Split (Lush album)

Split
Studio album by Lush
Released	13 June 1994
Recorded	October – December 1993
Studio	Rockfield, Wales Berry House, Sussex Abbey Road, London
Genre	Shoegaze dream pop noise pop
Length	52:06
Label	4AD
Producer	Mike Hedges Lush
Lush chronology
Spooky (1992) Split (1994) Lovelife (1996)
Singles from Split
"Hypocrite" Released: 30 May 1994 "Desire Lines" Released: 30 May 1994

Split is the second studio album by English rock band Lush, released on 4AD on 13 June 1994 in the United Kingdom and a day later in the US. Unusually, the two singles from the album, "Desire Lines" and "Hypocrite", were both released on the same day: 30 May 1994. Split was reissued by 4AD on CD in July 2001.

Lush chose to work with producer Mike Hedges because they "loved" his work on Sulk by the Associates, A Kiss in the Dreamhouse by Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Seventeen Seconds by the Cure, according to Miki Berenyi.^[1] They first recorded at Rockfield in Wales and then mixed at Hedges's house in France, but as Phil King remembered it, "it sounded as flat as a pancake, no dynamics at all".^[1] They finally decided to have the entire album remixed by Alan Moulder, because he had already worked with My Bloody Valentine and Ride. Berenyi's verdict was positive, "Alan was brilliant".^[1]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Entertainment Weekly	B+[3]
NME	6/10[4]
Pitchfork	8.2/10[5]
Rolling Stone	[6]
Select	2/5[7]

Select's Roy Wilkinson gave the album a negative review, describing it as "mid-paced stuff, fitting between melancholy and listlessness".^[7] The review went on to state, "There's nothing wrong with a dose of heavyweight introspection per se. But a pretty deft touch is needed to translate it movingly to the recording studio".^[7]

In a retrospective review, Andy Kellman, writing for AllMusic, was far more positive: "Split touches on most forms of emotional turbulence. A legitimizing stunner, the record prevented the band from being lost amidst the bunker of form-over-function dream pop bands. Split shattered every negative aspect of those failed acts with flying colors. A fantastic record within any realm."^[2] In 2018, Pitchfork ranked the album at number 27 on its list of "The 30 Best Dream Pop Albums".^[8]

• "Hypocrite" (30 May 1994)
  • CD (BAD 4008 CD); 12" vinyl (BAD 4008)
    1. "Hypocrite" – 2:58
    2. "Love at First Sight" – 5:12 (The Gist cover, written by Stuart Moxham)
    3. "Cat's Chorus" – 3:23
    4. "Undertow (Spooky Remix)" – 9:13
  • 7" vinyl (AD 4008)
    1. "Hypocrite" – 2:58
    2. "Cat's Chorus" – 3:23
• "Desire Lines" (30 May 1994)
  • CD (BAD 4010 CD); 12" vinyl (BAD 4010)
    1. "Desire Lines" – 7:29
    2. "White Wood" – 4:14
    3. "Girl's World" – 4:56
    4. "Lovelife (Suga Bullit Remix)" – 8:15
  • 7" vinyl (AD 4010)
    1. "Desire Lines" – 7:29
    2. "Girl's World" – 4:56
• "When I Die" (promo only, June 1994)
  • Radio promo CD (PRO-CD-7048)
    1. "When I Die (Scott Litt Remix)" – 4:20
    2. "Light from a Dead Star (Album Version)" – 3:17
    3. "Lovelife (Album Version)" – 3:57
• "Lovelife" (promo only, 1994)
  • Radio promo CD (PRO-CD-7092)
    1. "Lovelife (Album Version)" – 3:56
    2. "Lovelife (Suga Bullit Remix Edit)" – 5:28
    3. "Lovelife (Suga Bullit Remix)" – 8:15

Personnel credits adapted from the album's liner notes.^[9]

Lush

• Chris Acland – drums
• Emma Anderson – guitars, vocals
• Miki Berenyi – vocals, guitars
• Phil King – bass

Additional personnel

• Chris Bigg – art direction, design
• Richard Caldicott – photography
• Martin Ditcham – percussion
• Mike Hedges – engineering, production
• Chris Ludwinski – engineering
• Martin McCarrick – string arrangements (6, 12)
• Melodie McDaniel – photography
• Alan Moulder – mix engineering
• Vaughan Oliver – art direction, design
• Lance Phillips – engineering
• Paul Read – engineering
• Audrey Riley – string arrangements (1, 9)
• Curtis Schwartz – engineering
• Ronen Tal – engineering assistance