Bleeker brothers Taylor and Cole Perkins have been grafting and writing songs since they were both teens. Bassist Mike Vandyk and Drummer Chris Dimas complete the lineup. Brian Moncarz, along with Dimas, produced and mixed the record.
With no fancy openings, ‘Messed Up’ opens with the rock screamer ‘Walken’ noticeable for the singers below and the crashing guitars. You quickly notice the ear-grabbing pop phrasing of the lyrics. Something that the second track shows so well, too. ‘Messed Up’ is classic indie at its best, riding the wave of cymbal pashing and chordal rhythms. It’s only a couple of spins away from being your summer soundtrack.
The sunny-side-up nostalgia of ‘1998’ just flows with Perkins’s bouncing vocals over crisp guitars and hypnotic drumming. It’s the perfect escapism track for lazy summer days back when the sun did nothing but shine and the days were long.
Funk of ‘Let’s Go’ was heavily used in the NFL playoffs for good reason. The powerful track is best played loudly, where its impact can be felt and heard. The stomping chorus is as energising as a bucket full of cold water. The twin guitar attack from the brothers is a vital part of the band’s sound. The interplay between the two develops this crashing wall of sound that sounds amazing turned up. Cole Perkins’s lead work peeks through the mix on songs such as ‘Make It Better’, with his melodic lines weaving in between the vocals, and they dodge and burn, adding that something just lifts each track.
Bright and breezy, the appropriately named ‘Cool’ is another slice of Canadian sunshine. Its lyrics trip off the tongue, and the chorus has a huge guitar riff that will have you raising your arms up regardless of what you are doing.
Highlight tracks ‘Good Morning’ and ‘Sideways’ are drawn straight from the power pop textbook. The Perkins brothers’ vocals are sweetly tuned, leading the tracks to climatic endings. It’s tracks like this that make this band vital to the musical scene.
Bleeker has given us a sunny, joyful album that’s bursting with hope. There are no tracks out of place, just pop-punk banger after banger. This album is so easy to listen to that time just flies by, lost in the foot-tapping hypnotic music. Canadians do this kind of thing better.
Check out the album’s opening track, below:
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