An enchanting debut, a breath of fresh air from nostalgic origins – Swedish/Canadian duo FUSES bring a folk-rock charm and fluidity back to modern music, with songwriting and stylistics that appear to draw influences ranging from Larkin Poe to the mighty Fleetwood Mac.
Moa-Linn Rosenlöf and Craig Fahner are both long-time musicians, and that level of ability and confidence, the artistic escapism and smoothly preformed nature of their songwriting and music, is impossible to fake, and it rains down with unrivalled skill and substance for this project.
Sawdust in the Transmission is a sensational album, blending complex poetic images, metaphors and implications, with hypnotic vocal harmonies, and acoustic to full-band instrumental flavours that promise delicacy and passion intermittently.
We move from the uplifting anthemic wonder of Garden Of Ashes, a song that quickly secures your interest in the band, into the more structurally unique and alternative shoulder sway and complexity of Convictions. All the while, FUSES captivate with their stories, their vocal collaborative bliss, and the intriguing balance of darkness and light that runs throughout their ideas and wonderings on life and the future.
The leading single from the album is Drive It Into The Ground, a moment that feels a little more sixties hippy rock than anything prior, and which again uplifts but with a slightly more simple, shorter lyrical progression to connect with.
Balance is key, and getting all sides of their style throughout Sawdust in the Transmission is essential. FUSES also really cleverly balance the literal and the metaphorical within these songs, so we get those surface level anthemic callouts to connect with and remember, whilst feeling something distinctly more vulnerable, personal, and powerful, during the evocative depths of the verses.
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