Meet Sydney dream-pop outfit Ultracrush and their new single Leave

One of 2018's most over-looked debuts came from emerging Sydney outfit Ultracrush, who with their debut single Swimming, quickly set themselves up as something special in the Australian indie-pop world. Uniting together hazy guitar melodies and gentle pop vocals, the track welcomed the introduction of a new name in subtle dream-pop, one whose debut single was seemingly so impressive that it found themselves supporting some the sound's defining names - Hatchie, Girlpool - and ending up in year-end lists amongst some of their biggest influences, from Snail Mail to Slowdive.

Last week, came a track that proved that it was not a one-hit fluke, and that the five-piece are a group actually worth keeping an eye on in the new year. Leave, their second single, is an amalgamation of their biggest influences united together into a tidy four-minutes that showcases their charm and excitable energy; gradually-layering guitar melodies coming together with synth chords that give the track this nostalgic 90s charm, while vocals navigate the single's natural rises and falls with a softness you'd almost expect from Death Cab For Cutie's more tender work, rich with an emotional intensity that'll leave you floored.

It's also a bit of an experimental moment for the group, revisiting old sounds from their debut single but incorporating it with many elements they were yet to play with, including that aforementioned synth layering that really gives the track that element of escapism that you can lose yourself in while the melodies and rhythms wash over you.

There's not too much more to it than calling it a remarkable single, so we'll hand it over to them to do the talking from here on. Dive into Leave below, catch them launch the single at Sydney's Waywards on February 13th with a lineup including Noodle House and EGOISM's Olive Rush, and better introduce yourself to the group and their sound below - you won't be disappointed.

Tell us about yourself?

We are a dream-pop five-piece from Sydney.

What’s the vibe music-wise?

Some of our influences are The Radio Dept, Sun Kil Moon, Pinegrove, Beach House, Alex G, DIIV, Snail Mail, and Tigers Jaw. We are attracted to strong songwriting and an authenticity more than any specific sound.

What are your production and writing processes like?

For Leave, we recorded at home using mostly SM57 mics with a Steinberg UR44 interface into Logic. The instruments were tracked individually starting with drums, then rhythm guitar, lead guitar, synths, bass, and vocals. After we finished tracking, we sent the raw files to Clayton Segelov at The Brain Studios for mixing and mastering. We reached out to Clayton largely because we love his work with Shady Nasty.

Leave was written the same way our songs are almost always written--with guitars and vocal melody first, then other instruments. And lyrics always come after vocal melody (unless they’re taken from a different song that we have abandoned).

Can you tell us about your new single, Leave?

Sonically, Leave is a bit different to our first track Swimming. This time around we used distorted guitars and layers of dirty synths and experimented with sounds a bit more in general. We had fun with the lead synth line at 3:06 which is Josh’s Casio MT-40 going into Lewis’ reverb, distortion, and delay pedals, then into Tom’s JC-120 with its vibrato setting on. Josh wrote that part during the recording process (which is something we rarely do).

Any tour dates coming up?

Our single launch for Leave is booked at Waywards Newtown for Thursday 13th of February, supported by our pals Noodle House and Olive Rush (of Egoism). On Thursday 9th of April we’re playing the North Wollongong Hotel, Wollongong.

What does 2020 have in store for you?

We’re focusing on writing and recording more material at the moment.

Where can we find more of your music?

We have just one other song out for now (Swimming). You can listen to our stuff on Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp, Soundcloud, YouTube etc. We have more things on the way :)

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