This Odyssey won’t sail itself home so let’s get to
the next album, shall we?
Disc 1218 is… Welcome the Worms
Artist: Bleached
Year of Release: 2016
What’s up with the Cover? The band appears to be trapped on
some kind of desolate planet, possibly inhabited by Gorns. They do not look
concerned in the slightest, despite two of them not even having access to long
pants.
How I Came To Know It: I read a review and was intrigued
so I checked out the album and…here we are.
How It Stacks Up: I have two Bleached albums this one and 2013’s
“Ride Your Heart” (reviewed back at Disc 971) Of the two, “Welcome the
Worms” is the best.
Ratings: 4 stars
“Welcome the Worms” is proof that you can have a
dark album that still finds a way to inspire you to get over it. This record
doesn’t suggest that your problems will all magically disappear, but it does shows
that sometimes the best thing you can do is revel in surviving it all.
Bleached is a pop-punk band that crosses the
alternative crunch of Sleater Kinney with the bad girl surfer pop of the
Go-Gos. The band’s sound has a triumphant soar, aided by the high and raspy
vocals of frontwoman Jennifer Clavin. Clavin’s voice sounds like a sixties pop
singer but with a switchblade edge to it.
At the other end – but getting equal love in mix –
is bassist and sister Jessica Clavin. While the production has a metallic
rawness to it the bass is thick and rich, giving the tracks a foundational
groove. I’m not much of a bass guitar expert, but I love the way Jessica plays,
precise with just the right amount of punk abandon. Her opening riff on “Sleepwalking” has a forward-leaning
stumble you could imagine on a sleepwalker, but despite the frantic pace she never
trips up.
The songs are well constructed little ditties that
like most punk music get in, get on with it and get out again, with the whole
record clocking in at a restrained 36 minutes. I listened to it four times in a
row and each time it ended I found myself wanting more.
The songs are anthems to hard living and bad
experiences, but they are structured in a way that makes all that bad news seem
triumphant. Where my last Courtney Barnett review left me feeling drained from
all the uncertainty, Bleached centers all their doubt on rebellion, riding
their way out of the doldrums on a rollercoaster of who-gives-a-fuck.
This isn’t to say these songs sugar-coat the bad
times. There are plenty of bad coping choices, including booze, drugs, junk
food and bad choices. As they sing on “Sour
Candy”:
“Catch a ride with
an unknown guy
Smokin’ dabs,
getting high
Cuz the past ain’t
kind
And the future
scares me.”
“Sour Candy”
has a sound very reminiscent of the Ramones through the verses, and then the
chorus has a surprisingly catchy melody that you might expect in a pop hit, if
the pop hit was less about kissing a boy and more about stumbling around high.
The album’s
single “Wednesday Night Melody” pulls
all the band’s elements together. Crunchy guitar is matched up with pop-style “baa-ba-baas” and “aaah-aah” singing, and a clever hook over which Jennifer suggests that
on a hard day you find your pleasure in the little things:
“Come on boy dry
your eyes
It’s good to feel
just a little alive
Drop a needle on
the groove today
And waste away.”
“Welcome the Worms” isn’t pure punk, but this will
only bother purists. Yes it has plenty of pop-friendly hooks but it also has more
than enough edge to draw blood if edge is what you want. It also has energy to
spare, and a restless intensity that grabs your attention and holds it
throughout.
Best
tracks: Keep On
Keepin’ On, Sleepwalking, Wednesday Night Melody, Sour Candy, Hollywood We Did
It All Wrong
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