crushed, the duo of Temple Of Angels' Bre Morrell and Weekend's Shaun Durkan, make an extremely cool form of blurry, resonant alt-pop. There's a comforting '90s familiarity to their music, but it never evokes any specific act or subgenre. Instead, it lands in a zone of happy-sad contemplation, scratching a mental itch that I didn't know I had. The band's full-length debut no scope comes out this fall, and we've already heard lead single "starburn," which rules. Today, crushed follow that song with a new one called "cwtch."
Apparently, "cwtch" is a word in the Welsh language. Please don't ask me how you pronounce it. I can't even begin to imagine. Shaun Durkan sings lead on this one, with Bre Morell adding backing harmonies. It combines bittersweet melody with fuzzy guitars, squiggly electronics, and a deep head-nod beat. It's gentle and pretty, and I really like it. Here's what Durkan says about it:
"Cwtch" is a Welsh word meaning an embrace with a sense of offering warmth and safety, a safe place. I wrote the song during a period where I was really struggling to "live life on life’s terms." A time when learning new ways of coping with difficult feelings felt like an enormous challenge, and returning to self destruction sounded like returning home.
Listen below.
no scope is out 9/26 on Ghostly International.
