Singer-songwriter Suzanne Santo’s Yard Sale is less aggressive, both sonically and lyrically, than her 2017 solo debut, Ruby Red, but it’s no less emotionally charged. On “Mercy,” for instance, she wrestles with the weight of personal history and how it shapes our perspective by revisiting a series of formative (and traumatic) childhood experiences, including the intentional poisoning of her family’s cat by a neighbor.
“I learned about darkness,” Santo sings frankly on “Mercy,” later portraying that darkness as a burden that doesn’t ease with time. It’s a sentiment she reiterates on “To No End,” where her hometown is more a malevolent than passive presence in the story of her life. “I’m not healed or ironed out,” Santo proclaims, “from things you’ve done and never said a word about.”
With the exception of “Mercy,” Santo doesn’t spell out what those “things” are that weigh her down. While a deep backstory looms over much of Yard Sale, it’s often positioned just outside the frame. On the ominous “Bad Beast,” Santo is tormented by a demon that may represent addiction, infatuation, or something else, describing the experience with arresting urgency, but the beast itself is scarier for having never been made corporeal.
Elsewhere, on “Common Sense” and “Island,” Santo is haunted by self-doubt, and both songs radiate frustration at her struggle to gain much career traction. On the latter, she’s ostensibly singing to a would-be lover, but it’s hard not to imagine that she’s addressing a fickle public that’s never truly embraced her. “I keep ringing, I keep singing, I keep shouting, just to try and catch your eye/Oh, honey, tell me something soon, so I don’t lose my goddamn mind.”
If art were just, Santo wouldn’t have to ask for affirmation. Yard Sale has a more polished aesthetic than Ruby Red, which was an edgy amalgamation of blues, rock, and country, but these songs are just as visceral, with Santo’s narrative voice mercilessly cutting away any semblance of bullshit or clutter. When she sings, “I’m so mad at you baby,” on “Afraid of Heights,” she reveals a truth so raw that it feels brave to say it. And when she says, on “Mercy,” that her sisters feel like strangers, that, too, is a truth so sensitive that it seems taboo.
At times, Yard Sale leans more pop than anything else in Santo’s discography. “Since I’ve Had Your Love” is one of the most earnest love songs she’s recorded, but its frenetic pacing and bright musical palette sound out of place beside the slow-burn arrangements that characterize the rest of the album. On the other hand, Santo benefits from this broader sonic landscape, which gives her space to use her voice more dynamically than on previous efforts. “Idiot” and “Island” have a jazzy flow, while parts of “Save for Love” are sung almost in a whisper; she sounds just as good in these quieter moments as when she lets her voice soar on “Bad Beast” and “Fall for That,” the latter of which features blistering lead guitar by Gary Clark Jr.
Like Ruby Red and her work with Ben Jaffe as the duo honeyhoney, Yard Sale is most remarkable for its sharp and forthright songwriting. Santo’s voice sounds richer and more confident here than in the past, and that fact, combined with production that isn’t afraid to untether itself from roots-music conventions, results in her most compelling, forward-looking album to date. While Yard Sale will certainly be described as Americana, that definition doesn’t do the album justice, as it draws influence from numerous styles beneath that broad umbrella and spins them into something that’s fresh and unique.
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