Self-titling your fourth studio album could be seen as laziness, or a re-launch given the move to iconic label Dirty Hit. As Bleachers release their new self-titled album it feels like none of these. This is an album that feels like a beginning; a band who have been on a journey and are ready to show the world who Bleachers are.
Antonoff has described how he created the first three Bleachers albums as if through the lens of the loss of his younger sister in 2001. Bleachers began life as an ode to the concept of tribute living. As Antonoff described: “This idea of tribute living makes you want to fly into the future so hard because someone else couldn’t.”
The instrumental introduction to ‘I Am Right On Time’ gives a sense of the musical depth that is to follow. Antonoff’s previous work demonstrates how much he values layers of music and the synergy of instruments and sounds. There’s no cacophony of noise or experimentation for experimentation’s sake. Instead, we have a carefully placed piano chord, emotional horns, rhythmic synths, jangling guitars, sampled voices and guitar riffs teasing us. Suddenly, Antonoff’s echo-laden vocals transport us into a gospel-inspired chapel of East Coast rock, as drum beats crash like waves on the New Jersey shore.
After the count-in and mournful weeping saxophone solo, we burst into the crashing drums and the staccato vocals of the lead single ‘Modern Girl’. The song blends the vocal delivery of Billy Joel’s ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’ with the colourful free rocking style of 1970s Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Each instrument takes centre stage before fading into the background again on this sonic bar-band feast. If Bleachers is about (re)introducing the band, then ‘Modern Girl’ is their signature tune. Antonoff’s take on modern life and his own place in it is a rousing triumph.
More drums take us straight into ‘Jesus Is Dead’, keeping up the tempo but toning down the instrumentation on this synth-pop track beneath Antonoff’s Eel-esque sounding vocals. Inspiration for the track came from the time he was sick with COVID-19 and watching Phantom Thread while considering everything important to him. With a powerful theme about charity (Antonoff set up the Ally Coalition that supports organisations in championing LGBTQ youth) the song contains some wry observations and beautiful musical changes.
Bleachers albums have always contained some sharply focused personal observations on life but Bleachers is even more personal. ‘Me For You’ is a beautiful synth ballad, which blends gentle vocals with a haunting saxophone and feels like a sibling to Springsteen’s ‘Secret Garden’. The track explores how love has changed Antonoff, describing how he was an emotionally unavailable bachelor: “ My bed was a place for the lonely, I built it that way, came to think it was holy”, he sings.
Further emphasising his newly married happiness, ‘Tiny Moves’ sees Antonoff observing his partner as he sings, “the tiniest moves you make, watching my whole world shake.” The peppy synth-heavy pop song sounds like it belongs on the soundtrack of a 1980s John Hughes movie. The switch-up in rhythm for the final bars feels nostalgic and more poppy than anything we’ve previously heard from Antonoff.
Sandwiched between these two personal tracks, is the second single, ‘Alma Mater’. Sonically, it feels very Antonoff but the mix of vocal delivery from baritone to falsetto, combined with Lana Del Rey’s bright soothing delivery, creates a wonderful gem. The soundscape is experimental and the delivery is brooding and thoughtful. Yet, the song also feels familiar—with the production hallmarks that we have seen from Antonoff’s previous work with other artists.
The variety of musical styles on the record create reference points to other Antonoff collaborations. Antonoff has already spoken of the band’s secret presence through his work on other artists’ albums, saying “The band has become characters that you’re hearing all over the world. It’s … cool… when you think about it.” And, it is cool to hear those subtle nods to the work with other artists.
The appropriately titled ‘Call Me After Midnight’ shares the smoky musical hues found on Swift’s midnights album. Lyrically, the relationship theme “you call me after midnight when you’re high” fits on midnights. The blend of vocal falsetto and deep vocal tones further adds to the sense that this could have been a collaboration piece. Achingly simple and beautiful ‘Isimo’ – a perfect showcase of Antonoff’s vocals, with its subtle synth undertone and sparkle of glockenspiel highlights, also feels like it could belong on his recent Swift collaborations.
Other nods to musical collaborations are more subtle. ‘Woke Up Today’ is a highlight—an acoustic guitar number, with echoes of the Lauren Canyon style Antonoff helped create on Lorde’s Solar Power. The song is a celebration of Antonoff’s love for his wife “I see the whole world in you baby” while referencing the love he had for his sister “It’s hard to hold on because I lost me whole world when she’d gone.”
There are many signposts to other possible musical influences. ‘Hey Joe’ feels Eelesque — ‘Hey Man (Now You’re Really Living)’ anyone? And, references to Springsteen are unsurprisingly everywhere, given Antonoff is a confessed devotee of ‘The Boss’. The blend of guitars, smattering of sax solos, bar band backing vocals and tinkling glockenspiels are all present.
One striking feature of Bleachers is the sequencing of the track listing that masterfully captures the ebbs and flows of a live gig. After the light’s down introspective acoustic musings of ‘Woke Up Today’ the house lights are back for the full Jersey shore sound of ‘Self Respect’.
There isn’t really a low point but, just like on Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night, the more experimental low-energy tracks are saved for the end. The Talking Heads-esque ‘Ordinary Heaven’ deserves its place in this collection but to finish with that track and the sombre distorted ‘The Waiter’ feels like an anticlimax to what has felt like a celebration.
Read More: Album Review: Take The Sadness Out Of Saturday Night
At its heart, Bleachers is a love album—a love for Antonoff’s wife, a tribute to his sister, the bond of a band and, ultimately, a love of music. Antonoff, enjoying a career-high, has finely crafted an album that showcases a supremely gifted band, that manages to sound raw and live but very personal.
Self-titling this album feels like Antonoff is a ‘mastermind’ — Bleachers leaves you with a real sense of who they are.
Bleachers is out on 8th March 2024.
Words by: Andrew Butcher
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