Losing

Growing up is hard but Bully make it sound exhilarating.

Alicia Bognanno's diary-like vocals still slide from ingenue-like to raging screams and back again but now her delivery is a little more taut. It makes the bits where she loses control feel very real. [Dec 2017, p.102]

With the world often seeming like a bleakly real episode of Black Mirror these days, Losing--a record that expresses the paralysing feeling of helpless that comes from watching it all unfold--is both timely and cathartic.

Suffice to say, Alicia Bognanno is in her prime as a musician, songwriter, and producer, and somehow comes out of Losing better than before, proving herself as one of the most consistent and impressive artists of the decade.

Even at that short running time, Losing’s 12 songs start to blur together toward the end, but the album’s many charms keep that from becoming a liability.

Like Smashing Pumpkins did at their peak, Bully tease dimensionality out of their music by emphasizing the similarity, and then the space, between Bognanno’s voice and the guitars that squall around her.

The band might not have developed their sound, but they have made their feelings more explicit. Although there is bubbling rage to the group, there is still a comfort they bring to their listeners. The variation of vocals and instrumentation from high to low show a dynamic that is not easily attainable.

Bully's newfound vulnerability and over-earnestness ("unproductivity haunts me!") creates a wedge between them and their cynicism-prone Nineties influences. By delving inward, they carve a path forward.

An album of grungy, earnest rock that pivots from deluges of Hole-inspired chaos to more restrained, melodic fare. [Nov 2017, p.24]

Lyrically, she’s never been better. Vocally, never more dynamic. Those two alone should make for another breakout record, but unfortunately, the core of the band is left faint, robbing the music of the pulsating energy and raw sensation that initially made Bully such a head-turner. Thankfully, Bognanno’s voice and words are more than enough to carry a record.

Discounting Losing's debt to the past, this is a high-grade garage rock record chock-full of emotionally honest, melodically engaging tunes. It may feel a little too familiar for those who experienced the '90s alt-rock boom firsthand, but those who didn't will no doubt be able to extract and enjoy its vibrancy.