Tusks
Hazy, cinematic synth-pop that feels like a slow-motion walk through a rainy city. Ethereal vocals meet heavy, textured electronics for deep, late-night immersion.
Hazy, cinematic synth-pop that feels like a slow-motion walk through a rainy city. Ethereal vocals meet heavy, textured electronics for deep, late-night immersion.
Tusks creates a sound that feels like being underwater in a neon-lit pool. It is thick, immersive, and deeply textural, blending the skeletal intimacy of singer-songwriter music with the massive, cavernous scale of post-rock and electronica. Emily Underhill’s voice acts as a guiding light through dense clouds of reverb and pulsing bass, offering a sense of proximity even when the production feels vast and distant.
What sets this music apart is the tension between the organic and the synthetic. You can hear the influence of shoegaze in the way guitars are treated like synthesizers, and the influence of trip-hop in the patient, heavy-footed rhythms. It is music that values the space between notes as much as the notes themselves, often building from a whisper to a crushing, beautiful wall of sound that never loses its emotional core.
Start with the album 'Dissolve' if you want to experience the quintessential Tusks sound: a masterclass in atmospheric songwriting. If you prefer something with a bit more grit and guitar-driven energy, 'Avalanche' pushes the project into more expansive, alt-rock territory while maintaining that signature midnight blue aesthetic.
Tusks is the stage name of Emily Underhill, an English singer and electronic musician from London. Underhill first released the Snow EP under her own name in 2012, and took the name Tusks upon releasing the Ink EP in 2014. In 2016, she signed with the label One Little Indian and issued the four-song False EP, three of whose songs would later be included on her debut full-length album. She issued that full-length on One Little Indian in October 2017, entitled Dissolve. Underhill co-produced the album alongside Brett Cox. The album drew comparisons to London Grammar, The XX, and James Blake, gaining support from the likes of BBC 6 Music's Lauren Laverne and Radio 1's Annie Mac, MixMag, DIY, LOBF, MOJO, 405, Wonderland and more. In 2019, Underhill released her sophomore album Avalanche. Drawing from a greater wealth of influences including My Bloody Valentine, Marika Hackman and Wolf Alice, the album went on to gain support from Rolling Stone, Billboard, Complex, Radio X and gain syncs across numerous TV shows, including Netflix's hit series '13 Reasons Why'. After a mini hiatus in which Underhill honed her production and engineering skills at Ten87 Studios in Tottenham, Tusks released her third album ‘Gold’ in April 2024 via One Little Independent. In 2024, Tusks featured on the cover of "You Are My Sunshine" with Benji Merrison & Will Slater for the Netflix documentary Capturing the Killer Nurse.
Shares dream pop, shoegaze, downtempo (subgenres); reverb heavy, layered dense, analog warmth (production style)
Shares dream pop, shoegaze, downtempo (subgenres); reverb heavy, layered dense, analog warmth (production style)
Shares urban night, rainy day, fog (atmosphere); reverb heavy, layered dense, analog warmth (production style)
Shares urban night, rainy day, fog (atmosphere); reverb heavy, layered dense, analog warmth (production style)
Shares dream pop, downtempo, shoegaze (subgenres); reverb heavy, layered dense, noise textured (production style)
Shares breathy, ethereal, vocal layering (vocal style); dream pop, downtempo, ambient techno (subgenres)
Shares reverb heavy, layered dense, analog warmth (production style); dream pop, shoegaze, downtempo (subgenres)
Shares dream pop, downtempo, shoegaze (subgenres); reverb heavy, layered dense, analog warmth (production style)
Shares reverb heavy, layered dense, analog warmth (production style); breathy, ethereal, vocal layering (vocal style)
Shares dream pop, ethereal, reverb heavy, shoegaze (signature)
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