SANTA FE, NM — Singer, songwriter, and lyricist Percy Howard returns with his band nûs for Shapes of Longing, a nine-track collection of lyric-driven songs that draw on blues, soul, and rock songwriting traditions. The album arrives October 15 via Third Star Records, and its opening single, "Fissure," is streaming now on all platforms.
Joined by Stephen Sullivan (guitars, synthesizer), Richard Kazanjian (bass), and Sean Sullivan (drums), Howard weaves themes of love, faith, desire, and mortality across songs that started as musical sketches before the words arrived — a songwriting process built on feeling first, lyrics second.
Recorded at the legendary 25th Street Studios with engineer Gabriel Sheppard and mixed by acclaimed producer Joe Chiccarelli, the record adds slide guitar and blues-inflected shading — including a reworking of Blind Willie Johnson's "John the Revelator" — to nûs' songwriting-forward sound. Guest contributions from CAKE trumpet player Vincent DiFiore, violinist John Ettinger, pianist Jack Perla, saxophonist David Boyce, and vocalist Natalie Carol round out an expanded, emotionally resonant tapestry.
Shapes of Longing continues the emotional exploration introduced on nûs' previous albums, All The Vertical Angelsand Inside Is The Only Way Out. Themes of love, faith, desire, mortality, and human longing weave throughout the record, reflecting Howard's introspective approach to songwriting. Rather than building songs around finished lyrics, nûs allows the music to shape the narrative from the earliest stages of the creative process — letting the words arrive last.
"I always take an initial crack at lyrics when the whole band is together actively working on the sketches of songs," says Percy Howard. "It's completely rare that a song grows out of a lyric."
"Fissure," the album's opening single, is available now on all platforms.
About nûs
Formed in 1993, nûs began as an experiment and grew into a songwriting partnership built to last. Frontman Percy Howard is joined by guitarist Stephen Sullivan, bassist Richard Kazanjian, and drummer Sean Sullivan — a lineup that has held steady across decades of evolving sound. Their music moves between rock, blues, and soul, grounded in Howard's lyrics and the stories they tell.
