Album Review: Sulk Fangs, 'Where the River Goes' 

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• Courtesy
• Sulk Fangs, Where the River Goes

(Self-released, digital)

Describing music can be the most fun part of a reviewer's job, but some words have been used and abused to the point that they've become no-nos. One is "lush," deployed when a finely appointed song exhibits a majestic, almost sensual quality, usually through layers of complex instrumentation. Even though it's overused, "lush" is the first word that came to mind while listening to Sulk Fangs' latest EP, Where the River Goes.

The collaborative project of Burlington singer-songwriter and producer Matt Bushlow — himself a former music journalist — Sulk Fangs have been prolific in the past two years, with one EP in 2022 and three in 2023. The recently released Where the River Goes continues the streak. It's perhaps the biggest in scope of the five.

Unofficially a supergroup, Sulk Fangs bring together tons of familiar faces from Vermont's music community across their catalog. Members of current, dormant and past groups — such as Matthew Mercury, Silver Bridget, the Wee Folkestra, Barika, Quiltro and Swale — join mastermind Bushlow in creating (here it comes) lush indie-folk tunes.

In addition to coproducers and instrumentalists Eric Segalstad and Sabin Gratz, eight additional musicians add horns, guitars, bass, strings and percussion, enhancing the wondrous quality Sulk Fangs evoke. Bushlow has a Jeff Tweedy wistfulness (see track two, a cover of Wilco's "Handshake Drugs"), his rounded, unhurried baritone vocals slipping out and away like the sonic equivalent of slow falloff.

In an email, Bushlow referred to Where the River Goes as "a pretty nocturnal record." (The same would be true if you added a comma between pretty and nocturnal, because it is indeed gorgeous.)

Opening track "Night Shift" corroborates this statement, lulling and soothing with psychedelic organ, soft horns and discreet drums.

"I've been working on a night shift / Really fucks with my head," Bushlow sings, an admission that sounds more like an accepted reality than a complaint.

Plucked from Wilco's fifth studio album, A Ghost Is Born, Sulk Fangs' version of "Handshake Drugs" is mildly subversive, opting for syncopated beats and an ambling gait over the original's down-the-line, four-on-the-floor simplicity.

A lullaby for children of all ages, the EP's airy, atmospheric title cut has a nostalgic quality. Johnnie Day Durand's Array mbira, which clicks softly beneath Bushlow's hazy vocals and reverberating cymbals, somehow adds a sense of simultaneous whimsy and solace.

Closer "Singing a Song," another misty slow jam, Bushlow's lead-vocal croon is interwoven with ghostly harmony from Aya Inoue.

Sulk Fangs' EPs burst with energy and talent. Where the River Flows is a brief glimpse into a shadowy world where gloom and hopefulness peacefully coexist.

Where the River Flows is available on all major streaming services. Bushlow performs a solo Sulk Fangs show on Tuesday, September 3, at Radio Bean in Burlington.