Fust / Corey Parlamento / Tombstone Poetry

DOORS

8:00 PM

SHOW

8:30 PM

Over the past couple years, Philadelphia and New York-based label Dear Life Records has quietly but surely established itself as a haven for introspection. Its roster so far ranges from long-beloved singer-songwriters Kath Bloom and Karl Blau to heavy-hitting (relative) newcomers Natalie Jane Hill and MJ Lenderman. Durham, NC’s Fust belongs to the latter group: their long-gestating first album Evil Joy arrives on May 28.

While the band claims to have always focused on the idea of “evil” and the perversity of playing hopeless songs as gently as possible, album title Evil Joy specifically refers to the pain and pleasure in a deteriorating relationship. Lead single “Where The Good Ones Go” fits right in with most of these ideas: a light, steady Americana groove provided by Frank Meadows, Avery Sullivan, and John Wallace almost conceals singer Aaron Dowdy’s story about being blindsided by criticisms he should have seen coming. Fust strikes a careful balance here that might be familiar to fans of Bill Callahan or Arthur Russell. It’s not a complacent or hopeless song; if anything, it’s a firm rejection of the complacency and wishful thinking that can poison a close relationship. Dowdy sounds like he’s been there before, and now he’d rather go somewhere new, a place where the good ones go. -- POST TRASH