BLEACHERS: Bleachers

Back in September, when Bleachers dropped Modern Girl, the rabid fanbase was quick to assume that the next album would sound more like a rollicking live-band collaboration than the last three. And rightfully so; Modern Girl picks up where How Dare You Want More, from 2021’s Take The Sadness Out of Saturday Night, left off. It’s the sound of a Jersey Shore bar band playing for a room full of buzzed, loved-up, hipster kids, complete with a double saxophone attack and cheeky band member name-checks. This assumption seemed to be verified when we learned that the new album (the fourth in the band’s ten year history) would be self-titled; maybe we would finally get the studio equivalent of the six band members’ onstage repartee.

But Jack Antonoff is nothing if not surprising. With the exception of Modern Girl, Bleachers turns out to be the band’s most pensive and relaxed album yet. It’s more of a studio creation than you might have been expecting on the strength of that first single; warm synths and delicate harmonies abound. None of the other tracks strive for the frenetic live-show dynamics of the lead single. That being said, it’s an album that rewards multiple listens, with moments of sheer beauty and vibes for days.

Opener I Am Right On Time sets the table with a stuttering electric drum beat and Antonoff’s breathy, unhurried vocals. Jesus Is Dead unfolds at the same tempo (or that is to say, midtempo) with playful, stream-of-consciousness lyrics that might suggest Eels as an East Coast band. Me Before You is almost too on the nose in its sonic similarity to Springsteen’s Secret Garden, but still a gorgeous little love song in its own right.

Anybody who has been to a Bleachers show can tell you that they’re a powerful and infectious live band. Their 2022 SNL spot was one of the show’s very best musical appearances in recent memory (although those clips are frustratingly, nowhere to be found on YouTube.) So it’s a little bit shocking that so many of these fourteen tracks are, for lack of a better term, easy listening. Nothing on the album has the immediate screamalong nature of their debut single I Wanna Get Better.

But maybe that’s because Antonoff has gotten better. For a guy who’s newly married- and minted with multiple Producer of the Year Grammys- the angst and fervor of Strange Desire would certainly be hard to keep up, or fake. If you’re looking for an album that’s designed to be screamed from an overpass, Bleachers’ debut has aged remarkably well. But if you’re looking for something to set the mood on a long Sunday morning and/or temp score the love scene of an ‘80s set coming of age movie, Bleachers is exactly what the doctor ordered.

And then there’s Modern Girl. Not exactly out of place, but certainly the most uptempo track on the album. I’s a nice little reminder that even as Antonoff matures and finds love, his band can still kick ass when they feel like it.

It’s ironic that Bleachers was originally greeted as a side project, while Antonoff was fresh off of his success with the band fun. Ten years later, his band has live chops for days, restraint when you’re least expecting it- and yes, still plenty of fun. B+