From Felte, the label founded by Ghostly label manager Jeff Owens, comes Lushes. Quit your job. What are the pros and cons? How long have you been there? How hard would your life be if you left it? Would you be afraid? Terrified as you approached that last day? Or would you step out onto that sidewalk the first moment you’re free from it, take out a deep breath, stare at the glassy dusk of the street and say, “Thank God”? What do you think? Brooklyn based duo Lushes have thought about it and Lushes are confused too. Don’t you worry. They’re not looking for an answer. They have an album for you, though – Service Industry – out October 16, 2015. The album is a rollercoaster through the maze of modern living. It was recorded and mixed by Sonic Youth’s long time engineer Aaron Mullan at Echo Canyon, during a period of intense money, work and life stress. The sound also came out of the tension between the duo – with singer/guitarist James Ardery having grown up listening to punk and rap, and drummer Joel Myers raised on classical music. But the tension comes into balance with every song, ejecting the band’s music from the cultural hype machine out onto our daily lives. Opener “Low Hanging Fruit” captures the feeling of hypnotic desire for empty instant gratification, with its angular guitar riffs and softly menacing bass line. “Rub Your Eyes” is an atmospheric and gorgeous meditation on breaking routine, finding peace and determination in finally answering hard life questions you’ve been avoiding for years. “Circus,” featuring a hysterical saxophone solo by Zs front man Sam Hillmer, is a tongue in cheek commentary on emotional labor, on pretending to be happy while serving a farce – catering, corporate events, whatever. And album closer “Shed Weight” harks back to Lushes’ instinct to shift moods on a dime, with a lush, almost tender chorus swelling at the last minute to a brutal cacophony of industrial feedback, before ejecting the listener back into the world. Service Industry extends the tensions begun with Lushes’ debut album, What Am I Doing. In their first album, the themes of anxiety were often held back in pursuit of serene moments, brief escapes from our mundane lives. With Service Industry, Lushes give you something more raw, more guitar-and-drum driven, more primal. The album throws a wrench in things. It stands as a map of a crisis, a bleak and gorgeous snapshot of our world, and a question: why continue living like we do?
Related
Related
Related
Related