Desperately Seeking Suki: chasing summer memories and refusing to be put in a box

Bristol-based alternative indie duo Desperately Seeking Suki are gearing up to release their new single “Nevermind” on 28 August via Apollo Distribution, the second track from their forthcoming debut EP.

Built around late-night swims, fading memories and the messy aftermath of a romance that never quite became what it promised, “Nevermind” captures the duo’s knack for combining indie-rock swagger with art-pop, synths and dancefloor energy. Fronted by siblings Natassa Zoë and Danny Pugh, the project began with the pair sending tracks back and forth between Australia and the UK before bringing their ideas together in Bristol.

The new single follows early support from BBC Radio 1, BBC 6 Music, BBC Introducing, triple j and Amazing Radio, with the duo’s genre-blurring sound earning comparisons to Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Wolf Alice and Santigold.

Ahead of the release, Desperately Seeking Suki talk to us about failed bucket lists, long-distance collaboration, t

heir refusal to stick to one genre, the story behind their name and what listeners can expect from their debut EP.

“Nevermind” feels like a snapshot of a fleeting summer, moving between late-night swims, city lights and fading memories. What inspired the imagery and story behind the song?

Yes, it’s a mixture of memories and failed bucket lists. As someone who loves ticking things off a list, that disconnect between talking about all these things you’re going to do with someone and then never actually doing them provided some juice for the song.

You and Danny started the project by sending music back and forth between Australia and the UK. How did working across continents shape the sound and identity of Desperately Seeking Suki?

I think it helped in the sense that it allowed things to percolate, as we couldn’t really communicate straight away because of the time difference. Although that made it really tricky, and often challenging, it also gave us space to properly listen to each other’s ideas. It also meant the demos we were creating were really strong before we took them into production, which helped us save time and production costs when we were putting the live instruments down, so that was a nice bonus.

Your music brings together indie rock, art-pop, synths and dancefloor energy. How do you decide which direction a song should take when you’re writing together?

Well, the short answer is, we don’t…We’ve both been in bands before and learnt a lot from those experiences. The key thing for both of us going into this project was to make sure we weren’t restricting ourselves in any way and allowing the song to be dancey, if that’s what mood we were in, or more rock leaning if that’s what was coming up for us. I think the thing that perhaps glues it together was the crossover in our musical tastes and influences, so that helped tighten it into our sound…hopefully.

The name Desperately Seeking Suki has a few different inspirations, from Desperately Seeking Susan to the idea of searching for love. How did you arrive at the name, and has its meaning changed since you started the project?

The name came from our mutual love of Madonna. Our mum introduced us to her films when we were young. I loved Desperately Seeking Susan, and when we were sending tracks back and forth between continents, it felt like a modern-day version of what the characters were doing in that film.Suki came about because I grew up doing martial arts and was heavily influenced by Japanese culture. I knew Suki had a meaning around love, and I liked the idea of seeking or searching for love in some form, because that’s something that can be super relatable.

“Nevermind” is the second release from your debut EP. What can listeners expect from the wider EP, and what does it represent for you as the first full body of work from Desperately Seeking Suki?

The wider EP touches on all the different aspects of where we’re at sonically and what we love to listen to and write. It’s sassy, with a bit of a fuck-you energy; it’s meaningful and heartfelt, but also dancey and playful. For us, it’s really about allowing ourselves to express whatever comes up rather than putting ourselves into one particular genre or succumbing to the external pressure for things to be a certain way for people to “get” us. I think people are a lot smarter than that and will come along for the ride without needing to put us in a box.