New York’s devastating crust/sludge group HUSH – formed by former members of From Ashes Rise, Self Defense Family, Aficionado, Endicott, and others – prepares to release their third full-length release, The Pornography Of Ruin. Invisible Oranges is hosting the premiere of the album’s new single, “Above Your Head They Close Like Giant Wings.”
The Pornography Of Ruin was engineered at HUSH’s studio, HOVVL Audio Environment in Hudson, New York, by frequent collaborator Ryan Slowey, and was mastered by Jack Shirley at Atomic Garden in Oakland, California. The cover was created with photography by an urban explorer Adrian Ledezma and design by the band’s vocalist Charles Hush.
With the “Above Your Head They Close Like Giant Wings” single, vocalist Charles Cure reveals, “This is the first song we wrote for the record, back in 2016 after we had just finished recording our previous release Untitled II. This track is a behemoth that starts out with a lot of crushing heaviness and then dives deep into a well of hopelessness before finishing off with a massive end riff. It is probably the song on The Pornography Of Ruin that hews closest to previous HUSH material. The title of the song is a part of a quote from the Vladimir Nabakov novel Pale Fire, and lyrically it addresses the mutable nature of the past and future and the individual as a prisoner trapped in the present as those two forces continually press in on them. It is about accepting the reality of impermanence and the malleability of consciousness and memory.”
Invisible Oranges conducted an interview with the band that runs along side the tracks premiere, the story including, “The band themselves eschew exacting genrefication, preferring to leave the sludge-versus-doom debate to listeners. Long years logged in indie scenes have produced a slow fusion of extreme influences and unabashed preferences. The result is a giant-size juggernaut that feels iconoclastic, expansive, and mature, a record made by musicians confident in their talents and tastes. The Pornography Of Ruin is an exercise in experiential doom, rather than an adherence to sonic dogma.”
Listen to HUSH’s “Above Your Head They Close Like Giant Wings” and check out the feature at Invisible Oranges RIGHT HERE.
The Pornography Of Ruin will see release on June 24th, released digitally and on CD by the band, on cassette via Sludgelord Records. Find current preorder options HERE and watch for info on a pending vinyl pressing. Also watch the video for “There Can Be No Forgiveness Without The Shedding Of Blood” HERE.
HUSH has booked their first live shows since 2018 in support of the LP. The day of the album’s release, the band will head out on a five-city run of East Coast shows, June 24th through 28th, alongside their friends in Cowardice. They’ve also booked their first local show in several years, in Catskill, New York July 8th. Watch for additional dates to be posted throughout the months ahead.
HUSH Live:
6/24/2022 Riffhouse Pub – Chesapeake, VA w/ Cowardice, Knoll, Redundant Protoplasm
6/25/2022 Atlas Brew Works – Washington, DC w/ Foehammer, Cowardice, Et Mors
6/26/2022 TBA
6/27/2022 Saint Vitus Bar – Brooklyn, NY w/ Pharaoh, Cowardice
6/28/2022 Middle East Upstairs – Cambridge, MA w/ Cazador, Cowardice, Head In Hand
7/08/2022 The Avalon Lounge – Catskill, NY w/ Planning For Burial, Madeline Darby
After muscling their way onto the scene in 2014, HUSH has since issued albums through the likes of Dullest Records, Silent Pendulum Records, Fuzz Records, Sludgelord Records, as well as independent releases and more. In the years since their most recent album, Untitled II, the band has endured several lineup shifts that resulted in limited live outings, but the group remained focused on producing a follow-up record that would surpass their previous efforts on every front. To accomplish this, founding member Jordan Cozza built a recording studio in a barn in Hudson, New York and the group began shaping songs that would refine and encapsulate the ideas they had been pursuing since their inception.
The Pornography Of Ruin showcases a more expanded view of HUSH’s established sound by embracing more melodic elements, intense dynamic shifts, and previously unexplored vocal and atmospheric textures within each composition. Thematically, the record focuses on the concept of personal destruction and transformation; drawing heavily from vocalist/lyricist Charles Cure’s experiences in the aftermath of a 2016 car accident that left him hospitalized and unable to walk for several months.
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