There’s a strange pull in ‘Sugar Mountain.’ It opens like it might fall apart at any second, a flicker of folk, a voice too quiet to trust. But it grows. Not in the clean way songs usually do. This one stumbles forward, like something waking up angry.

Josh Harrison came out of a cult in the English countryside and brought songs with him. This is one of them. You don’t need to know that to feel the weight behind it but once you do, it makes sense. The song feels like trying to shake off a life that never really belonged to you.

It was recorded live in a room with the amps pushed too far and an acoustic guitar that doesn’t behave like one. It groans and splinters under the pressure. The rhythm section holds it together just enough to keep it from falling off the edge. Harrison’s voice flickers between something half-spoken and something nearly torn. It sounds like he’s trying to get free of something.

<a href="https://takedaband.bandcamp.com/album/in-venus-train">In Venus’ Train by Takeda</a>

This is a band opening the door and letting whatever’s been banging on the other side crawl in. The album In Venus’ Train arrives in September.

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