Temple of Angels singer Bre Morell and Weekend producer Shaun Durkan struck up a long-distance friendship during the pandemic after sharing each others’ music on their respective late-night radio shows, bonding over a shared love of adult contemporary hits like “Torn” as well as ’90s alternative icons ranging from Sneaker Pimps to the Sundays. Together, as Crushed, they make lush, detailed dream pop with an electronic beat tape sensibility. Morell’s vocals have a heft that at times recalls Alanis Morissette and a crystalline coolness that brings to mind Ivy singer Dominique Durand. On “Respawn,” the penultimate track on Crushed’s debut EP Extra Life, she alternates between the trepidation of diving into a new relationship and the compulsion of a magnetic attraction: “Moonlight dancing all around your face/Bathed in silver rays, I’m begging just to feel your grace,” she sings over a woozy, trip-hop-inspired beat. As the track slowly burns into shoegaze in the final stretch, Morell still doesn’t think she deserves this second chance at love. But she barrels through that uncertainty with a promise: “I’ll do what it takes/I’ll stay for one more day/So that I can stand beside you.”
