Lush was one of the best bands of the 1990s, and certainly the best shoegaze band of that era. Led by inimitable fire-engine-redhead Miki Berenyi and Emma Anderson, whose harmonies blended into an iridescent synesthetic wonder world, they powered through four full-lengths from ‘89 to ‘96, pioneering ways one could make two guitars and a bass sound like fifty of them (mainly through tons of effects pedals).
“Dyson Sphere,” the new track by Brooklyn-based musician Frankie Rose, takes that template and runs with it, flowing into those layered dramatics and writing a vocal melody/harmony that could’ve fit halfway through Lush’s ‘92 album Spooky (most specifically: “Superblast!,” an awesome song). The harmonic palette isn’t necessarily much different from Rose’s previous album, 2013’s Herein Wild, but the approach on “Dyson Sphere” feels much darker, more ponderous—perhaps a side effect of her stated stint of listening to late-night Art Bell broadcasts. The other songs from her forthcoming album, Cage Tropical, are quite different from “Dyson Sphere” (is this about a high-end vacuum?) so it should be interesting to hear how she’s revamped her style.
