Minneapolis, Minnesota singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Ruby Sue, created the ultimate coming-of-age alt-rock album with her debut, The Need, which eclipses every emotion that manifests through the disillusionment of lost youth.

Starting with the 90s pop meets grunge single, Teenage Garbage Dump, Ruby Sue found an absorbing niche middle ground between Taylor Swift’s sweet sensibility and Courtney Love’s scorned candour. Before she became a Rockstar in her own right through the aptly titled second track, ROCK STAR.

In addition to her deft choral command over acoustic and electric guitar, Ruby Sue also played viola and violin, most strikingly on the melancholically lamenting single, Let Me Out, which infuses Radiohead-art-rock-meets-folk gravitas onto the expansive 12-track LP.

The title single is one of the feistiest earworms on the LP, which sees Ruby Sue strip away all pretence to exhibit just how wearing loneliness can be as it ebbs away at optimism. Concluding on the single, I Remember September, Ruby Sue ensures that this is an album not easily forgotten.

Ruby Sue said:

“During my gap year between high school and college last year, I was feeling lost and trying to find myself; I found music. I’ve always been a musician, but music was the only thing that felt right when everything else felt off. The lyrics and melodies rushed out of me like a burst dam.

The Need tells a true story of needing to be seen, heard and experience life. Growing up isn’t easy; it can feel daunting and lonely; the ultimate message is that if you feel the need to be seen, you are not alone.”

Amelia Vandergast, the Executive Editor at A&R Factory said:

“The Riot Grrrl attitude is living vicariously through Ruby Sue’s debut album, but make no mistake, she is an icon of her own making. The true definition of punk is a little hazy these days, but if it doesn’t encompass an artist bringing classical strings into a visceral protest of alienation, what is even the point?"