Sucré Stands Alone
ABOVE: SUCRÉ’S STACY KING
As a touring musician since the age of 10, Stacy King is an artist by order of pedigree. As the youngest member of the all-sibling indie-rock band Eisley, King has spent the majority of her life surrounded by a wealth of creativity that has inevitably shaped and nurtured her own musical identity.
A year after forming Sucré in 2011 with her husband Darren King of Mute Math and producer Jeremy Larsen, the band debuted its first full-length album, A Minor Bird. After taking a brief hiatus to start a family, King has since returned to what she refers to as her “other love” with the follow-up EP, Loner, offering listeners ethereal melodies, counterbalanced by a ripened sense of self.
The single, “Young and Free,” reveals a more confrontational side of King that is apparent both lyrically and sonically throughout the album. Though King has consistently proven to be candid in expressing her emotions, the five-track EP presents a less vulnerable talent, one who is able to deride her weaknesses and flaunt her strengths with unapologetic ferocity.
Currently on tour, Sucré will be performing at Webster Hall this Monday, September 15. In anticipation of the show, we spoke with her about motherhood, growing up and keeping busy.
LEA WEATHERBY: How did Sucré get started?
STACY KING: I’ve been doing music for a pretty long time, since I was a kid, and I must have been around 10 years old when I started playing shows with my siblings. We had a band, Eisley, for a few years, so it’s always been something that I’ve done, but Sucré wasn’t something I set out to do; it kind of just happened. I met my husband when I was 17 and we started dating, and I met Jeremy, my producer, through my husband. And the three of us just started making music for fun and one night we kind of sat down and we were playing together and covered a few songs and it just kind of snow balled from there. When I heard a song from Jeremy, I was so impressed and I was like, “Man, I’d really love to collaborate with you in some way,” and eventually we felt like, “This is pretty special, maybe we should do a record.”
WEATHERBY: What does the band name, Sucré, mean to you?
KING: The name is French, actually, and it just means sugar. My husband and I hung out at this macaron shop, this little sweet shop, and we always went there and just thought the name fit somehow.
WEATHERBY: Your family has a musical background—what was that like, performing for the first time at such a young age?
KING: I think one of our shows was at a coffee shop and we opened up for some bands, but I just remember being scared!
WEATHERBY: Since your last album, you had a baby girl, and you took a bit of a break from music. Do you feel like motherhood has given you a new sense of creative perspective?
KING: Yeah, absolutely, after I finished up A Minor Bird and released it, I found out I was pregnant, so a lot of my energy was redirected and put into new life, and that’s just how it was and had to be for some time. But I think after about a year, I felt myself missing this other love and this other side of me. Especially when you find yourself with so much inspiration and all of these pure moments to draw from after growing so much as a person. After a year it was like a gush; it was a great thing for me musically, maybe the best thing.
WEATHERBY: What is it like creating music with your partner in both life and work?
KING: Oh man, it’s amazing but often challenging. You always want your significant other to think that you hung the moon, but when you’re working in music you also want them to be honest with you. So I really try to get him to be as truthful as possible and occasionally it backfires, [laughs] but ultimately it’s for the best. What it comes down to is that he challenges me, and I love that. I admire him so much as a musician and producer and I think he’s just amazing, so it’s really awesome and I feel very fortunate.
WEATHERBY: Absolutely, I feel like if you can manage a working relationship with your husband, then you guys must have a pretty incredible partnership.
KING: Yeah, I mean he met me as an artist and he knew my dream and he supported it.
WEATHERBY: How did you decide that “Young and Free” was the single you want to introduce the album with?
KING: I think for me, it just had a good energy to it. I just wanted to introduce something a little different than what we’ve done in the past.
WEATHERBY: The album has a palpable sense of self-awareness to it, and you seem very confident throughout. Was the album’s title an easy choice for you?
KING: I think after you spend all this time working on an album and really obsessing over it, you kind of just have to pick whatever you feel the most connected to, and that one just connected the most. It’s all about the idea of me coming into my own, and I feel like I’m at a point where I’m taking initiative and pursuing this project more than I ever have, just doing it 100 percent.
WEATHERBY: How would you compare where you were at creatively when you were writing Minor Bird versus Loner?
KING: I feel like Minor Bird was me in my very early twenties and I was fragile and still figuring out who I was. It was definitely an album of maturation, growing up and facing challenges, specifically within relationships. So the new songs feel more confident. I think I’ve grown so much as a woman, having a child now and just being a little bit older and less self-conscious, I just don’t care anymore. [laughs] and there’s a lot of creative opportunity in that.
WEATHERBY: What song would you say was the most challenging to write on the new album?
KING: I think the song “Crazy” was emotionally challenging, but it also challenged me lyrically. I really sat on it for a long, long time and it’s an interesting perspective to write a pop song from, in the sense that it is very personal, very much about who I am as an individual. I was afraid that women would think I was speaking for them and I didn’t want that, I didn’t want my personal experience to seem like a generalization of others.
WEATHERBY: Absolutely, and at the same token, what’s great about a song like “Crazy” is that so much of it is relatable; most of us have felt what you describe, at some point, in some way or another.
KING: I hope so!
WEATHERBY: Are there any habits that you’re trying to break or new ways you’ve been approaching making music?
KING: I think I’m always trying to challenge myself. I’m definitely going a new direction and trying to write more concisely, but that’s the toughest part for me and I definitely think I’m growing in that way, which feels exciting.
WEATHERBY: What’s next in all your creative endeavors?
KING: I have a tour coming up next month, and that will be my first tour in a while so I’m really excited about it and I’m hoping to keep releasing stuff, EPs, whatever, I just know that I want to keep busy this year.
SUCRÉ’S LONER EP IS OUT NOW. THE BAND WILL PLAY WEBSTER HALL THIS MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15. FOR MORE ON SUCRÉ, PLEASE VISIT ITS WEBSITE.