Review: Strange Desires by Bleachers

Sup ya'll - been a while since I did a review but just listened to Strange Desires by Bleachers and had to talk about it.

This sort of upbeat pop is my bread and butter so its no surprise that I say "great album" as its very much my style this summer. It has the free-wheeling pop sensibility of The Killers mixed with the visceral style of Youngblood Hawke and Foster the People. Did I mention it also reminds me of Fun which is much appreciated seeing as its been quite a long time since Some Nights and its good to see Jack Antonoff is keeping busy.

The album has tracks for all types of moods and mixes which makes it a fun one to enjoy all the way through despite some slow spots. As I said, the man behind the magic is Antonoff, better known as one third of Fun. My favorite tracks are the rev-up track "Shadows," the 'you probably have already heard it' radio hit "I Wanna Get Better" along with the jumpy summertime sweetner "Roller Coaster." Another one of the key tracks to listen to here is "Wake Me" which is another notch in the belt for my Pet Sounds-as-a-genre argument. The Yoko-infused "I'm Ready to Move On/Wild Heart Reprise" is questionable but possibly good after a few listens I'm not sure yet.

Strange Desire is not perfect by any means with a few tracks that left me scratching my head and/or bored like "Reckless Love" and "Like a River Runs," however,  in the vein of Antonoff's eternally optimistic sensibilities I will go so far as to say that they will get better in the context of the album over repeat listening.  If you dig the style, you'll dig the album - if you don't, then you won't - there are no bad tracks but there are some better ones and that's my story. But bottom line - this is an extremely talented artist proving that he has what it takes to go it alone when he is not rocking out with Nate Ruess or writing tunes for pop staples like Tegan & Sara or Taylor Swift. In my opinion, he deserves his time to shine.

For more on the record check out Josh Terry's (harsh but honest) review on Consequence of Sound.