Lush
London's 4AD shoegaze and dream pop band of Miki Berenyi and Emma Anderson, from "Sweetness and Light" in 1990 to the Split album's "Hypocrite" in 1994.
From the Baby Machines to 4AD
Lush formed in London in 1987 as the Baby Machines, a name from a Siouxsie and the Banshees lyric, and became Lush when the bassist Steve Rippon joined. Miki Berenyi and Emma Anderson played guitar and sang, Chris Acland played drums, and Meriel Barham sang until 1988 before joining Pale Saints. The first live show was at the Camden Falcon on March 6, 1988. They cited the Cocteau Twins, My Bloody Valentine, Siouxsie, the Beach Boys, the Byrds and the Nuggets compilations as influences. 4AD signed them in 1989 and released the mini-album Scar on October 9, 1989.
The Mad Love EP (February 26, 1990, produced by Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins) reached 55 in the UK, and the band recorded a BBC Radio 1 session for John Peel on February 19, 1990. That summer they played Glastonbury and supported the Cure at the Crystal Palace Bowl on August 11. Phil King replaced Rippon on bass, the year stated as 1991 in one Wikipedia place and 1992 in another.
Albums and the end
Spooky (January 27, 1992, produced by Guthrie) reached 7 in the UK, and they played Lollapalooza that summer. Split followed on June 13, 1994 (UK 19) and Lovelife on March 18, 1996 (UK 8, their best seller); "Single Girl" and "Ladykillers" were performed on Top of the Pops in 1996. Chris Acland died on October 17, 1996, and the band announced the break-up on February 23, 1998.
They reunited in 2015 with Justin Welch on drums, played the Roundhouse on May 6 and 7, 2016, and released the Blind Spot EP on April 15, 2016, recorded at Lime Green Monkeys in Saffron Walden. King left in October 2016 and the band split again in November 2016, its last show at the Manchester Academy. Berenyi wrote the memoir Fingers Crossed (2022) and Anderson made the solo album Pearlies (2023). 4AD reissued Spooky, Split and Lovelife on vinyl on August 11, 2023. The fan archive Light from a Dead Star holds the gigography, discography and lyrics.
Albums
Songs
- Hypocrite Split · 1994
Track four of Split, written by Miki Berenyi and issued as a single in May 1994.
- Sweetness and Light Sweetness and Light · 1990
The title track of the 1990 EP and by many accounts Lush's best known song.
Sources
- Lush (band), Wikipedia
- Split (Lush album), Wikipedia
- Sweetness and Light (EP), Wikipedia
- Lush discography, Light from a Dead Star