Bleacher's Jack Antonoff retro churnings starts to lose power in this new album.
Going back and checking how much Jack Antonoff has grown and provided as a musician and as a producer was an interesting chronology of its own. He started out as one of the members of FUN. Then after that band disbanded, he decided to make and release a couple of albums under his project 'Bleachers' and also started producing and providing his bombastic and explosive production style for artists like Taylor Swift, Lorde, and St. Vincent. But that style started to change greatly once he did production work for Lana Del Rey in 2019, more rootsier and folksy. And said acoustic, pastoral production style became much more apparent in recent years while also adding in retro compositions and instrumentation, which has now become Jack's bread and butter with the recent releases from Lana Del Rey, Clairo, St. Vincent, as well as that upcoming album from Lorde and Diana Ross.
Going back to those Bleacher albums made me start to miss just how maximalist and bombastic Jack Antonoff’s production can be. Doesn’t mean that the mellower side of his production these days are bad, it might be a sea change once the retro acoustic folk pastiche has turned the tides in recent years and mentioned artists that started dipping their toes on that aesthetic felt right for the messages and stories they want to tell. But I do start to appreciate the bigger production scope that aims for pounding hooks and melodies that are all over the debut album, parts of the sophomore album, and especially Jack’s collaborative production work with other artists during 2017. And that appreciation also goes to the earnest, frustrated lyrics about certain moments of his life, his own internal musings, as well as love that does give a bit of complexity in its details.
But going through this album just leaves me less to say? It still sounds retro, especially with the Springsteen worship and feature on this album and the lyricism still does cover similar ground surrounding his state in life today and the frustrations of being in New Jersey and his musings on love… But it’s not as memorable or well put together as his past albums. The production feels a bit myopic and fleeting, especially when the songs run short and filled with blurry acoustics and atmospherics that are static even with the brass instruments thrown in. The melodies drip and roll in mellow ways but not anything special. The worst examples here are the tracks like ‘Chinatown’ and ‘Big Life’ that smear any sort of interesting dynamics in the mix. But even then, there are some songs that pick up some groove and bigger melodies that Jack Antonoff is always known for in the past. ‘Stop Making This Hurt’ is obviously the best song here with its triumphant progressions, ‘45’ with its acoustic pickups against the tense melodies, ‘Don’t Go Dark’ is the same case as well while also bringing in some brighter drums and chimes to the mix, and ‘How Dare You Want More’ with it’s cleaner mix paired with the brass and guitar breakdowns that are worth highlighting.
At this point in his career as a musician and as a producer, I am starting to feel colder with his production these days. Not that it’s bad but compared to what he has done with those albums that he produced during 2017 and the ones that he has produced now, I can’t help but feel less excited with his retro excursions nowadays. It still has organic textures, but it doesn’t show what he’s able to do with these that can be retro but can also be his own signature sound. Again, like this album, it’s fine. But I know Jack can do so much better.
Favorite Tracks: Stop Making This Hurt, Don’t Go Dark, How Dare You Want More, 45
Least Favorite Track: Chinatown