Ground Control Touring

Fust is a Durham, NC band centered around the songwriting project of Aaron Dowdy. Formed in 2018, the band has released two albums on Dear Life Records: Evil Joy (2021) and Genevieve (2023). Genevieve is the studio debut of Fust, recorded throughout 2022 and early 2023 at Drop of Sun recording studio in Asheville NC. It was engineered, mixed, and mastered by Alex Farrar and performed by Fust with the help of a host of friends: Xandy Chelmis, Michael Cormier-O’Leary, Indigo De Souza, MJ Lenderman, Courtney Werner.

While sonically and instrumentally louder than Evil Joy, Genevieve is thematically quieter. It is a collection of pathetic love stories written in dedication to “small life,” moving from gentle exceptions (“I can take the late hours if you’re with me”) to pitiful admissions (“I’m never going to change when I leave…”). We find here songs of companions unable to speak to one another, the sublime dread of having children, the balance of humility and humiliation, playing the fool for the greater good, and… budget birthday parties. Genevieve is a home movie or a local theatrical production of and by a community struggling to hold itself together, a record of too many names and too many places: Sarah Lee, John and Angel, Jimmy, Sam, Rockfort Bay, New England, California, Jackson, Silent City, Bridge Street, Third Street, and of course Genevieve. How do we keep up with everybody, how do we stay close to those we love?