Rating: 6.5/10
While the name Bleachers might not be familiar to all, Jack Antonoff’s music will surely ring a bell.
Antonoff is the producer behind stellar albums like “Melodrama” by Lorde, “Norman f—ing Rockwell” by Lana Del Rey and of course three Album of the Year winners: “1989,” “folklore” and “Midnights” by Taylor Swift.
This time, however, Antonoff focused on his own music with a new release from his indie-pop act Bleachers.
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“Bleachers,” the self-titled album, is the fourth in the band’s discography after their 2021 release “Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night.”
Antonoff, the self-proclaimed New Jersey’s finest New Yorker, is known for his behind-the-scenes work and for having won Grammy Awards for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical for three consecutive years.
Infused with Evan Smith on the sax and references to everything from “Phantom Thread” to Dimes Square, “Bleachers” is Antonoff at his most modern.
Although not indicating collaborations in the song titles, “Bleachers” stars more than a couple of Antonoff’s friends.
Del Rey’s stunning vocals are featured with a few words in the dreamlike “Alma Mater,” which complements the song’s tone. “Alma Mater” is one of the singles accompanied by a music video where Del Rey makes an appearance along with singer Clairo and Margaret Qualley.
“Tiny Moves” is perhaps the most fun and danceable track on the record. It’s accompanied by a video featuring Antonoff’s wife Margaret Qualley as a dancer, choreographer and director.
“Self Respect” builds up the tension with whisper choruses featuring Florence Welch from Florence + The Machine and turns chant-like toward the end.
Throughout the musical journey, listeners are treated to electropop and the classic Bleachers melancholic-pop sound with a good amount of ’80s influence. Leaning more toward an acoustic sound are guitar-heavy tracks like “Woke Up Today.”
Songs like “Call Me After Midnight” clearly display the influence of Antonoff’s work with The 1975 — not only in lyrics but also in general sound and production. Listeners could confuse this song for a collaboration with Matty Healy.
Other pieces like “We’re Gonna Know Each Other Forever” ask questions like “Does anyone leave their hometown and actually survive?” — typical lyrics in Bleachers songs that deal with coming of age and nostalgia.
Compared to Bleachers’ previous albums, which deal mostly with the exploration of heartbreak and youth, this release shows the band’s growth mostly through songwriting, which is also noticeable in Antonoff’s collaborations with Qualley throughout the album.
This self-titled record, a name usually reserved for a band’s debut, reignites the charm of the songs that made the band popular in the first place.
Overall, it’s a cohesive album; the release brings classic Bleachers with a more mature touch, as was demonstrated in the lyrics and coupled with the sound and production Bleachers is well-known for.
