Fust
I’m certain Fust is destined for fame. As of March 2025, the North Carolinian group Fust has released their third album, Big Ugly. It was an accidental find, but one that gripped me.
You only need to listen to the Spangled-Gateleg track run to realize Fust is offering a damn good buy-one-get-one deal. You can choose between (or both) that soulful rock-twinged country angst twang reminiscent of Oak Treaty Revival or amped-up Tyler Childers and that soft n’ sweet folk mountain music sound of Zach Bryan, John Vincent III, Noah Kahan, or Caamp. Whatever you might be fixin’ for, Fust promises to have something in store They might even throw in a little Bon Iver / Sons Of The East despair free-of-charge!
All of this is to say that Big Ugly is a notably diverse, emotionally-charged, lovely record. It builds on a respectable collection of three previous albums, none of which stray very far from each other. Fust seems to have found what works and stuck with it. I can’t blame them. They create a sonic space at the intersection of a million others, giving birth to something truly precious. But while Fust’s sound may not have evolved tremendously across their four records, Big Ugly does stand out as the most polished, accessible, and ready for a new wave of young country-folk fans. It is concise, packing an easily-digestible punch with a proper dose of highs and lows without demanding too much from the listener.
The album has a trackable flow, with charged, tight stomp n’holler drumlines at some times and barely-audible acoustic strings at other times. We are cheered on, then fall from grace. Sister is a particularly crushing track, and perhaps my favorite on the record. An impeccable portrait of grief:
“The bread hasn't even molded yet
The light's still on the brink that I fixed last week
You helped me hold it
We can't stop sleeping, it's the most dangerous game to do
I whisper, "Should we get up?"
Why, so the pain can get up too?
I'm here, but I'm down
I'm here, but I'm broken down
And it's so hard now
To feel the rain that you used to rain down
I can't pick you up now
And I can't take you out
Wrecked, wounded, wore down”
Their sound feels authentically Appalachian while extending somehow beyond that scope. It is stretched to feel bigger, as their tracks feel universally touching. This is perpetuated by Aaron Dowdy’s ability to put big feelings into words - perhaps something we can attribute to the fact that he is currently a doctoral candidate in literature at Duke University, meaning we can assume he would have a way with words. This skill of connecting his background to a universal sense of meaning is a real talent. We don’t have to be West Virginians to feel something when Dowdy asks, “Have I been okay at living? How have I been?”.
Fust is here to stay. And lucky for you, they’ve got something for almost everyone (assuming you can deal with a little dust). Take what you want. Leave the rest. Enjoy Fust.
