One of our most highly anticipated released of 2023, we've been excited for cruush's debut for some time now. The most exciting thing to come out of Manchester in a while, their dark, shoegazey sound dives into the city's underbelly, far away from the cookie-cutter indie that plagues it.
And on Wishful Thinker, all the promise of their singles is doubled on this full project. Taking us through their debut release, the band introduce each song...
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'Wishful Thinker'
"Fotis gave this the working title of 'Frolicking' which we used for a long time. According to Dr Google this means ‘merry play; merriment; gaiety’. It’s definitely one of our few tracks with that kind of vibe, something you can move around to a bit, rub ya tummy and pat your head, that kind of thing. It’s a lot of fun to play live, really gives you the chance to move around and loosen up. Lyrically it’s about being a dreamer, I’m always being told my “heads in the clouds” and have always been a chronic day dreamer."
'Growing Silver'
"This took so long to get to a point where we were happy enough with it to want to even record it. Half of us loved it, half hated it. It’s been in our set in different forms for a while. Originally it was probably just too heavy to really fit into what we were doing, the chorus used to just be all mega relentless chords kind of like Swain, Smashing Pumpkins or Weezer. Adding the gazy lead line really brought the song into a place we were happy with, finally. No disrespect to Swain, Smashing Pumpkins or Weezer obviously, although starting beef with Billy Corgan would be fun. Lyrically, it’s about taking responsibility for your actions and the regret that comes with ignoring advice from others, learning from mistakes, and getting older and wiser."
'Stick in the Mud'
"A nice laid back song you can get lost in a bit, as laid back as you can get at full volume anyway. Big dirty 90s slacker vibes. The kind of beat you can sit and whip up meringues or mud pies to. We really wanted to keep it stripped back and non busy, keep its power in the simplicity of what’s going on. We stuck a cool delay on the drums at the start though because it was sounding a touch too much like Queen or something. Lyrically it’s about expiring friendships, no one talks about the breakdowns or friendships but they can be just as upsetting as relationships."
'Features'
"Our oldest track that’s miraculously avoided the big ol’ cruush practice room bin. Originally a pretty folk tune by Amber from pre cruush years, it was one of the first 2 or 3 songs we worked on together, so it means a lot to us. It’s retained that dreamy folk element for sure but we always had the idea to inject it with some heavier elements. The end section now is just full Kevin Shields."
'Sombre by the Weekend'
"This full song really came out of messing around in an open tuning, DADDAD, which was the name of the song for about a year, still is amongst us really. It was a favourite to play live for a long time, the guitar parts are so fun and the track moves around a lot, there’s quite a lot of drama in the music. A bittersweet track, another one with that bouncy tempo and feel but with the juxtaposition in lyrics. Again, about expiring friendships but this time I realise it’s for the best."
Wishful Thinker is out now
Grab your copy of the Gigwise print magazine here.
