Biscuit Shrine is the band name for multi-instrumentalist Ryder Cohen Lush of Australia who’s just released a new album titled Between the Real. What makes this album exciting is that Lush is just 16 years old! He’s been influenced by a diverse record collection and counts among his influences Tame Impala, Neil young, God Speed and Brian Eno, and his music has been called “sonically evocative and emotional.”
Unlike many indie releases with shorter tracks, Biscuit Shrine takes its time building a mood and the songs average about six minutes each. If you’re interested, Biscuit Shrine’s Bandcamp page also has rambling stream-of-conscious liner notes for this album, but the important part for me was that Lush recorded everything by himself in his bedroom over two years. Lush’s portrait shows him lying prone in his studio, surrounded by guitars, stomp boxes, a keyboard and his Mac, the kind of Blessed Mess that makes for cool music. Mastering was performed by Jarred Payne at Wizard Tone Studios.
“That Was Then” is the album’s first single and is said to “showcase a dynamic shape shifting from the splintered edges of post-rock, with delicate melodies hung in the gloaming haze of an endless sunset and the tidal roar of a southern ocean storm. It’s an epic track taking us somewhere we need to feel, a moment of our youth we should return to, or a place we need to know in noise, melody and poetic intensity.” Hard to beat that description, and indeed the shimmering, chiming guitar notes do seem to fall from the air like raindrops. Lush builds up quite a few overdubs that are maybe not note-perfect but weave quite a spell, while still proudly lofi. Almost three minutes in, I was expecting the song to end but instead Lush goes full rock with slamming fuzz guitars and intense drums, while still continuing those simple, charming melodies.
“Lisp” continues the same type of arrangement: mellow picked and chiming electric guitars modulating between two chords with subtle variations. It’s hard to tell if I’m hearing keyboards because the guitars are so smooth with so much air and reverb. Hypnotic would be the word for this track, and I was glad that Lush didn’t go “hard rock” toward the end this time. “Denmark” also has soft, wave-like repetitions with the guitars playing a couple beats slower but with more expansive, mandolin-like overdubs on top. At two minutes the fuzz guitars and heavy drums kick in, and I appreciate that Lush is basically reinforcing his themes with massive volume instead of trying to sound like a traditional rock band.
“Map the Days” features one of the clearest guitar melodies, with fewer overdubs but more trills and tones probably squeezed out of a “totally wet” reverb channel. Since I don’t see any drums in Lush’s bedroom I’m going to assume these are digital, but they sound quite realistic (as most of them do nowadays). I no longer trust my own ears! “Wasted” is a shorter track with very distinct guitar lines, though the guitar might not be perfectly tuned and is further bent by Lush’s processing.
The concluding “Ian – Discontinuum” is the longest track at over eight minutes. For this lengthy curtain call Lush brings out all his players from the show, including the spare, gently picked guitars, the waves of chords drenched in reverb, the tremolo electrics and the solid digital drums. This track beautifully showcases Lush’s ability to build themes out of seemingly disparate notes from the different guitars, and he even does a reprise of the “notes falling from the sky” trick from track one. The distant sounds of children playing is an unexpected but interesting addition. True to form, the thick waves of fuzz guitar also make a final appearance, bringing the track home at full volume.
Once you realize the Biscuit Shrine style and decide whether it’s for you, there’s a seemingly endless amount of music within each track to keep you engaged and inspired. Great stuff!