When Bus Crush blew the lid off Crystal Ballroom in July 2024 on the second day of NICE, a Fest, most people in the audience (this writer included) didn’t realize it was the band’s first ever show. The collaboration between Olivia Sisay and Ben Walker felt too polished and well-seasoned to be a freshman act.
Shortly after, the band released their debut album Sports & Leisure in Fall ‘24. It landed itself a place on Allston Pudding’s best of the year list and remains in heavy rotation among our staff.
That sort of immediate praise and momentum can actually turn out to be detrimental for bands, who might feel pressure to top their debuts. But Bus Crush seem to be brushing past that pressure with relative ease, if their fresh new single “Break a Friend” is any indication. Sisay and Walker haven’t changed the basic recipe that made Sports & Leisure such a compelling debut, but they’ve managed to continue to push that formula with energy and intrigue. Like many of the songs from S&L, the new single opens strong, with a catchy riff on a screeching lead guitar. The track continues onto some of the purest power pop that you’ll hear out of Boston.
“I’m a sweet talker, a natural anomaly,” Sisay sings as the chorus opens and explodes. She’s right, of course, as her lyrical contributions to the band are the rug that ties the room together. She has a penchant for making obsessive yearning sound like intrigue and mystery: “I witch the hour, I pace the hall, forever / Cut through the smoke a sheep and wolf / I wear your clothing / A simple solution to boredom.”
“Break a Friend” will appear on the band’s upcoming EP Star of the Show, out on January 16th. The EP continues to build off the energy the band set as their standard on their debut, but more on that in January. Stream the song on your platform of choice and watch the accompanying music video below. Bus Crush is nominated for three Boston Music Awards: Album/EP of the Year, Song of the Year, and Alt/Indie Artist of the Year.