Cusk - Cusk

Cusk is the alt-rock group fronted by duo, Esmé Creed-Miles and Evie Hilyer-Ziegler. The pair met at an improvisation night at the Moth Club in 2023 and soon became close friends and collaborators, drawn together by a shared instinct for making music that is raw, exploratory, and emotionally direct.

Their process is intuitive. Songs begin as fragments: voice notes, poems and melodies caught in passing, with full songs taking shape through a process of playing together. Evie and Esmé's musical chemistry is characterized by their juxtaposing playing styles. In the space between Hilyer-Ziegler's precise, melodic string work, her sirenesque vocals and Creed-Miles’ slackened rhythm guitar and androgynous lyrics, there exists a spectrum of character and femininity. Their songwriting dances along this spectrum, playfully contrasting impulse and control, quiet intimacy and sudden intensity.

Creed-Miles approached and enlisted Jorge Elbrecht (Sky Ferreira) to co-produce the first batch of demos. These sessions would come to form the bulk of their inaugural EP. Whilst further working with artist / producer / mix engineer, Thad Kopec, another session bore the anarchic, Brian Jonestown Massacre inspired track, Dooms Banjo.