Superstar Crush Embrace Baroque-Pop Maximalism and Romantic Chaos on “Fire Escape”
Hamilton, Ontario baroque-pop quartet Superstar Crush unveil their darkly romantic new single, “Fire Escape,” a vampirical, stampeding whirlwind of unrequited love and poetic disarray. Equal parts chaotic and cinematic, the track is their first new music since 2024’s Crushed to Meet You EP, and the latest preview of their debut full-length, due summer 2025.
Written during a spell of writer’s block and sparked by a melody tapped out on a plastic windowpane, “Fire Escape” embodies the band’s flair for dramatic imagery, magnetic hooks, and gloriously off-kilter structure. Anchored by a three-way vocal interplay and a wall-of-sound production that nods to Springsteen, Broken Social Scene, and Arcade Fire, the song builds to a psych-rock outro, complete with glockenspiel flourishes and cinematic string swells.
Lyrically, “Fire Escape” drips with disheveled longing and literary references, from RAW Magazine comic covers to Japanese and French romance films. Written in another friend’s vocal range as a songwriting experiment, the track demanded collaboration: “We all had to sing it together just to hit the notes,” the band jokes. The final result is uniquely theirs – a jarring, electric portrait of emotional freefall.
Produced by Tyler Kyte (Dwayne Gretzky), the song features a haunting violin arrangement by Helen Faucher, written so late in the process the band nearly forgot it existed until she brought it to life in the studio:
“It was like déjà vu,” they say. “We just hoped it worked, and it did.”
Truaxe Fox (drums/vocals) shares,
“There isn’t always a Hollywood exit – sometimes the fire escape is just stairs and smoke. This song’s about stumbling down them with style.“
Superstar Crush’s 2024 EP, Crushed to Meet You, was recorded in their former grade school, and their upcoming full-length was produced by Tyler Kyte in Toronto. Over the past year, they’ve sold out hometown venues, won Hamilton’s Battle of the Bands, played Supercrawl, and charmed crowds across central Canada.
Now with “Fire Escape” lighting the way toward their debut LP, Superstar Crush are ready to bring their signature brand of noisy tenderness and vampire pop to a wider stage. Just check “yes.”