With a title that point to the very transitional nature of contemporary culture, Jack Antonoff and co return with a sixth album of harmony-laden folk rock, synth and indie pop with that specifi sax-rich New Jersey sound, expressing personal recollections, and mixed feelings of insecurity and optimism. Antonoff is better known as a super producer for major artists, particular Taylor Swift, Lorde, and Lana Del Rey, but Bleachers is very much his passion project as singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Standout is the rousing You And Forever, a beautiful love song, inspired by his wife actress Margaret Qualley who is also in the video. The Van is very much a shout-out to his New Jersey days with a nostalgic sound: Left the house years ago / Here's the story of a kid and his shadow / He just didn't wanna be lonely … Pulled into a Wawa in Philly in 2000 / Blue Magic coming from the speaker at the gas pump/ All Jersey kids, we never learned to pump gas/ So we sat there with the soundtrack.” We Should Talk harks also back to his early band days with a certain nostalgia wi, “we had a band, we had a life, we had dreams / in a van we wrote our own bible supreme” and also with more of indie pop sound, remembers fondly long gone friendship with someone who instead settled down earlier – “I really miss hanging on each other’s words”. Dirty Wedding Dress, with very much a singalong Springsteen and Jersey sound, references his wedding to Qualley in 2023 when the party was crashed by crowds of fans and reporters … “So we got married that August And the neighbors all lost their minds / We had to board up all the windows and shoot out the drones / We took that sadness right from Saturday night.” The first half then is significantly stronger, but the second continues with songs variously sentimental, sad and joyful, from the slow, wistful I Can’t Believe You’ve Gone, the violin and banjor sounds of the Dylan- and country-inspired She’s From Before, the harpsichord- and organ-based I’m Not Joking and the 80s pop, with sitar sounds of closer Upstairs at Els. Out on Dirty Hit Records.
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