James Ardery and Joel Myers of Brooklyn's Lushes deal in ways of sleepy-headed sonics on their track “Harsh”. Deceiving the initial expectations based on the title, James and Joel trade the harshed for a subdued hedonism that seeks the lush landscapes referenced in their name. With an an album on the way from Felte in March produced by Bachelorette’s Annabel Alpers titled What Am I Doing, we can expect more conscious-streaming slacker elements of surprise this spring.
Pondering points of direction, and mirrors that take up all of their time, the “hush on my ears” call for a certain kind of silence and calm. Ardery and Myers set up a sparse and organic looping rhythm cycle where every strum is measured to the tumble dry drum cycles set to the background-backwards tripping noise. The additional chorus chords stir the wakening ambiance as the big “Harsh” moment happens at 3:45 where a new synth sweeps away before that rhythmic core structure returns. Lushes here have stitched together the search for the sweetest and softest degrees of silence in a song.
Lushes' What Am I Doing will be available March 4 from Felte.
