Sad surf honey tries to ride the biggest wave in the Midwest, Born in a tsunami off the coast of Kahoolawe, BeachBunny was raised as a sea critter till the time her paws were strong enough to swim. By 1961 she had learned how to speak the language of every ocean and trekked from Rainbow Falls to Eastern California where she was exposed to the reverb-drenched surf culture of Orange County. Bunny became hypnotized by the exotic noise and by 1968 found herself singing the Sunset Strip alongside psychedelic west coasters and teen dropouts. Bunny released her first EP “Animalism” the following year, and is currently swimming the Gulf of Mexico in pursuit of positive vibes and new music.
Riding high after their debut Honeymoon was featured on all the crucial Album of the Year listings, Chicago indie pop band Beach Bunny now continue their rapid rise to the top with new EP Blame Game. Featuring the single “Good Girls (Don’t Get Used)”, Blame Game explores the dark territories where relationships turn toxic, as singer Lili explains; “As a veteran of engaging with emotionally unavailable people, I wanted to create a sassy song that calls out players by talking down to them as if they were children, showing that poor communication skills and mind games are immature.”
“It shifts the blame to the person that was acting disrespectful, instead of myself. The song also hammers home the point that I know my worth; I’m not afraid to call out players on their stupid behaviour, and I’m not going to tolerate being thrown around emotionally.” – Lili Trifilio
Beach Bunny album ‘Honeymoon’ was included in Best Albums of 2020 at The New York Times, Rolling Stone Magazine, Los Angeles Times & more!
Sometimes love is a battlefield; other times it’s more akin to an arcade game. With equal parts sass and aggression, Chicago’s alt-pop-punk outfit, Beach Bunny, delivers their new EP, “Blame Game”. The four-part collection captures bandleader Lili Trifilio’s enragement at the moment of creation. The lead vocalist enlists her bandmates, Matt Henkels (guitar), Anthony Vaccaro (bass), and Jon Alvarado (drums), to set fire to the scorching set. Trifilio credits the bands’ close ties to their ability to capture her raw, raging emotions with impeccable empathy.
The sophomore EP follows last February’s “Honeymoon” Beach Bunny’s highly acclaimed, pre-pandemic debut. Their 2020 LP paints a somewhat optimistic picture of love, wearing through the wonder of infatuation with upbeat garage rock instrumentation. Blame Game brings the honeymoon phase to a screeching halt. The previously love-struck narrator has been tainted—and it shows. Where Honeymoon centered on the highs and lows of new love, Beach Bunny’s latest aims at toxic masculinity, sexism, and the emotional labour of unreliable relationships.
Written while cooped up from Covid-19, each track sinks into an overall theme of drastic discontentment with mind games and manipulation. Trifilio describes the extended play as “a conversation between a femme person and a sexist society.” She explains that “sonically, ‘Blame Game’ is more heavy, aggressive and lyrically a lot angrier.”
“Most of the time I’m writing from first hand experience,” Trifilio says. “And I was in a very enraged mood during this period of time.”
In August, the band brought four solid selections to the studio in Chicago, and producer Joe Reinhart (Hop Along, Joyce Manor, Modern Baseball) got to work on “Blame Game”.
The single, “Good Girls (Don’t Get Used),” kicks off the collection in a fitting manor. The punchy-pop track confronts the fuckboy crisis facing millennials everywhere. Standing atop her newfound self-loving pedestal, Trifilio dresses down the person who had previously picked her apart. “Gotta show me / If you wanna know me / Maybe you would know by now / I’m the greatest thing that you could have,” she seethes triumphantly, backed by persistent percussion from Alvarado.
In addition, the band released an official music video for “Good Girls (Don’t Get Used),” directed by Lua Borges and produced by Everybody’s Baby. The video employs imagery of arcade-style games to deliver a humorous condemnation of child-like behaviour. Elevating its instrumentation on “Nice Guys,”Beach Bunny exhibits sonic growth. Vaccaro contributes what he proudly describes a “noisy guitar thing”—something different from his usual work on the bass.
“That’s just one example of how we stepped out of our comfort zones,” Vaccaro explains. “We want to keep pushing ourselves because every time you put something out, you want it to sound better and better.” The closing title-track takes another angry turn. The chant-like punk protest tune defines what it means to be a woman from the perspective of an angsty globally-facing 23-year-old. While Trifilio admits she’s feeling better now, her messaging remains the same. Behind the rage lies solidarity in resistance and a refusal to be played.
“It was therapeutic for me to write it,” she reveals, “and now that it’s out and the feeling has passed, hopefully, it will be therapeutic for the listeners.”.
The band: Lili Trifilio – vocals, guitar Matt Henkels – guitar Anthony Vaccaro – bass Jon Alvarado – drums
Stevie Jean’s debut EP is filled with tumultuous tales from her high school years, but rather than reading like the tortured journal entries of youth, “December Song” is mature and nuanced, emoting with the clarity of distance without sacrificing any of the unchecked teenage volatility. The young Northern Territory songwriter deals in darkness well, sounding like early Mazzy Star, or Tori Amos without the histrionics. Even as it creeps along, December Song is ultimately uplifting. Perhaps it’s because Stevie Jean has spun gold from misery: as myopic as being in love can be, it ultimately makes us stronger – especially when it doesn’t work out.
Her debut EP “Blame Game” is out now. Dorro Records Released on: 2019-11-01
The Fat Angel Sings 