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Apr 23, 2025 By Mark Redfern

Miki Berenyi Trio—led by the former singer/guitarist with 1990s shoegaze, dream pop, and Britpop band Lush—recently released their debut album, Tripla, via Bella Union. Now they have teamed up with Lol Tolhurst (formerly of The Cure) and his son Gray Tolhurst for the new song “Stranger.” Watch the song’s video below.

Read our new interview with Miki Berenyi Trio on Tripla.

Read our review of Tripla.

The collaboration came about when Lol Tolhurst opened for Miki Berenyi Trio with his Lol Tolhurst x Budgie x Jacknife Lee project on Berenyi’s 2024 U.S. tour. “Stranger” was recorded in Los Angeles, London, and St Leonards. Miki Berenyi Trio’s Oliver Cherer produced the song.

Cherer had this to say in a press release: “Stranger arrived as a demo from Lol/Gray, with guitar, synth and drums, with loads of room to develop riffs, hooks and melodies. I liked the insistent repetition of the long outro and was instantly minded to explore a Talk Talk approach, which is where the piano line with the Ashes to Ashes flanger wobble came from. The outro was extended to make a virtue of the repeated progression and the strings synths were added to help swell that into a wall of crescendo. Miki then took over adding lyrics and the gorgeous vocal melodies. Moose added layers of shimmering guitars and a rough mix was sent to Lol who added drum parts, recorded by Martin Fleischmann in Los Angeles, before it all came back to St Leonards for a mix where I also sneaked in a nice fat, squelchy Moog part. It developed quite naturally and easily, with each person’s contribution making the song bigger and more beautiful at every turn.”

Miki Berenyi says: “The lyrics are about being a friend to a long-term couple splitting. The tragedy at the centre is the people actually breaking up, but the repercussions ripple outward.”

Lol adds: “Sadly, Budgie couldn’t make this tour, but my son Gray is taking time out of his band Topographies to perform my set with me. ‘Stranger’ will feature all five of the touring party playing live together, and we’re excited to have a unique song for the shows.”

Tripla includes the band’s debut single, “Vertigo,” which was released in May 2024 and was #1 on our Songs of the Week list that week. When the album was announced, they shared another new song from it, “8th Deadly Sin,” via a music video. “8th Deadly Sin” was also one of our Songs of the Week. The album’s third single, “Big I Am,” also landed on Songs of the Week. Then they shared its fourth single, “Kinch,” also one of our Songs of the Week.

After Lush, Berenyi was also in the band Piroshka and for the trio she is backed by two members of that band—Berenyi’s life partner KJ “Moose” McKillop (of ’90s shoegazers Moose) and guitarist Oliver Cherer. Miki Berenyi Trio (or MB3 for short) is a full on collaboration between the three members and not just a Berenyi solo project. Tripla is the Hungarian word for “triple,” named in a nod to Berenyi’s Hungarian father.

Bella Union is the label founded by Simon Raymonde, formerly of Cocteau Twins, a band previously associated with Lush. Bella Union also released the two Piroshka albums.

Paul Gregory (of Bella Union labelmates Lanterns on the Lake) mixed the album. The album was recorded at home and the trio have also taken a DIY approach to touring. “There is something very ‘grass roots’ about what we’re doing,” says Berenyi. “There’s no point following the ‘announce the album, then tour, then record the next album’ route—we just want to wring as much enjoyment out of this as we can, and hope that it resonates somewhere!”

In 2022, Berenyi released her acclaimed memoir, Fingers Crossed: How Music Saved Me From Success, and the trio was partially born out of the need to perform at book events.

Berenyi did a joint interview with Australian dream pop artist Hatchie in The ’90s Issue of our print magazine, where she discussed her memoir and Lush. Buy a copy directly from us here.

Pirohska, which also features former Elastica drummer Justin Welch, released their second studio album, Love Drips and Gathers, in 2021 via Bella Union. Read our interview with them about it here.

Pirsoshka also contributed to our Covers of Covers album in honor of our 20th Anniversary, where they covered Grandaddy’s “The Crystal Lake.” Berenyi was also one of the artists on the cover of our 20th Anniversary Issue.

Read our 2015 interview with Miki Berenyi and Emma Anderson of Lush on Lovelife and the final days of the band.

Read our 2015 interview with Lush on Split.

Read our 2016 interview with Lush on their reunion.

Read our 2024 interview with Berenyi on her memoir.

Miki Berenyi Trio 2025 North American Tour Dates:

10/10: Washington DC @ Pearl Street Warehouse
10/11: Brooklyn NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
10/12: Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
10/13: Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz PDB
10/15: Toronto, ON @ The Great Hall
10/16: Ferndale, MI @ The Magic Bag
10/17: Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
10/18: St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club
10/20: Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge
10/21: Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
10/23: Seattle, WA @ Neptune Theatre
10/24: Vancouver, BC @ Hollywood Theatre
10/25: Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
10/27: San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
10/28: West Hollywood, CA @ The Roxy Theatre

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