Blushed Will Get You Through a Breakup With "I Love You So Much It Hurts"
Lovesick garage rockers Blushed have released their second EP, I Love You So Much It Hurts via goodhowareyou records. Their current lineup features vocalist/guitarist Missy Pidgeon, vocalist/bassist Alyssa Milman, drummer Matty Klauser, and guitarist Dan Leinweber. They’re Philadelphia staples among their other projects, Secret Nudist Friends and Puppy Angst, and are regulars at nearly every venue, DIY or otherwise.
I Love You So Much It Hurts wastes no time getting right to the point. The title track, which also opens the EP, starts off as a beautifully structured and unassuming ballad. I know loving someone isn’t linear, but “ILYSM (it hurts)” takes you through the journey of loving someone fiercely from beginning to end. The hook is sung in a wistful, breathy tone, and the lyrics read like a push and pull, up until the very end when they start to layer in an almost mournful way, with vocalists Missy Pidgeon and Alyssa Milman trade off on belts of “I love you, I need you” and it hits so hard. This song feels like giving over to loving someone when you know you shouldn’t, but the hurt is somehow worth it. That’s a powerful thing to evoke from track one.
I love you so much it hurts, and then you say my name.
The following tracks, “Interlude” and “Johnny” hone in that typical Blushed sound - like a tastefully whiny, heartbroken punk teenager with a lot on their mind. “Johnny” is angry, angsty, and, most importantly, wronged. It’s the perfect breakup song. It flips between a devastated, heartbroken girl with shouty vocals, and a spoken, apologetic verse with an undertone of chaotically evil energy. (That’s the best way I could think to describe this. It’s a revenge plot). Overlaid with a power chord-heavy guitar line and a filtered soundscape, there’s a lot to unpack here, but it mimics the chaos of the phases of a broken heart.
“Cowboys Make Do” shifts the soundscape into a very cool, edgy Western space. It’s definitely a standout track simply based on its juxtaposition alone. I wouldn’t have assumed this lovesick EP would feature anything even remotely resembling a country song, and it turned out to be one of my favorites. It’s completely instrumental, and then seamlessly shifts into one of the earlier singles, “Finally Enjoying My Life.” This track, which nearly perfectly describes how it feels to navigate your twenties, closes out the EP. It’s a bittersweet, surfy crooner about the confusion of knowing you should be happy and not understanding why you can’t be. It’s universally relatable, and adds yet another genre to the mix of explorative sounds on this release.
It feels like I’m finally enjoying my life, but something just kills me inside.
This multifaceted collection of songs fits together in a perfectly fractured kind of way, sort of like how a broken heart feels after it’s healed. Though it drops on Valentine’s Day, it’s an honest look at love that isn’t afraid to show that things can be messy and still be beautiful.
You can stream I Love You So Much It Hurts below the cut, and watch their recent Key Session here.