Suzie Ungerleider - Among The Evergreens

by Malcolm Carter

published: 7 / 9 / 2025

Suzie Ungerleider - Among The Evergreens

Label: MVKA
Format: CD

After seven albums as Oh Susanna, Suzie Ungerleider releases her second album under her own name and it’s her most personal and best to date.

Review

It’s been 25 years since American-born but Canadian-raised singer-songwriter Suzie Ungerleider released her debut album, ‘Johnstown’, (under the performing name of Oh Susanna) to critical acclaim. During those years Ungerleider released a further six albums under her Oh Susanna alias plus a Christmas EP with Michael Johnston before retiring the Oh Susanna persona with the release of her first album under her own name, 2021’s appropriately titled ‘My Name Is Suzie Ungerleider’. During this period Ungerleider had a festive thing going on as she also contributed to the album ‘Angels In The Snow’, a Christmas album from Hidden Agenda Deluxe. While each and every one of the albums Ungerleider has been involved in is well worth your time, her latest album, ‘Among The Evergreens’, ranks as one of, if not the highlight of her career to date. It’s her most personal collection of songs so far but there’s so much revealed in these 10 songs that the listener is surely going to find a connection in some of the songs. It’s not only Ungerleider’s life laid bare here, it’s likely to be parts of your life too. Apart from having a neat line in melodies Ungerleider has a couple of other talents which shine through: her knack of writing story-songs has never been more apparent (an earlier album was titled ‘Short Stories’) and her warm, soft, but always emotive vocals wrap around the listener and draw you in instantly. The album is presented in two parts: ‘Then’ and ‘Now’, and covers not only the various phases of Ungerleider’s life but surely those of the listener too. It’s all here; first love, heartbreak, marriage, parenthood, the good and not so good parts of life we all face. The return to her hometown of Vancouver, ‘among the evergreens’, has obviously inspired Ungerleider to reminisce while also looking forward to what is yet to come. Those evergreens hang heavily over the album, one can imagine Ungerleider walking along a trail mulling over ideas for these songs. The beauty and serenity that these songs display make the album the perfect soundtrack for those times when a walk in the woods to escape the madness is needed. While the sound of nature and the birds can’t be beaten there are still times when we need to put the headphones on, head for the woods and listen to music that is going to heal us, that we can relate to, and ‘Among The Evergreens’, with Ungerleider’s soothing vocals, more than fits the bill. To start at the end, the closing track, ‘The Wilds’, is simply not only one of Ungerleider’s best but one of the most affecting, tear-inducing songs you’ll ever hear. Every parent, grandparent even, has felt what Ungerleider has so eloquently expressed here. ‘One day when you go, one day when you fly, remember you were mine’ she sings, so gently yet so expressive, and those happy/sad tears are impossible to stop. As said, it’s the closing track, but it’s such a touching and brilliant way to close the stories that have gone before it deserves first mention. That’s not to say the previous 9 songs are just filler leading up to that highpoint , the opening song, ‘The Prize’, finds our teenage protagonist hanging out with ‘feral strays and runaways’ over gently-picked acoustic guitar before the song unfolds highlighting how we soften the sharpness of youth yet gain something more important, ‘to lose our hearts, we win the prize’, Ungerleider paints such vivid scenes with her lyrics you feel you are actually standing in that ‘house on Albert street’ with her watching this play out. ‘Cicadas’ is another of Ungerleider’s teenage stories told neatly and articulately in just 3 ½ minutes. ‘You never wanted to be my boyfriend and that was alright with me’ sings a tougher-sounding Ungerleider, before the 14 year-old realizes the relationship was misguided, ‘ then I saw you in the corner cooking something on a spoon, and a blue light shone upon your face like a television moon’ before understanding that ‘in that tiny little bowl was the only love you’d ever known’. Powerful stuff and essential listening. ‘Real Estate’ is shorn of the country touches that add to the atmosphere of ‘Cicadas’ and reverts to the acoustic sounds and calmness of ‘The Prize’, and concerns leaving the family home and making your own way along the path you’ve chosen. In this story Ungerleider relates how it feels to be in a sweaty bar or club for the first time and the last verse confirms just how brilliant Ungerleider is as a lyricist. To fully appreciate Ungerleider’s lyrics any review should really carry the words to every song. But that’s not possible; if possible check out her lyrics on one of the streaming services, then fall in love with Ungerleider’s melodies and vocals. Special mention should be made of ‘Juniper’ a more upbeat song, chiming guitars illustrating the joys of a new love and yet again Ungerleider’s lyrics drawing the listener into the picture. The atmospheric ‘College Street’ highlights the changes made as we grow older; from early days playing in clubs to finally ‘your baby sleeps in the back seat’ and life changes, will it ever return to what it once was? ‘I’m Sorry and You’re Right’ is an honest account of a mother apologizing to her daughter for any shortcomings that might have occurred. Again, the only way to fully appreciate this story is to read the lyrics and take in the music, this is an album that demands to be listened to and taken in. ‘Among The Evergreens’ traces Ungerleider’s life from teenager to mother taking in all the ups and downs along her journey. It’s a journey that will be familiar to many and there it’s going to be a comfort to many to know they are not alone in this journey. Ungerleider’s melodies and arrangements of these songs are simply stunning and as a lyricist she is up with the best. Those end of year lists are beckoning …