Sundae Crush
"... there’s something a little weirder and fuzzier around the edges of Crushed than there is in its mid-2000s twee forebears. Under its bright and shiny exterior is a lot of sadness and anxiety — truly reflecting the dual meanings of its title. Take “Chat Room Messages,” which begins with the whispered, pared-down whimsy of a lovestruck Belle and Sebastian song before revealing itself as a story about total disappointment. “Hey you don’t know / I read, your chatroom messages,” the song goes, “Okay well never mind / I’m not going to stick around and waste my time.” Over warbling chords and aimless, cheery guitar plucks, “Ice Cream Run” sounds at first like a cutesy, if slightly off-kilter, ode to a chilled-out summer. “The sun is out and the sky is turning pink / I got some In-N-Out and I don’t know what to think.” Suddenly the song turns into a repeated mantra of self-doubt: “I know that it’s true / He doesn’t like you / He doesn’t like you.” That slight, easy-to-miss tinge of darkness and despair turns
Sundae Crush’s pleasant, dreamy songcraft into something a lot more intriguing and complex than that of their sonic peers."
- Kelton Sears, Seattle Weekly, Best Local Records of April
Saudade Sisters
"Saudade Sisters create a sincere account of what it means to feel lost and hopeless – to feel like an alien inside your own body and despite the blossoms that surround you, there’s a dense and impenetrable aching that follows you with every step."
- Sammy Maine, GoldFlakePaint
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