Suzy Callahan casts a spell on you in her darkly piercing track The Devil Haunts You (Sharp Objects Version) — premiering exclusively on Tinnitist.
The Maryland singer-songwriter’s latest single is a grim, cinematic post-roots dirge that cuts right to the bloody bone of her previously released, Crazy Horse-style number. With a modal soundscape of minimalist piano and lonesome synth by Scott Tyburski, the ghost of the song’s former self is laid bare as Suzy’s primal voice is now free to roam its pitch-black center. Entrancing and artful, evocative and powerful, The Devil Haunts You inexorably draws you into the emotional quicksand, slowly pulls you under and leaves you indelibly marked with its fever-dream intensity.
The yearning and turmoil may hit close to home as Callahan and Tyburski plumbs the depths of raw desperation in the original, while laser-focusing on the track’s gothic intensity. It’s a long way from easy listening. But perhaps that’s because we’ve all experienced the free-fallout of being cast into the romantic abyss of retribution — and lived with the knowledge that we won’t feel solid ground beneath our feet for some time. We’re all sharp objects in the end.
Callahan’s songs have appeared in the TLC series Breaking Amish, been played on KCRW and featured on NPR. According to many folks, her former group Devils Wielding Scimitars had the greatest band name ever. And some music to match. The Devil Haunts You was mixed by Floyd Reitsma at Studio Litho in Seattle. Check out the track below and keep up with Callahan on her website.
