"I don't want to be alone tonight"
Nashville's Blonde Bones just released their full length "Hiding Out" (2020). It is a diverse raging and chilling (mostly raging) collection of indie pop songs about relationships full of charming, acerbic, maybe even emotionally subversive lyrics against blends of sort of indie rock (with surf pop tones), tropical punk flavors, tossing in light jazz flourishes and sock hop punk flavors. It is a dreamy, smile inducing affair. Take the breezy, Woody or the dramatic runaway sound of Marianne, or the double time 50's punk croon fest, Bored To Death, or the wistful sort of half drunk, Last Days Of A Long Winter, or the intoxicated Karen's Coming Over and you will be steeped into a truly bittersweet, dreamy, potent bit of escapist fare. I couldn't help but think of a car crash of The Drums, The Buttertones and Mac DeMarco. The breath and scope of "Hiding Out" is wide, the emotional tones full of longing for love but with sandpaper cynicism and a razor sharp tongue. The songwriting is smart, poetic, raised eyebrow commentary and catharsis on the "between human beings" condition.
Maybe the most romantic view on the album is the dreamy sway and melodies of track 8, Holidays. Constructed on a drum machine beat, front man, Christian Barnett strips away his vocal edges for a more soft lilt and view, "...heaven knows we only get it right one time..." and with guitar notes hanging in the air and soft synth arpeggios floating in the wash, it is a group hug with heads bobbing left to right in unison.
In the end, Holiday, feels so unabashedly sweet especially in comparison to "Hiding Out"'s more bitter sweet feel that I wonder if there is another side to it. If so, that makes me smile even more.
Blonde Bones are band leader & guitarist Christian Barnett, bassist Joe Rebrovick and drummer Daniel Ryan.
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
Having already garnered praise from hometown outlets the Nashville Scene and No Country for New Nashville, as well as airplay on regional tastemaker stations WUTK and WUTC, indie pop outfit Blonde Bones are poised to break out on a national scale with their upcoming LP, Hiding Out.
Comprised of band leader & guitarist Christian Barnett, bassist Joe Rebrovick and drummer Daniel Ryan, Blonde Bones showcases a knack for melody well beyond their years. This upcoming collection of well-crafted pop tunes, while awash in a healthy dose of reverb, will find listeners slinking to the dance floor with its undeniable grooves.
The band chose to break out of the Music City’s mold to find their inspiration, tapping Atlanta-based producer Damon Moon (Blair Crimmins, Big Brutus, Sydney Eloise & the Palms) and his Standard Electric Recording Company to cut their new batch of songs. The resultant Hiding Out is a trippy and undeniably groove-hardy affair, with Barnett’s dreamy, psych-tinged vocals sharing the spotlight with chorus-laden guitars, swirling keys, woody bass lines, and urgent, clever percussion work.
Hiding Out, due out mid-2020, is a remarkable debut full-length release, as catchy and accessible as it is bold and transportive, and it bodes well for a bright future.
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