Husks would generally be considered electro pop or dream pop, as his first EP released in 2016 with a group called Youth Culture and called Dreams To Make You Shiver exemplifies. In their new venture Design Me, the group from Brooklyn also seem to be incorporating experimental trap, ambient electro and even a bit of rock into their work.
Beat-wise, the tracks on Husks’s sophomore venture are squarely in the slow trap register, but they are in fact so slow that they could be seen as UK soundsystem. The ambient parts as well as the drums are also a cross between soundsystem and trap, but the snares also carry a bit of industrial composition, rolling over each other and having a tinny quality.
The style reflective in Design Me also seems to pay homage to FKA Twigs, who Husks name as one of their biggest influences. This is certainly true with the title track, which seems to almost be a bar-by-bar response to Twiggs’s “Water Me.” It’s an interesting and gutsy concept to pull off, but Husks seem to manage it. Their style, of course, isn’t an exact replica of Twiggs’s; the vocals especially on this track are more indie along the lines of LCD Soundsystem than Twiggs’s whispered nu soul. Nonetheless, the similarities are there and Husks, also known as Connor Small, does a great job with vocals and production to make them apparent but definitely not copycat. This single and the rest of the track on the EP can stand on their own.
The Design Me EP will release on June 22 and another track called “Corrode” is also currently available to the public. With Smalls’s minimal take on EDM as well as his ability to synthesize other styles of music and make them his own, the dance and possibly even pop communities will likely be seeing more of Husks in the near future.
“Design Me” and “Corrode” by Husks can be streamed on Soundcloud or Spotify. For purchase links and release news, visit Husks’s website.
