IAN SWEET’s debut album, Shapeshifter, is largely about making yourself amenable to everyone in any situation, forgoing your own personal wellbeing to keep everything else around you going smoothly. That inclination is one that Jilian Medford is learning to control, but “Holographic Jesus,” the latest single from IAN SWEET’s new album Crush Crusher, is still mired in that struggle.

“The sun built me to shade everybody,” she sings in its chorus, sounding resigned to her fate in the role of the fixer. But there’s another breakthrough here in the song’s enveloping stutter, in its larger-than-life expanse: That there’s beauty in being helpful, that sometimes the warmth from that sun can feel good, can restore you, if it’s for the right reasons. “The sun on my wrist/ It’s never felt like this.”

The song also has roots in superstition, and surrounding yourself with tokens that will serve as reminders of what you’re trying to change. Here’s what Medford had to say about that:

“Holographic Jesus” is a song based around collecting holographic Jesus posters from various bodegas and dollar stores while living in Brooklyn. I am in no way religious but I hung them up all over my room and was constantly finding the nuances and idiosyncrasies of each one. You could turn your head the slightest and see an entirely different image reflected. I felt connected to that idea. Some people collect ceramic frogs or action figures but I collect holographic Jesus posters. This song is about the things I went through in that room while these posters were so to speak ‘watching over me.’

This is the third track we’ve heard from Crush Crusher following “Hiding” and “Spit.” Listen below.

TOUR DATES:
10/18 Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room #
10/20 San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill #
10/22 Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios #
10/23 Vancouver, BC @ Biltmore Cabaret #
10/24 Seattle, WA @ Sunset Tavern #
10/25 Boise, ID @ The Olympic #
10/26 Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court #
10/27 Denver, CO @ Hi Dive #
10/28 Omaha, NE @ O’Leavers #
10/29 Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry #
10/30 Chicago @ Subterranean #
11/01 Toronto, ON @ The Monarch #
11/02 Buffalo @ Mohawk Place #
11/03 Boston, MA @ Great Scott # ^
11/05 Brooklyn, NY @ Park Church Co-op # ^
11/06 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s # ^
11/07 Washington, DC @ Union Stage #
11/08 Durham, NC @ The Pinhook #
11/09 Asheville, NC @ The Mothlight #
11/10 Atlanta, GA @ Drunken Unicorn #
11/11 Orlando, FL @ 11Eleven Fest
11/12 Tallahassee, FL @ The Wilbury #
11/13 New Orleans, LA @ Gasa Gasa #
11/14 Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall #
11/15 Dallas, TX @ Three Links #
11/16 Austin, TX @ The Mohawk #
11/19 Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar #
11/20 San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar #
# w/ Young Jesus
^ w/ Sean Henry

Crush Crusher is out 10/26 via Hardly Art. Pre-order it here.

CREDIT: Kelsey Hart