For Love - Lush

Lush was a band I became aware of because of my friend Dave in grad school in the early 90s. He gave me a tape of their Gala EP compliation and Joy: 1967-1990 by Ultra Vivid Scene (also on 4AD records ) on the other side. I played the hell out of that tape. The mood and atmosphere of both bands were really really nice. Dark, somewhat lonely, but with good tempos/rhythm tracks and a sort of detached melodicism.

Then I didn't think very much about Lush for almost ten years. This was my loss, because in the late 90s they broke up following the suicide of their drummer. I've recently begun to study the Shoegaze genre, in which Lush was classified. When I first heard the term Shoegaze or Shoegazer, my impression of what this actually meant was false. It wasn't music for people who stood around and looked at their feet. It was music made by bands that used big walls of guitar effects. The guitarists gave the appearance of frequently looking at their feet while switching and adjusting their effects pedals. The genre was one of the more interesting trends in 90s alternative music and I'll probably talk about it a lot more in the future, especially in reference to Catherine Wheel, another of my favorite 90s bands.

Lush's position in Shoegaze was interesting and evolved as their sound evolved. Initially they pursued an "ethereal" sound, like their well established 4AD label-mates Cocteau Twins. A few albums in, their sound tightened into harder rock, and toward the end of their run they seemed to be on the rock side of pop. Nevertheless, throughout, the guitar and vocal sounds of their two vocalist/guitarists Miki Berenyi and Emma Anderson provided a compelling and powerful top end to their sound. The combination of the guitar noise wall and the airy and often unconventional soprano harmonies of Berenyi and Anderson made them, for lack of a better word, perfect. Especially with the duo's amazing songwriting.

For Love (video here; live version here; a very classic depiction of how hard it is to play live and how fragile the sound can be, but still quite well done) is the perfect song by the perfect band. It's on the Spooky album (it was actually on an earlier EP), which seemed to mark Lush's emergence from the ether towards a deliberately somewhat more poppy sound (which is definitely not a strike against them in my book). The chord progressions are solid, hooky but there is some intelligent modulation of top and bottom parts during the later bridge/chorus work. For me, the chord progression defines the narrative content of the song. The actual lyrics ( here) depict a fairly straightforward relationship meme, but that's really secondary to the sound here. The icy guitar leads and haunting high harmonization (alliteration warranted) are thrilling. Definitely a song that repays many listens and never gets stale.