The Student Playlist

Showcasing the Best New Music, Curating the Classics

REVIEW: Bleachers – ‘Strange Desire’ (RCA)

Front cover of 'Strange Desire'

Front cover of ‘Strange Desire’

by Ed Biggs

The first full-length release of Jack Antonoff’s solo project Bleachers, has been a considerable time in the making. From his work as one third of pop-rock favourites Fun. to his songwriting for the likes of Taylor Swift, he’s always been an unapologetic advocate of a bold, ‘80s-style pop epic, and a couple of singles in the shape of ‘I Wanna Get Better’ and ‘Rollercoaster’ made a serious dent in the US Alternative Songs chart last summer. Then, everything went quiet amid rumours of an album. Nearly 18 months after they first attracted attention, we get Strange Desire, a curious musical statement with one foot planted firmly in vintage indie/synth pop territory and another in the cutting edge production of modern pop. Antonoff has brought in Vince Clarke – yes, he of Erasure, Yazoo and Depeche Mode fame – in an unspecified role to oversee the album’s production, but most of that work was handled by his band’s own John Hill, someone Antonoff has cited as extremely modern in his outlook. What we end up with is a fleetingly entertaining album of heavily stylised zeitgeist chasing that suffers badly from inconsistency and overstatement of its sentiments.

Strange Desires pitches itself at the lonely outcast at American high schools, with themes of redemption and belonging constantly revisited. You can practically see the montage of jocks and nerds during the opening credits sequence of some nameless ‘80s teen movie as ‘Shadows’ or ‘Wild Heart’ play – even the name ‘Bleachers’ keys into that imagery. But underneath the bombast, it’s an identity crisis of a record. It can’t decide whether it wants to be a chart-bothering big hitter or a credible, modern indie / alternative rock record, a quandary mirrored in Antonoff’s adoption of various singing styles in order to fit the mood of the music. One minute he’s channelling the naff Owl City-esque ‘Wild Heart’, with its lustrous keyboards and gated drums; another he lowers his voice significantly for the rather wonderful middle album duo ‘Wake Me’ and ‘Reckless Love’. The former is a beautifully poised surf-rock-influenced ditty, the latter capturing that sense of understated grandeur that make The National so great.

Although there’s anything wrong with such vocal versatility, it does seem to speak to a lack of a real identity. As if to expose that emptiness, there’s also a couple of bizarre and poorly thought-out guest spots that really work against the grain of the album. Claire Boucher (aka Grimes) does her minimalist post-dubstep thing while Auto-Tuning Antonoff’s voice in a mixture that falls flat, and Yoko Ono turns up to provide some of her vulnerable, fractured vocals that serve no specific purpose on ‘I’m Ready To Move On / Wild Heart Reprise’. It’s certainly not all bad news, with the wonky synths of hit single and album highlight ‘I Wanna Get Better’ providing evidence of Vince Clarke’s influence and showcasing Antonoff’s talents to their fullest. But too many non-descript songs, like the open-road rocker ‘Rollercoaster’ and attempted catharsis of ‘Like A River Runs’, come off as pre-programmed. While there are a couple of moments of character, most of Strange Desires is bland and crassly anthemic, with little real substance underneath the predictable musical signifiers. (4/10)

Listen to Strange Desire here!

 

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