The self-titled debut from Blondshell is an unfiltered look at a modern life littered with late-night self-reflection, bleakly humorous malaise, and poor romantic choices. Heavy doses of ’90s-tinged alternative rock mix with pop affections to create one of the more impressive debut albums in some time.
Sabrina Teitelbaum started her recording career as BAUM but wasn’t particularly happy with the pop direction she was taking. Now rebranded as Blondshell she opens her emotional wounds and spiritually bleeds out over the nine tracks with a heavier backing, while still retaining moments of sweetness and pop leanings.
“Veronica Mars” opens the album powerfully as fleeting observations of a TV show, growing up, and a blistering guitar outro announces Blondshell’s arrival. “Kiss City” is a twist on vanilla kinks, “look into my eyes and tell me I am pretty” and normalcy with a soaring pop ending while the resigned “Olympus” is a deep, stuck-in-bad decision track that has a Stone Temple Pilots feel.
That 90’s sense of alt/pop is all over the album with big drums, pianos, and crunching/acoustic guitars. “Salad” pulls from The Cranberries while deploying chimes, huge crescendos, and dreamt-up murder plots, “Sepsis” feels like a more polished (and better) Hole tune while dealing with asshole boyfriends with lines like “when I’m in love, nothing hurts”.
Those toxic relationships float into “Sober Together” as Teitelbaum sings with open honesty of struggling with drugs and codependency, all around smooth, light, r&b beats and oh-ah backing vocals, delivering the prettiest music around the harshest of topics. “Joiner” delivers a sweet jolt of pop rock as well as being attracted to the wrong people, while “Tarmac” goes big in a Smashing Pumpkins-influenced way, singing about degenerates in L.A. that Teitelbaum knows all too well.
The album ends with the melancholy of “Dangerous” as they come down making Teitelbaum reflective and putting more of a focus on her nuanced vocals. The combination of strong, ear-catching musicianship, confessional in-the-moment lyrics, and engaging vocals makes Blondshell’s debut an invigorating success.
