Justin Morris moved to New York City in 2019 planning to quit music. After a childhood spent chasing indie rock, a stint selling merch on tour revealed the less romantic, workaday side of “the dream,” leaving him disillusioned. New York was meant to be a clean slate—until, less than a day into his Bushwick sublet, an armed robbery left him shaken and writing songs again. Those songs became Sluice.

Now a four-piece from Durham, North Carolina, Sluice—Morris (guitar/vocals), Oliver Child-Lanning (bass), Avery Sullivan (drums), and Libby Rodenbough (fiddle)—make music rooted in sincerity, labor, and companionship. Their third album, Companion, follows 2023’s Radial Gate, written during a period of isolation, carpentry jobs, and uncertainty about whether music was still worth pursuing. Where that record lingered in loneliness, Companion moves forward with cautious hope.