On Garden of Earthly Delights, her 13th album, Susanna takes a selection of Bosch's paintings as starting points for a fervent, poetic rosary of fantastical songs and stories. Tracks like 'Gluttony and Lust', 'Death and the Miser' and 'Ship of Fools', reflect Bosch's depictions of sin and human weakness, while 'Wayfarer', 'Ecstasy' and 'Beautiful Life' suggest the transcendent search for spiritual rewards. Originally a commissioned work for the Vossajazz Festival 2017, Garden of Earthly Delights ranges from soul searching balladry to sonorous electronic expanses. Some listeners might catch echoes of the melodic range of Joni Mitchell, the confessional darkness of Nina Simone and the traumatised intensity of Diamanda Galas, filtered through a medieval folk and modern experimental sensibility. But there's no mistaking the powerful, questing clarity of Susanna's distinctive voice, and the core of symbolic imagery she draws on from ancient mythology via medieval mysticism to present-day consumer society.
