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Fust-the lyrical powerhouse Southern rock band from Durham, North Carolina-announce their new album Big Ugly, out March 7th on Dear Life Records, the record tag that launched the careers of MJ Lenderman and Florry and that has become a haven for contemporary songwriters. Big Ugly arrives after the of 2024's Songs of the Rail-Inchone of the best alt-country compilations... in a long, long timeInch (Paste) - and 2023's standout Genevieve, which unassumingly introduced new listeners to Fust's unmistakable blend of Inchsmall-town poetryInch (Mojo) with a familiar yet probing Inchcountry-tinged folk-rockInch (KEXP) that made it Inchone of the most fun rock records of the yearInch (Pitchfork). Genevieve was their studio debut, recorded with producer Alex Farrar (Manning Fireworks, Rat Saw God, Tomorrow's Fire) in Asheville, North Carolina. The reception was far better than the band expected, stirring them to immediately start working on Big Ugly, their second collaboration with Farrar. Recorded over ten days in June of 2024, Big Ugly is the explosive sound of Fust uncovering a freedom within their sincere form of loose and fried guitar rock, realizing more than ever before an intimacy within bigness. The members - Aaron Dowdy, Avery Sullivan, Frank Meadows, John Wallace, Justin Morris, Libby Rodenbough, Oliver Child-Lanning-weave their voices alongside guests like Merce Lemon, Dave Hartley (The War on Drugs), and John James Tourville (The Deslondes) to form a music that sounds like a conversation between old friends. And that's exactly what it is. At it's heart, Big Ugly is a story cycle, following tough-skinned characters who seem to inhabit a shared and fictional small town-Big Ugly-that in reality gets it's name from a lowly populated and unincorporated area in southern West Virginia around where Dowdy's family has deep roots. The album cover-a mural from the Big Ugly
