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Mar 6, 2024Steeped in blissful American nostalgia, Bleachers’ sublime self-titled fourth studio album embodies it all, from the rolling vistas to the warmth of distant city lights, at once watching the world pass by and deeply cemented in a moment. It’s rare for an album to capture a feeling so intensely, promoting a universal recognition through something so intrinsically linked to an individual’s time and place.
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Mar 6, 2024‘Bleachers’ as an album symbolises the full-throttle shift from solo voice to its current form of ensemble unity; a band of six-talented musicians entering their most monumental era yet.
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MojoApr 23, 2024There's taut New Wave (Tiny Moves; Jesus Is Dead), but mainly moody electronic balladry (think Streets Of Philadelphia), with Del Rey turning up to fulfil the intend of her one repeated line ("I'll make it darker") on Alma Mater. [Jun 2024, p.82]
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Mar 6, 2024The Lana Del Rey-featuring ‘Alma Mater’ is another prime example of the Bleachers genius, ‘Tiny Moves’’ glistening undercurrent sounds like a sprinkle of magic, and ‘Jesus Is Dead’’s whispered indie rock assessment of New York micro-scenes and life in a band is pure gold. In those moments – a large chunk of this album – any hint of fatigue is blasted away, Antonoff’s presence a welcome one once again.
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Mar 8, 2024Bleachers occasionally borders on indulgent, but its tangents and loose ends are part and parcel of Antonoff's process -- and part of what makes it such a complete self-portrait.
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Mar 7, 2024If Antonoff can add more of his own personality into songs as beautifully crafted and well produced as these, they could unleash something special.
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Mar 7, 2024Bleachers takes steps, stuttering though they may be, towards a more cohesive identity as a band. This record feels less bogged down than its predecessors by glaringly forced attempts at stadium-swelling pop hits better suited for collaborators like Swift.
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Mar 6, 2024The fourth, self-titled Bleachers record doesn’t veer too far from their previous LPs.
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Mar 7, 2024On Bleachers—especially on the singles-heavy first half—the band is simply playing for each other, much to the songs’ benefit.
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Mar 7, 2024Because of this seeming resistance against leaving their comfort zone, Bleachers becomes so opaque it practically evaporates by the time you finish it.
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Mar 19, 2024Bleachers is agreeable and safe, but there's a fumbling listlessness to the whole thing, a lack of dynamism that makes it fade into white noise. Antonoff’s latest is not the grand, drive-off-into-the-sun record that Strange Desire or even Gone Now strove to be and sometimes became — Bleachers is a commuter’s record through and through.
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Mar 7, 2024Bleachers occasionally lets Antonoff’s genius shine through, but more often it feels like an experiment gone awry.
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Mar 7, 2024Bleachers would have felt more complete if their signature goofiness prominent in the upbeat production had seeped into more tracks. Despite some occasionally affecting lines, songwriting isn’t their forte; instrumentation is.
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UncutMar 6, 2024Moody shades of The National and Tunnel Of Love-era Springsteen abound, though the whole thing never quite manages to fully convince. [Mar 2024, p.25]
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Mar 11, 2024While Bleachers is far from being a bad album, it’s even further from being an exciting one.
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Mar 8, 2024Bleachers ends up being all the worst fears of Jack’s career path made manifest, as any semblance of uniqueness is sanded down in favor of Christmas Special-quality cameos to remind you just how strong his LinkedIn profile has grown.