Bathed In Silver Rays

Crushed “Respawn”

I think that if someone had played this for me and told me it was a coulda-been shoulda-been song from the late 90s or early 00s I would have believed it. Crushed are incredibly dialed into the adult contemporary by way of alt-rock aesthetics of that period, particularly in the quasi hip-hop drum programming, ostentatiously laid back bass line, and a clear, bold vocal performance that sounds like someone earnestly channeling Sarah McLachlan or the more restrained side of Alanis Morissette. This may be a pastiche but there’s no wink to it. This is real heart-on-sleeve stuff, a ballad about being given the chance to start again after a break up that embraces the “main character” grandeur of that feeling while being brought down to earth by the casual feel of the groove.

Buy it from Bandcamp.