Music Overview: Bleachers edge previous The Boss as Jack Antonoff finds a brand new form of peace
Self-titled albums are the normal method for a musical act to introduce themselves. Right here I’m, they are saying — this is the place it begins. So what are we to make of Bleachers’ new album, their fourth and self-titled?
It alerts that “Bleachers” is a rebirth of types. Singer-songwriter Jack Antonoff — the achieved multi-instrumentalist, Grammy-winning super-producer and New Jersey cool child — presents a mature, kaleidoscopic 14 tracks, with turns into softer instructions and kinds.
If Bleachers up to now was all angsty angle, barreling down the Backyard State Parkway with a center finger by the sunroof, this time Bleachers is cuddling on the couch. “I’ll make your mattress/I’ll make your house,” Antonoff sings within the Beatles-esque “Woke Up As we speak.”
Bruce Springsteen — who had a visitor look on the final Bleachers’ album, “Take the Unhappiness Out of Saturday Night time” — stays away this time, however as at all times looms over the brand new set, significantly when E Avenue-style horns erupt and threaten to swallow songs. Antonoff appears to imagine {that a} sax solo is at all times the right addition. (He is an skilled, however he is flawed.)
“Bleachers” reveals much less of The Boss on its sleeve than earlier outings. “Tiny Strikes,” with its ’80s synth could possibly be on the “Fairly in Pink” soundtrack, whereas “Self Respect” mixes the chilliness of The Nationwide with the bombast of The Killers. Antonoff mimics The 1975 within the very good “Name Me After Midnight.”
The album spotlight must be the bold “Hey Joe,” a form of 2024 response to Simon & Garfunkel’s ”Mrs. Robinson,” with Antonoff speaking throughout generations, discussing warfare and fathers and Marilyn Monroe. “We tried giving peace an opportunity however didn’t know what it’s,” he sings.
Antonoff’s clout is subtly proven together with his collaborators: Lana Del Rey and Florence Welch provide vocals and co-write on a music every, Matt Healy from The 1975 performs piano on one other with Aaron Dessner from The Nationwide as co-writer. However his visitors do not pop up within the songs that you simply count on will sound like them.
There are lyrical nods to Tom Waits and Bowie, and popular culture references to Kobe Bryant, Kendall Jenner, Ken Burns, “Phantom Thread” and Balenciaga. The barn-burning “Trendy Lady” has Antonoff mocking himself with one among his greatest traces: “I suppose I’m/New Jersey’s most interesting New Yorker/unreliable reporter/pop music hoarder/some man taking part in quarters.”
Antonoff’s latest marriage to Margaret Qualley might have re-centered him — “Me Earlier than You” is a “Streets of Philadelphia”-style look again at a person who has new perspective. There’s a comfortable domesticity all through the album, and Qualley’s voice is embedded in a monitor.
The album careens off a cliff on the finish, with the ultimate three tracks meandering, self-indulgent messes with distorted vocals. Meaning the album ends with a whine, which is a pity. Antonoff has lastly pushed previous The Boss and located new methods to specific himself. He is earned the self-title.
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