Pike & Sutton Reunite for Duo LP Whose First Video Gets You “High”
By Alejandra Ramirez, March 6, 2020, 12:35pm, Earache!
Prepare to enter a West African expanse as djembe rhythms and delayed flourishes flow downstream in the beginning accents to Pike & Sutton’s new single, “Let the Music Get You High.” Count in the split-second splash of the hi-hat and on cue Patrice Pike sings, “I put down that needle in the vinyl groove/ And the house was filled with a song so good.”
The veteran Austinite’s vocal depth and warmth floats gossamer-like above Wayne Sutton’s serpentine guitar work. The song’s obvious musical chemistry comes honed from the decades these two have played together in Little Sister, then Sister 7, and their own solo work, wherein the other’s influence and even physical presence is never far removed. The sound and its accompanying video resounds as a testament and ode to friendship, collaboration, and an abiding mission.
“We [Pike & Sutton] have spent many years raising over $ 1 million through live concerts for young adult survivors of homelessness, which is why I started Step Onward Foundation to give them access to safe, affordable housing, food, and higher education,” explains Pike. “In the video, we see a couch that represents furniture at-risk families and their children take with them from place to place as they establish a home in a world that is becoming less affordable.”
That’s beautifully illustrated by dancer Azula as she writhes and contorts both in violent stupor and solemn grace. The performance entwines with the ache of Pike’s lamentation, “It’s hard to smile when you’re hungry/ So hard to walk when you’re hurting.”
The new single previews Pike & Sutton’s forthcoming debut, Heart Is A Compass, which reunites the two as a recording entity. Although the former’s powerhouse vocals and the latter’s six-string sting triumph, this album expands their jam-band roots into new territory: slow-burn R&B, sweeping Americana, and purging soul. Co-produced by Pike & Sutton and Grammy-winner Jim Watts (Ben Harper, Emmylou Harris), the LP arrives April 3.
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