‘underwater’ is a collection of songs written between the ages of sixteen and nineteen, and the EP grapples with Dawson-Howe’s struggle with self identity and finding out who she is. In so many ways, being unsure of one’s place in the world feels like being thrown in the deep end, struggling to keep your head above water as growing up batters you like the endless waves, and Dawson-Howe pulls no punches in her writing as she describes it. Tackling everything from the grief of lost friendships to the sense of displacement following depression, she pours her heart out in every song, giving voice to the most vulnerable parts of herself with cathartic and honest lyricism. The EP draws sonically from folk, pop and rock music in a unique blend that is distinctively hers as she invites the listener to feel with her, to sit with their emotions for a while and let the feelings guide them towards themselves.
FOCUS TRACK ‘OCCAM’S RAZOR
‘Occam’s razor’ is Susie Dawson-Howe’s second single, an anthemic rock song underlined by her acoustic guitar and vulnerable lyricism. Written when she was 18, ‘occam’s razor’ chronicles the self doubt and feelings of displacement she felt in her first semester of college, struggling to find her footing as an artist while the bulk of the people around her went into more technical fields. Starting college was a whirlwind of new experiences and self-discovery, one that introduced Dawson-Howe to a world beyond what she had known previously, and the song grapples with her simultaneous fascination with that world and also the feeling of being lost in it, unsure of where life will take her next and yearning for the familiar.
Susie Dawson-Howe is a 20 year old singer-songwriter from Dublin, Ireland, who has been performing locally for a year and a half and has garnered a small but loyal following, her vulnerable songwriting resonating with people from all across the board. Her writing is highly autobiographical, but it’s the emotional connection with her listeners that she values the most, people with wildly different lived experiences than the one’s she describes still feeling seen in her emotional honesty and careful design of her craft. There’s nothing she loves more than writing and performing—except maybe dogs—and she seeks out every opportunity she can to share her music with others. She names artists such as Lizzy McAlpine, Taylor Swift, The Crane Wives and Hozier as influences on her music and her writing. When she isn’t performing, she can usually be found reading, writing, or looking out the window at everything and nothing at all.
Photo credit – Susie Dawson-Howe