Album Review: Bleachers, Bleachers

Renowned for his Grammy-winning work alongside a variety of musical ATMs, you’ve almost certainly been privy to producer Jack Antonoff’s synth-washed sound. A swelling list of writing credits suggests he’s doing something right, and at its best, his latest Bleachers LP is a triumphant exhibition of his craftsmanship.

The production is predictably immaculate. Everything is eruditely in its right place, from the harmonies and synths on the opener, to the math-rock guitars on ‘Me Before You’. Engineering is nothing without captivating songwriting, though, and Bleachers boasts plenty.

A standout is the Springsteen-flavoured ‘Modern Girls’, where acute observations of 21st century life are intertwined with joyous saxophone licks. Antonoff also puts his highly influential self under the microscope on the zippy, tongue-in-cheek ‘Jesus Is Dead’. ‘Woke Up Today’ and ‘Hey Joe’ exhibit the tender atmosphere the producer has specialised in creating for other artists, some of whom – in the form of Lana Del Rey and Florence Welch – also have cameos.

Alongside the good is some bad, with a dash of ugly. ‘Call Me After Midnight’ feels like a beige parody of the sound Antonoff’s critics have accused him of homogenising radio waves with, while the intimate lyric on ‘We Are Going To Know Each Other Forever’ is diluted by irritating autotune.

The same can be said for ‘The Waiter’ which delves into a delirious state of overproduction. Elsewhere, fetishising the lives of ‘Ordinary People’ on the penultimate track feels tone-deaf coming from from such a commercial juggernaut, uncomfortably recalling the celeb-filled version of ‘Imagine’ that went viral for all the wrong reasons during the pandemic.

Such moments scupper Bleachers from being the pop masterclass it could otherwise have been.

6/10