Bus Crush found their way onto my radar back in June with their debut single “Even Score”. I included it in my Friday playlist, though I couldn’t tell you exactly where I heard it first. It’s a sunny, catchy single with a definite ’90s feel. The chorus is propulsive and memorable. Here it is:

Their next single, “Win Today” came out a few weeks later, and it’s pretty different. Melancholy, subdued and pensive with a melodic chorus that builds to a big crescendo including strings and keys. It would be perfect as the last song in a live set. It’s also their first music video. It’s lovely:

Bus Crush’s debut album Sports & Leisure, was released last Friday (October 11), and those two songs are the bookends on the album. They also prove to be good goalposts for Bus Crush’s musical range. The ’90s influences are everywhere, from the reverb-drenched haziness of “Strawberry Stain”, to the Lisa Loeb-ish “I Can Hear the Birds”, but they never feel derivative. Record scratching in an indie rock song? Yes, and it works, in “Good to Me”:

I drove a lot this weekend (it was Thanksgiving in Canada), and probably played this record 5 times in the car. There’s such a strong sense of melody in nearly every song that it’s possible to sing along to many of these songs even on the first listen.

Late album standout “Gone” is a ballad that sounds like it could be a cover of something by The Weakerthans — slide guitar, cross-stick snare and 6/8 time, and lyrics that are enigmatic and relatable:

I shouldn’t be this way forever/But I’ve watched the paint dry and found that change can be slow

You wouldn’t know/So tug on my sleeve if you want me to move

Step over my feet on your way out the door if you have to

I’m not tired and l’ll be here for a while

Bus Crush is only two people: Singer Olivia Sisay and Ben Walker. Sisay has been a solo musician for several years, with a folky singer/songwriter sound on her excellent 2021 record Atlantic Salt. Her songwriting and ear for melody comes through clearly on that record as well.

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