suh reflects on the making of her debut: "I feel like I've grown up with the songs on this album. All of them were written at different points in my life-starting when I was 16 up to this year. But even though these songs reflect different periods of my youth, I see this record as really just the beginning."   <font face="arial,helvetica" size="2"> <b>Your browser does not support frames!</b><br><br> Some of the features on this site require a frames-capable browser. For best results, we recommend that you download the latest version of <a href="http://home.netscape.com/download/sd_cc32d474en.html" target="_blank">Netscape Navigator</a> or <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.htm" target="_blank">Internet Explorer</a><p> <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.htm" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.sonymusic.com/images/animated_logo.gif" width="88" height="31" border="0"></a> <a href="http://home.netscape.com/download/sd_cc32d474en.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.sonymusic.com/images/netscape_now_anim.gif" width="90" height="30" border="0"></a> <b>AOL Users:</b> You must be running AOL 2.5 or later for Windows to use Netscape (Keyword: UPGRADE). You will also need to download and install WINSOCK.DLL (Keyword: WINSOCK). Macintosh users should contact AOL directly for help.<br><br></font> </body>