Photo by Ben Rayner

In the winter of 2023, Bri Morrell, vocalist for the dream-swept Temple of Angels, and Shaun Durkan, frontman of the psych-gaze outlet Weekend and a producer in his own right, converged as crushed to create a tripped-out, ’90s alternative bliss they would dub extra life. It was undeniably the year’s best EP and most promising breakthrough, hearing the long-distance creative duo connecting with passion across the spectrums of indie rock, alternative pop, and even the hardcore scene community (although, atrociously long security lines awaiting to enter that year’s Sound and Fury very much robbed them of enjoying moment to the fullest with a criminal all-too-early-in-the-day set…)

But then came the floods of soundalikes. What crushed did masterfully in short order with a meticulous texturizing of big, human feelings through maximalist beats and layers of feedback has since become the norm in the year’s since extra life‘s vibe shift. The trip-hop revival is just as redundant now as the shoegaze revival was last year, and so it makes “starburn”, the lead single from the band’s awaited debut full-length, no scope, an even more precarious listen to approach at this point in the timeline.

Morrell and Durkan sound very self-aware of this. The listen doesn’t attempt to retread their past steps, but instead move them into a new moon phase, transforming their sound’s blurred waters into more focused waves of rhythm. It reveals the breath of Morrell’s R&B vocal prowess — still attempting to ascend into the celestial heavens as you would expect for a song entitled “starburn”, yet with its clearer caress around every deep heartbeat, the long gaze comes from closer down here from earth. So comes with that existentialism on a life maybe not lived. “Never thought / That I’d be chased down hard / By a lifetime / Gravity has come to collect on mine,” she sings. As electricity surges through like night tide, maybe not all is not lost in crushed’s ability to sweep you in. It’s the undertow instead of the air where they’re going…

Directed by: Luke Orlando

crushed’s no scope will be released September 29th on Ghostly International.