“Blondshell” by Blondshell
An incisive, arresting LP that ranks among 2023's best alternative efforts.
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Welcome to a new edition of the Daily Music Picks newsletter!
Today’s music pick is one of the best alternative records of the year, mixing biting lyricism with 90s-style riffs.
Genre: Alternative Rock, Shoegaze
Label: Partisan
Release Date: April 7, 2023
Vibe: 🤘
If you like your coming-of-age stories equal parts fierce and unflinching, then Blondshell is for you. It’s the debut album from LA-based artist Sabrina Teitelbaum and one of the sharpest alternative records I’ve had the pleasure of listening to this year. Full of incisive, bold, and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny lyrics that navigate the highs and lows of life to this point, wrestling with the past in order to feel comfortable in the present. This could’ve been a slog in lesser hands, but the narrative is never less than relatable, even if they drudge up memories you’d like to forget. Teitelbaum’s humor sidles up next to dark, unsettling subject matter that includes substance abuse, mental health struggles, and self-harm (consider that your trigger warning). On “Sepsis,” she proclaims: "I’m going back to him, I know my therapist’s pissed/We both know he’s a dick, at least it’s the obvious kind.”
The arrangements amp up the anxious soul-searching in the writing, featuring muscular guitar riffs and restless energy reminiscent of Hole, Sonic Youth, and, most notably, Liz Phair’s Exile in Guyville. The overall atmosphere conjures up images of dingy bars and grungy punk rock venues, made up of equal parts excitement and regret. While the songs don’t name names or offer a ton of specifics, the stories told are more explosive as a result. Her mistakes and imperfections become a launching pad for tongue-in-cheek self-examination, for her own peace of mind as much as anything else.
It’s a stunner of a debut that will undoubtedly grow her devoted fanbase.
👉 Don’t forget to click the album image to stream the album on your favorite platform 👈