I’ve been on a bit of a Lush kick lately for no reason that I can think of, but it turns out I was just being prescient. 4AD announced yesterday that the Lush studio album back catalog – 1991’s Spooky, 1994’s Split, and 1996’s Lovelife – were being remastered from the original 1/2″ tapes and reissued on vinyl come August 11, the first LP pressings of each since they were originally released outside of 2016’s Origami box set.

Pitchfork probably had the advance word on this, hence their choosing to feature Spooky in their Sunday archival review a couple weeks ago. The piece draws heavily on Miki Berenyi’s 2022 memoir Fingers Crossed for context on the buzz and backlash around the band. I still need to read the book, which apparently will finally get a North American paperback release next February. Which is probably about how long it’ll take for me to finish what I’m reading now.

Spooky was my first introduction to the band, and more specifically “For Love”, which was featured on the CFNY-HMV sampler compilation CD Free At Last 2; another Spooky track appeared in its place on the cassette version of the sampler. Looking at the tracklist of both, it’s not an understatement to say that this was a very formative record for me.