This is neither a eulogy, nor a birth notice. It's a tiny mixture of both as we failed Aushua, but they're not through and that's where the group anew thought comes into the picture. Aushua is dead. Long live Aushua, as the Santa Ana, Calif., band does here with this session, rescued out of the depths of our vaults, somehow stuck out there in the hidden ether for far too long. In that time, Phil Newyear, Nathan Gammill, Eric Newyear, and Lee Newyear decided that they were going to change the band name and make a fresh start as Pacific Hurt - a name that suits them incredibly well. We welcome the continued exploration of what it means to be a man out there in the wind, getting beaten around and having disappointments take their toll, but never sinking the ship. Most of what we heard out of Aushua were these entries from lives that were strung out, hanging precariously close to the brink of needing some kind of reinvention, or like an epiphany were right around the corner, forming out of the sea salt in the air, or in a blur of lights that were usually ignored. The stories that they tell are those of men seeking higher ground, some place where they'll feel safer. They aren't cries of desperation, but they are needing and they're hurting. There are those who are dazed here. They are searching and wondering where this is going, where they've come from, who they're going to be, who they're going to wind up with, banging their heads against the wall to make time move faster, if only to allow for some clarity. It's as if there's something blowing in from the powerful, onto the coast, falling over these characters, who aren't necessarily trapped, but they're definitely not free either. They're here and they're stuck somewhat. We feel that the people here all have the heaviest of hearts, as if they're full of bank safes and boulders, saddled with memories and of amazement that some things can be so difficult, even when they shouldn't be. They're kept on the ground, even in the face of being passionately opposed to it. They are fighting against all the forces they can see, as well as those they can't and it can be exhausting on a spirit. The hurt's not going anywhere though. It just blends in with those winds, rolling over others.