More about: Zuzu

With a lifetime’s worth of memories and solely armed with her guitar, Zuzu’s debut album is one that brings a refreshing and much needed honesty to today’s music scene.

Liverpool’s breakthrough sweetheart has been making quite a name for herself in the past few years, touring across the country alongside The Courteneers and announcing a solo national tour with only two highly acclaimed EPs (Made On Earth By Humans and How It Feels) and a handful of singles to her name. But it’s easy to see why so many have fallen for Zuzu and are singing her praises already—she’s unafraid to make nostalgic and transparent music that challenges, turns against the norm and is not trying to be anything but her true Scouse self. 

The long-awaited debut album Queensway Tunnel lands with a helping hand from contributors Simon Tong (The Verve, Gorillaz) and Kieran Shudall (Circa Waves) and finds Zuzu continuing to catalogue what she describes as a “deep emotional unrest,” tackling the polarising ideas of change, addiction, sci-fi, escapism, identity, community, and the protection of mental health through raw empathetic and compassionate lyricism. 

The project starts with the opening track and first single off the album ‘Timing’. Ten seconds into the sonic and it instantly brings forth the evolution of her sound: a thick Scouse accent and booming guitar strums. In this case, they portray the uncertainty of meeting someone you have an instant connection with but the timing was never right.

Its successor ‘Lie To Myself’ finds Zuzu emerging from her self-deprived zone and rebound in a stronger and wiser form as she croons about snapping out of denial and cutting off the toxic relationship that’s been haunting her.

It’s only natural that Zuzu’s collection of personal tales will include the typical heart-on-sleeve lyrical heartbreak sing-along tunes. ‘My Old Life’, for example, is about “letting go and accepting that pain and using it to move forward’, while exuberant ‘Never Again’ acts as the break-up song that we all wrote in our journals once or twice. 

Zuzu becomes an experimental storyteller as each track spills over into the next. Seventh track ‘Where’d You Go?’ channels a more sleazy pop-rock vibe: it’s a glorious guitar jam that shows the formula of powerhouse vocals and sweltering guitars is still as foolproof as ever, but before you get too carried away with the instrumentals, the track’s subject will quickly bring you back down to reality. 

Album title track and latest release 'Queensway Tunnel' is an ode to no other than the tunnel beneath the river Mersey that connects Liverpool and Birkenhead—a special stretch that Zuzu reveals has a transformative quality. The 5-minute sonic marks as a tender finale, charming us with expressive lyricism, impassioned vocals and stripped-back instrumentals which open yet another wound as the singer reveals: “I wrote this song about a friend who was in an emotional loop with somebody who would promise them the world and never come through."

Queensway Tunnel is undoubtedly a deeply personal record as it builds a collection of stories that feel very familiar and close to one’s heart and acts as a much-needed catharsis for both herself and her audience. With a lifetime’s worth of memories laid across the record, you are sure to sing, dance, laugh and cry while listening to this album, and there is no doubt that you will find yourself in one of these songs too.

Queensway Tunnel arrives 12 November via Planet Z Records.

More about: Zuzu