Cate Le Bon

Susie Says! is beyond excited to announce two special performances by Mercury-prize nominated avant-pop artist and producer Cate Le Bon.

Cate last visited New Zealand in 2019 on a rather epic sold-out tour, playing on grand piano to rapt audiences in Dunedin, Oamaru, Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland. For Cate's upcoming two shows she will be bringing a full five-piece band, a selection of awesome musicians from across the globe.

Cate's live performances are riveting, electric, spellbinding; Brooklyn Vegan agrees, describing her two sold-out New York City shows as mesmerising. Effortlessly blending a diverse range of styles and influences into a unified whole, Cate Le Bon’s latest live show is a masterclass, says The Scotsman, while The Telegraph experienced the climax of Cate's shows as rapturous.

Cate 's performances will feature material from her sixth album Pompeii, as well as songs from 2019’s Mercury-Prize nominated Reward. Global music media is agog about Pompeii: Released in February this year, Pompeii has been called a wondrous... dreamscape whose locked-in grooves approach the unknowable at slanted angles by Pitchfork; high art spiked with an unpredictable liveliness gushes Stereogum, and an album of the year says The Guardian, while Canada's music magazine Exclaim! raves “Pompeii lands somewhere between Hejira-era Joni Mitchell and the solo work of Stereolab's Laetitia Sadier — rarified air where Le Bon undoubtedly belongs.”

Written primarily on bass, Cate plays every instrument (except drums and saxophones) and recorded the album largely by herself with long-term collaborator and co-producer Samur Khouja in Cardiff, Wales. The construction of Pompeii’ consists of synth sounds from the Yamaha DX7, amongst others; basslines inspired by 1980s Japanese city pop, designed to bring joyfulness and abandonment; almost tactile vocal arrangements supporting the melodic fabric of each song; long-term collaborator Stella Mozgawa’s (Warpaint) “jazz-thinking” percussion patched in from quarantined Australia; and Khouja’s encouraging presence.

Don't miss these two shows by one of the most interesting and influential musicians and producers of today.