Meet Suzi Analogue, the Producer Behind Chromat’s Bass-Heavy, Femme-Empowering Soundscape
Suzi Analogue has always loved a good challenge. The Virginia-raised, Miami-based producer describes her most recent instrumental series ZONEZ, of which the third volume came out earlier this year, as a way for her to push herself to “take music outside the box of just aural listening.” The analog-obsessed songwriter, who also runs the label Never Normal Records, says that these experiments, which include visualizations of particular sounds, were the perfect preparation for her most recent challenge—scoring Chromat’s Spring 2018 runway show.
The show—titled the Serenity Collection—featured a diverse set of models in architectural swimwear in appropriately tranquil shades of blue alongside digitally rendered landscapes from the interdisciplinary duo Pussykrew. Analogue’s carefully constructed, bass-heavy soundscape features her live vocals over a mix of original tracks and remixes from songs mostly by femme-identifying artists, and she says she pieced this together using an Iceland-inspired mood board given by Chromat designer Becca McCharen-Tran. From these images of metallic, reflective forms and lava, Analogue conceived of her original composition as an extended metaphor that links a woman’s emerging confidence to the cycle of a volcano: One’s knowledge of oneself builds until it erupts, just as lava pours from the mouth of a volcano, and this newly empowered self solidifies in the same manner as lava hardens into a new form.
Analogue knew that she wanted the soundtrack to feature bubbling bass lines, to mirror this flowing lava, and that the energy of her set would build to a dramatic climax, which reflected the collection’s narrative of self-discovery. Each element of her mix was carefully chosen, from her inclusion of a DJ Rashad track (she’s closely affiliated with the late Rashad’s Teklife crew) to the few moments of non–female identifying artists, including Brooklyn DJ JX Cannon’s remix of an Umfang track that demonstrates how women and men can effectively work together. She describes the whole experience of making the soundscape as “a very reflective process, just as much as it was a tactical one. It’s very carefully constructed, just like the garments.”
Analogue’s own style is a mix of a colorful sportiness interspersed with vintage pieces inspired by her mother and grandmother’s refined tastes. In the music sphere, she feels that her role, whether it be through running her label or fostering support networks of creative women artists, is a manifestation of Chromat’s central theme of confidence and empowerment. “I feel like we’re at a whole new point where what we’re doing, what Becca’s doing, what I’m doing, is making it okay for girls to be very unapologetic and intentional, and not to be questioned or made to feel miniscule.”
