Cruush

New Bangers NME 

On Repeat The Line of Best Fit 

“sure to have fans foaming at the mouth for a full-length project” Consequence 
 
“a four-piece who seem to click into place with remarkable ease” CLASH 
 
“instantly intoxicating” GIGWISE 

Manchester alt-rock risers cruush explore their sonic horizons on new single ‘As She Grows’ - out  today via cult independent label Heist or Hit. 
 
It’s the first release since debut EP Wishful Thinker came out earlier this year - and guitarist Arthur Boyd’s typically droll description of the track sets the tone: ‘it’s basically a really annoying pop song you can’t actually dance to cos the timing is weird as fuck lol’. 

This is a simplistic take - in truth it continues a sophisticated sound they’ve expertly honed in their opening chapters. Taking shoegaze’s dusty magic and thrusting into the 2020s, combining grit-your-teeth distortion with a disarming sweetness - think the delicacy of Wolf Alice whipped in the cyclonic guitars of My Bloody Valentine.  

As the auditory pallet broadens, the manifesto remains the same: “We’re willing to explore everything sonically possible within our music in order to express ourselves as people. Taking musical ideas and twisting to fit within the cruush framework. We’re not interested in what people might expect to hear from us.”  
 
While more traditional approaches to hazy rock suffocate the vocal and message, Amber Warren's melodic splendour is antidote-like, stealing attention from the tidal waves of noise.  
 
In this instance there is a brighter, more innocent and intentionally simplistic approach to the themes on ‘As She Grows’. Skippy, hyperactive, and puckish, the lyrics about fairies evokes the natural world, and the nostalgic cocoon of childhood - as Amber explains: 
 
“When I was a kid, I was the one that was obsessed with fairies, I would wear my wings everywhere until my parents had to take them off me. I took a lot of inspiration from The Flower Fairy poems by Cicley Mary Barker, which was my favourite book growing up. 
 
I wanted the tune to be lighthearted and nostalgic and have no dark undertones, unlike a lot of our other tunes! Just a happy silly song about nature and fairies.” 
 
And on the technical challenge behind matching the lyrics with the unsettling rhythms of the track: 

“When approaching the lyrics, the song’s time signature threw me off initially so I focused on using syllables that fit correctly, and worked outwards from there.”  

Broadcasters and journalists alike have been enchanted, with Jack Saunders (BBC Radio 1), Steve Lamacq, Tom Robinson & Chris Hawkins (BBC Radio 6), John Kennedy (Radio X), Simone Butler (Soho Radio), Consequence of Sound, Bandcamp Daily, NME, CLASH and GIGWISE all lining up to call themselves fans. 

On the live side, cruush have bagged supports with BDRMM, NewDad, The Lounge Society, Far Caspian, Pale Blue Eyes, Priestgate and Ian Sweet, while selling out hometown headline dates at Gullivers & YES.  

‘As She Grows’ - the new single from cruush - is out now via Heist or Hit