"For Love" - Lush

I’ll be honest, I could never make it through a whole Lush album in one sitting. The shoegaze was just too shoegazey and the ethereal songs would just exist in wisps, swirling around me. There was nothing to grab on to for a lot of an early Lush album, and, IMHO, they were kinda boring for large swaths and songs went on way too long. When Lush was good, though, they were great. When they reined in the stardust to buckle down and write pop songs, they ruled, Britannia. “For Love” exists somewhere in between the dreamscapes of Lush’s early work of, say, “Sweetness and Light” and the alt-pop burst of “Ladykiller” that marked the end of the band.

“For Love” isn’t my favorite Lush song, but I picked it because of this in-between quality. It’s a two-fer, giving you a little bit of both Lush worlds. There’s plenty of shoegaze, but enough pop to ground you before you go floating off into a black hole. It’s a good litmus test to figure out which direction you want to go should you want to explore the band’s catalog. Go back for less structure, more vibes. Go forward for tighter songs more fun.

FWIW, “For Love” is also a pretty depressing song about a younger woman and an older man and what appears to be a pretty toxic relationship.

Pretty little girl, she shines / Knowing she is young, she smiles

Happy just to be a prize / Happy just to see his smile

But it’s all wrapped in shimmering guitars, angelic vocals, a gothy bass line, and a slick melody. It’s not a fun song you’ll throw on at parties, or even rawk out to in the car. It’s still a great song, and a good soundtrack for spacing out, and gazing down at your shoes.

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