Susan Style, an Avant-Garde Synth-Pop artist based in London, of Taiwanese descent, has created an audio experience where Avant-Garde Synth-Pop meets sweeping cinematic soundscapes. Her debut album, “Only a broken heart can hold the world”, is not only an assembly of songs, but an audio journal of her cultural migration from the streets of Taipei to the heart of London, covering 9,000 miles. The album, released on the 25th of March, is an odyssey of seven songs, an experience of the friction and the beauty of leaving one world behind and creating another across the globe. It is an honor to take you through the heart of the experience, an experience of the arrival of an artist with a truly transcultural spirit within the independent music scene.

“The Hope from the Dream” does not open the album with a flourish; instead, it begins with a rhythmic thumping, the overlap of something in

Mandarin sounds like a heartbeat recorded through a wall. Before Susan sings a word, there is a low hum that builds into a crisp snare hit. When she does sing, her vocals are double-tracked,  one is a whisper, and the other is a clear, mid-range belt. The musical progression, where the minimal electronic introduction leads into a full orchestral build-up in the second half, adds tension. It makes the listener feel like that strange combination of inspiration and exhaustion that comes with long-term ambition.

Next is “The Song Sung by the Stars”. It has a simple intro, consisting of four notes played on the piano, which are suspended in a massive amount of reverb, followed by a jarring silence. The silence is the most crucial part of the song, as the listener must lean in to hear it, and then the drum sound kicks in. Susan’s lyrics are about everything being impossible and finding serenity in the smallness of humanity within the universe, as depicted in the song “Only a Broken Heart Can Hold the World”. Her delivery is tightly controlled, with the tone being described as “straight” with very little vibrato, making her sound very detached. The instrumentation is dominated by synthesizers used to replicate the sound of celestial “pings.” The effect on the listener is to remove the idea of self-importance and replace it with awe.

The song “All Things New” opens with the sound of something like a rainstorm and a vocal sample that has been slowed down and distorted to sound like it is being played backwards. This is ironic in relation to the title of the song. It feels old before it feels new. The song isn’t in English, but you will feel things regardless. This is uncomfortable and gritty and feels in line with the overall narrative of the song. The music is heavily focused on a syncopated and jagged electric guitar riff that is fighting to be heard over the beat. The vocals for Susan are more raw and pushed to the edge of being a growl in the chorus. This is a very visceral song that is meant to be a “get up and move” song. It has a high emotional cost.

“Only a Broken Heart Can Hold the World” is the most experimental song on this album. The song starts with a fusion of different sounds. There is no click track, no instrument, only the slightly imperfect pitch of human voice and breathing between phrases. The song is not in English, but that doesn’t diminish the performance; it rather sets it apart. The instrumentation is quite avant-garde and highly polished. I loved having a mini rave in my living room. The result is an experience of deep and shared vulnerability. This song does not offer any “fix” for heartbreak but provides purpose to heartbreak and reiterates the central philosophy that is present in every song on this album.

“Weird in a Good Way” changes the tone right away, and the intro is a rapid-fire series of “plucked” synth sounds that ping-pong back and forth between left and right channels. It’s playful and slightly disorienting, and it’s a big shift in tone from the heavy title track. The song is about celebrating weirdness, which is normally what makes a person feel alienated. The song is one of adoration and affirmations to help us listeners. It mentions how we’re beautiful and how special we are. The song encourages us to embrace our quirkiness because it’s what makes us stand out. The vocals are performed in a way that sounds almost bold, like she’s shouting out to the world. The music is similarly lighthearted, using a “bubbly” bassline and crisp drums. Overall, it’s a track that makes you feel good about yourself and your weirdness, and it’s a big part of being weird within the world of “Only a Broken Heart Can Hold the World”.

“For You” has a sense of tension, beginning with a sustained organ chord that feels liturgical, like you’re in an empty cathedral, with a very faint metallic scraping sound in the background. The subject matter of this song is the extreme risks of self-sacrifice. The song can be looked at in two ways. The first is that it is a love song, but a dark love song, as it explores the risks of “doing everything for someone,” and the second is having someone who will always be there for you, no matter what. The organ is eventually joined by a distorted drum machine, creating a tension between “sacred” and “industrial” sounds. Susan’s voice is in a low register, giving a sense of weariness and earthiness. The listener is made to think about the parameters of their own devotion and the price of the relationships they choose to have.

“A Fling” brings the album to a close by bringing the listener back to reality, starting with the ambient noise of a crowded street, horns honking, people chattering in the background, and the sound of footsteps, until a clean, acoustic guitar cuts through the noise. The song is about the beauty of things that aren’t meant to last. While the rest of *Only a Broken Heart Can Hold the World* has focused on monumental ideas and eternal dreams, this song is about the here and now. The song has a breezy feel, a bit of a folk influence, which is a far cry from the electronic feel of the earlier songs. Susan sounds more light-hearted, singing over the guitar. It is a perfect closing track, allowing the listener to “exhale” as the album comes to a close, reminding us to appreciate the here and now as much as the eternal moments.

Inspired by the depth of devotion in St. Mother Teresa’s prayer, to be so broken that one might finally be whole and contain the entire world, itself, the new album by All Things New, titled Only a Broken Heart Can Hold the World, is a journey of breathtaking scope from the hushed tones of deconstruction to the full-bodied rhythms of liberation. It is a transcultural rebirth that is both intimate and expansive, particularly as the group effortlessly interweaves Mandarin poetry into the shimmering and nostalgic quality of 80s synth-pop. The journey culminates in the fever pitch of Weird In A Good Way, which is a grand and energetic tribute to finding oneself in the vast unknown. With Max Heyes’ expert mixing providing a sophisticated electronic base to these very philosophical explorations, what we have here is a record that is both sophisticated and raw. There is something very touching and refreshing about an artist who is so connected to her heritage that she can sing in her own language with such ease and fluency. I am completely in awe of what has been recorded here; this is not just a debut album, this is a sonic homecoming, and I look forward to working with her once again.

Stream the “Only a broken heart can hold the world” album on Spotify.

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