smush – i’ll always wish…
smush–the rising Brooklyn-based band of Emily Borrowman (bass/vocals) and Atley King (guitars), joined by the newly expanded lineup of Rudi Neubrander (drums) and Wilson Woods (keys)–today announced their new album i’ll always wish,, will be released on January 22nd, 2027.
The band also shared the album’s urgent and chaotic lead single “milkweed butterfly” alongside a Henry Nelson-directed video.
Debuting via FLOOD Magazine, “milkweed butterfly” sees the band’s sound evolve, weaving together pop melodies, drum-and-bass indebted drum programming, and beguiling shoegaze guitars. “Written from the perspective of a child experiencing anxiety and depression with no way to understand or contextualize those feelings, creating ‘milkweed butterfly’ was a way for Emily to make sense of the instability of immigrating to the United States,” explains Atley. “Beginning as a stripped down demo with midi drums, it was honed through multiple lineups of band members and finally perfected in the studio by Jackson Baker (witches exist). Heavily influenced by drum-and-bass music, it features a unique approach to blending jungle breakbeats, glitchy effected vocals and guitars with noise rock and shoegaze textures. After nearly a whole day in the studio spent meticulously programming drum breaks and sound effects, it finally arrived in its final form. Much like the butterflies mentioned in the song’s lyrics, its own transformation was compl Formed in 2024 by the Vancouver couple, smush has established itself as one of the most promising new acts of North America’s thriving DIY shoegaze scene. After relocating to Brooklyn, NY, Emily and Atley teased intriguing new directions with their recent covers EP standards, comprising six transcendent shoegaze reworkings of Norah Jones, Owl City, Field Medic, and more. The self-released EP earned praise and support from Alternative Press, FLOOD Magazine, Consequence, Sirius XMU’s Download 15, Spotify’s Shoegaze Now playlist, and Earmilk, among others. After expanding their sound with the glitched-out electronic elements of standards, i’ll always wish,, elevates smush as a fully realized creative force. “This album is an invitation to our fans to expand their scope of what they imagine this project being,” Atley says.
The process of making standards encouraged Emily and Atley to examine the work of songwriters they admired, allowing them to push their songcraft to new heights while writing the new album. Following advice from their friend Richard Orofino of Sex Week, the duo wrote full songs on guitar only and kept early production as limited as possible, tracking demos in Garageband or to tape. “That’s been inspirational for me for the last several years, just to realize how far something can go in a really limited environment,” Atley notes. Some songs, such as “you’d stay” and “dog song,” date back to writing sessions for their debut LP if you were here i’d be home by now; the new record became a kind of island of misfit toys, unapologetically presenting sounds that had felt too left-field or unfamiliar for previous releases. The band recorded with Jackson Baker of witches exist in Austin, Texas. “The writing was uncomplicated and streamlined, but the final product was raised as high as it could go on the production side,” adds Atley. The resultant record features some of the band’s catchiest material to date.
Emily was prompted by her and Atley’s move from Vancouver to Brooklyn to reflect on the chapter of her life that was closing; across the album, she grapples with girlhood, grief, and lost innocence. On “mourning dove” she mournfully examines the pressure placed on girls to grow up quickly and the trauma that can come from it (“Big girls don’t cry / I’ll be big tonight / Dry my own eyes”). Through their vulnerable songwriting, the band aims to create community and connection, particularly with other young women. “That’s something that I am pretty intentional with in our music: singing to a girl audience and singing about my experience,” Emily says. It’s a priority inspired by her day job as a tattoo artist, in which she regularly meets and has life-affirming conversations with female clients: “I’m always in these beautiful situations where I’m having these connections with these girls. It’s really art-driven, and very meaningful and deep, and I think that can’t help but bleed into the music that we make.”
i’ll always wish,, serves as a reminder that, in everything they do, smush are singularly passionate and unapologetically ambitious. “I feel like in all art, there’s a pressure to seem like you got here without trying, or that your art was just so good that it just would have happened no matter what. And that’s a very cool story for one to have, but it invalidates some of the hard work that it takes to have something be successful,” Emily notes. “The recording process involved many people in a room who cared deeply about what we were making. It was a really beautiful time of just stepping into a room and being like, okay, we need to make something perfect.” ete.”
smush are currently on an extensive U.S. tour supporting She’s Green and will embark on headlining shows across the West Coast and Midwest in November.
smush Fall Tour Dates:
09/29 – Iowa City, IA – Gabe’s %
09/30 – Indianapolis, IN – The HiFi %
10/01 – Detroit, MI – Crypt at Sanctuary %
10/02 – Windsor, ON – Meteor %
10/03 – Toronto, ON – Hard Luck %
10/04 – Montreal, QC – Bar Le Ritz %
10/06 – Somerville, MA – The Rockwell %
10/07 – Brooklyn, NY – Baby’s All Right %
10/08 – Philadelphia, PA – Warehouse on Watts %
10/09 – Washington, D.C. – DC9 %
10/10 – Charlotte, NC – Snug Harbor %
10/12 – Nashville, TN – DRKMTTR %
10/13 – Atlanta, GA – Purgatory %
10/14 – New Orleans, LA – Gasa Gasa %
10/16 – Houston, TX – Moon Tower Inn %
10/17 – Austin, TX – Brushy St. Commons %
10/18 – Dallas, TX – Club Dada %
10/20 – Albuquerque, NM – Launchpad %
10/21 – Mesa, AZ – Rosetta Room %
10/22 – Indio, CA – Dune Room %
10/23 – Los Angeles, CA – The Roxy %
10/25 – San Francisco, CA – Neck of The Woods
10/27 – Portland, OR – Hawthorne Theatre
10/29 – Seattle, WA – Black Lodge
11/01 – Vancouver, BC – Green Auto
11/04 – Saskatoon, SK – Back Cat Tavern
11/05 – Regina, SK – The Exchange
11/08 – Chicago, IL – Cobra Lounge
11/09 – Columbus, OH – Ace of Cups
11/11 – Pittsburgh, PA – Bottlerocket
11/12 – Cleveland, OH – The Foundry
11/14 – Syracuse, NY – The Song and Dance
% supporting She’s Green
#smush.bk