Susy K
Keep On Going
Love Susy. She’s a songwriter, performer, recording artist, session musician and vocal coach who splits her time between Scotland and London. She was raised by Opera singing parents and was told by her Mum that she sang before she started talking. Her latest track, “Keep On Going” is a stunner, a beautiful tribute in memoriam. Here’s our review.
Absolutely love the Rhodes tones and chord progression in the intro. There’s some cool ambient background noise added for effect, and a very hip, dry and straight ahead steady beat that drops in after four bars. It’s a gorgeous 8 bar intro. As the vocals drop, here comes that beautiful voice, a tight 8th note bass line and some very pretty ethereal keyboard lines. Susy really shines in the lower register - something that is mandatory for great Soul and R&B. Pre-chorus has a lovely build, change in bass line and chord progression as more tones come in to build the picture. There’s two Rhodes tones going now, great synth additions and that steady, soul beat.
It’s a long pre-chorus that sets up a short chorus, but it works quite well. There’s a great little one bar break to catch your breathe before the eight bar chorus hits. The highlight of the chorus is threefold, the melody, her BG’s and the nice horn parts that add just the right amount of build.
Second verse keeps the horns in play as a nice way to keep the track building. She expands on the melody of the first verse a bit and shows some grit in her voice. This one is a bit extended from the first verse and has a gorgeous break down with vocal layers. We’re totally in the mood now. The one bar break before the chorus this time around is much more intense - love the chordal breakdown here! Great second chorus, and they repeat it to help drive the point home now that the arrangement has taken us to a higher plateau.
The bridge is a stunner. Everything drops out except her vocal layers and the Rhodes. It’s gotta be our favorite part of the track. As the final choruses come around with increased intensity with love the change up in the drum tones and the added horn hits. Track finishes with a decrescendo and a repeat of the line, “Keep on Going,” which is a great way to end it when you know who she wrote it for, and why. Go check it out on her Facebook page - our condolences to you, Susy.
Overall, this is another great recording from Susy. If you’re going to sing over a groove and progression like this, you need to have a depth to your voice, some grit, a lot of air, and the ability to rip a few riffs in a short space. She has that in spades - she’s an exceptional singer and this is a great track to add to your collection whether you are a fan or student of the genre. It was produced and written by Susy and Dave Browning.
Make sure you scroll down to catch her socials and other tracks. We’ve written about her before (you can read that review here) and can’t wait to see what she’ll do next!