Small Crush are a 4-piece indie-pop band out of the Oakland / Berkeley area of northern California. Remarkably, two members are still in high school, and the other 2 just literally graduated from high school. These cats are crazy young. I mean, I just turned 42 a couple of days back, but this just makes me feel positively ancient. In another anecdote, I was out for drinks with my mate Neil the other day, and there was this guy outside the pub in a Descendents t-shirt, wearing an “I am 30” button. I was all “duuuuuuude, I feel old as fuuuuuuck. I saw Descendents when you were 5 years old”. Depressing.
Anyway, Mike Park of Asian Man Records hit me up the other day, asking me to check out Small Crush. Obviously I obliged, particularly as I’ve been enjoying the output of Ogikubo Station so much, and this sounded from his description (super-dreamy indie pop, since you ask) like it might broadly fit within that same bracket.
So, as I write this, it’s the 31st July, and yet another day of downpours. It’s gloomy as all hell out there. Putting this on, I feel like my whole world has been illuminated by some transcendent ray of light from the heavens. I guess it’s the hazy, sunny way that these songs are projected. It belies the somewhat downbeat nature of the subject matter (relationships, not fitting in, mental health, social awkwardness etc.).
Soundwise, the obvious pointers here for me are stuff like Ogikubo Station, Lemuria, Jenny Lewis’ time with Rilo Kiley, Death Cab for Cutie, Tommy and June, and Belle and Sebastian – that kind of thing, with maybe a touch of The Moldy Peaches. I suppose you could call it a bit twee. Probably because it is, but sometimes that’s what you need a splash of in your life – right now I’m feeling pretty blessed.
Tony of Nurgle rating 9/10
You can jam the record on the bandcamp player below:
You can pick this up from the Asian Man Records webstore on random split coloured LP or CD.
Listen to more from Small Crush on their bandcamp page
Find out more on the Small Crush Facebook page
