Becky Sui Zhen Freeman a musician and creative producer working across audio, visual and interactive mediums. She is the daughter of a Chinese-Malaysian migrant and a settler, was raised in Eora and presently lives and works on unceded Wurundjeri land.

Her musical project Sui Zhen examines loss on multiple levels, from the death of loved ones to the widespread societal tendency to disappear within the 1’s and 0’s of modern life's tech-driven rush. 

From the banal pastel dystopia of the Secretly Susan era’s music videos to the invention of Linda, a ghostly apparition in the Losing, Linda LP, Becky’s cinematic, surreal and staged landscapes situate her unique take on pop music within its own uncanny terrain. 

Becky’s most recent release is a collaboration with Chinese-Australian guzheng player and composer Mindy Meng Wang 王萌. Their debut collaborative record Origin of You centres around the continual shift in an individual’s understanding of identity and of the self –  coming to terms with who you are, where you are from, and where you will go. It is about birth, life and death. It is also about transformation: from daughter to woman, woman to mother, outsider to friend. 

Outside her musical projects, Becky hosts a monthly show on NTS Radio and works as the Sound and Music Supervisor for Art Processors. In this role, she collaborates with arts and cultural institutions to meaningfully incorporate sound, voice and music into the visitor experience, with a decolonial imperative.

ABOUT ‘SLEEPLESS’ [2024]

Sui Zhen’s ‘Sleepless’ is a song about grief and persevering through it. The track was first conceived in 2018, as a stream-of-consciousness response to her mother’s passing. The catharsis of musical improvisation served as a refuge, a way to navigate the fog of sleepless nights and immense pain. Since then, the track has evolved gradually, transforming through reiteration and further losses – particularly the tragic death of her newborn son in 2021. 

At 13 minutes, the piece stretches out like a horizon, more a landscape than a song, mirroring the way grief warps our perception of time. Influences like Sheila Chandra’s ‘Out on My Own’, Can’s ‘Tago Mago’ and Durutti Column’s ‘Fidelity’ have made their presence felt in the recording. Spoken word incantations and melodic hooks weave into pulsing synths, distortion and a mix of live and electronic percussion embracing Sui Zhen’s signature raw emotion and vulnerability. 

In the artist’s words: “I could use my voice against the backdrop of beats and bass without needing it to take the shape of words. I would let my sorrow take centrestage”. The self-reflexive lyrics traverse the experience of loss and healing, offering solace to others facing grief, both personal or collective.