Split (Lush album)


Split is the second studio album by English rock band Lush, released on 4AD on 13 June 1994 in the United Kingdom and a day later in the US. Unusually, the two singles from the album, "Desire Lines" and "Hypocrite", were both released on the same day: 30 May 1994. Split was reissued by 4AD on CD in July 2001.

Background and recording

Lush chose to work with producer Mike Hedges because they "loved" his work on Sulk by the Associates, A Kiss in the Dreamhouse by Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Seventeen Seconds by the Cure, according to Miki Berenyi. They first recorded at Rockfield in Wales and then mixed at Hedges's house in France, but as Phil King remembered it, "it sounded as flat as a pancake, no dynamics at all". They finally decided to have the entire album remixed by Alan Moulder, because he had already worked with My Bloody Valentine and Ride. Berenyi's verdict was positive, "Alan was brilliant". However, the band members have since described the process of the album's creation as "traumatic" and "agonizing."

Music and lyrics

Stylistically, Split has been described as being in "the space between shoegaze and Britpop, the moonlit zone where guitars and windchimes suddenly had wonderful pop hooks to hang onto." Lyrical themes explored on the album include child abuse, infidelity, voyeurism, and death.

Reception and legacy

Selects Roy Wilkinson gave the album a negative review, describing it as "mid-paced stuff, flitting between melancholy and listlessness." The review went on to state, "There's nothing wrong with a dose of heavyweight introspection per se. But a pretty deft touch is needed to translate it movingly to the recording studio."
In a retrospective review, Andy Kellman, writing for AllMusic, was far more positive: "Split touches on most forms of emotional turbulence. Not necessarily a comeback but certainly a legitimizing stunner, the record prevented the band from being lost amidst the bunker of form-over-function dream pop bands. Split shattered every negative aspect of those failed acts with flying colors. A fantastic record within any realm." In 2018, Pitchfork ranked the album at number 27 on its list of "The 30 Best Dream Pop Albums". Staff writer Jeremy D. Larson wrote: "Thanks to the meticulous production of Mike Hedges, Split sounds so luxurious and so powerful, the essential sound of Lush. Berenyi and Anderson’s voices sky together in their clearest, most present harmonies. Songs last no longer than they need to, even the ones that stretch to eight minutes. Split is at once grounded and aloft—fiery, poppy, druggy, and alone."

Singles

  • "Hypocrite"
  • *CD ; 12" vinyl
  • *# "Hypocrite" – 2:58
  • *# "Love at First Sight" – 5:12
  • *# "Cat's Chorus" – 3:23
  • *# "Undertow " – 9:13
  • *7" vinyl
  • *# "Hypocrite" – 2:58
  • *# "Cat's Chorus" – 3:23
  • "Desire Lines"
  • *CD ; 12" vinyl
  • *# "Desire Lines" – 7:29
  • *# "White Wood" – 4:14
  • *# "Girl's World" – 4:56
  • *# "Lovelife " – 8:15
  • *7" vinyl
  • *# "Desire Lines" – 7:29
  • *# "Girl's World" – 4:56
  • "When I Die"
  • *Radio promo CD
  • *# "When I Die " – 4:20
  • *# "Light from a Dead Star " – 3:17
  • *# "Lovelife " – 3:57
  • "Lovelife"
  • *Radio promo CD
  • *# "Lovelife " – 3:56
  • *# "Lovelife " – 5:28
  • *# "Lovelife " – 8:15

Personnel

Personnel credits adapted from the album's liner notes.
Lush
Additional personnel

Charts

Chart Peak
position