Style: Hyperpop, Progressive Pop (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Poppy, Crystal Castles, Purity Ring, Phantogram, Frosting-era Bent Knee
Country: New York, United States
Release date: 4 April 2025
Sleigh Bells are a band that—in the consciousness of many—belong solidly in the 2010s. The smash hit off their debut album Treats, “Rill Rill”, wasn’t released as a single but was featured in an iPhone commercial, tearing to the top of their most-streamed songs, where it still sits today. But for the past decade and a half, these harbingers of heady hyperpop have continued quietly crafting their own brand of rule-bending rock. Bunky Becky Birthday Boy, the latest full-length album from the duo, is a confident continuation of that progressive spirit, bubbling away just beneath the crust of mainstream pop.
Treats introduced Sleigh Bells’ unique blend of pop and noise rock to the world, wriggling right into the then-nascent hyperpop party. Tracks like “Infinity Guitars” and “A/B Machines” rely heavily on the production style: vocals and drums are clipped and distorted, giving an overall raw, fuzzy feeling. The follow-up album, Reign of Terror, ditches the clipping, opting for a cleaner overall sound, but maintains the same fusion of genres at the core of the previous album. Sleigh Bells‘ four intervening releases have maintained this momentum: the band may not have branched out, but they have definitely refined their core sound to the point of near perfection.
“Bunky Pop”, the lead single off Bunky, is the rousing result of that refinement. It is far and away the catchiest song Sleigh Bells have ever written. A veritable avalanche of hooks, it positively pummels the listener with sweet-and-sour synthesizers; short, snappy, alliterative lyrical lines; pounding programmed percussion; and clean-cut choruses of delicately distorted strings. Multiple key changes, abrupt transitions, and crystal-clear production make “Bunky Pop” the audible equivalent of a Kandinsky: everything is all over the place, but that is far from accidental. Each element has been planted with perfect precision: Alexis Krauss’s clean alto vocals contrast with Derek E. Miller’s New York style, in-your-face talk-singing; the introductory synthesizer melody is repeated multiple times with slight variations in various timbres, getting more distorted and eerie with each repetition, like your friendly local birthday clown slowly transforming into Stephen King’s Pennywise. If there was ever any doubt that Sleigh Bells are the pinnacle of post-pandemic progressive pop, “Bunky” absolutely annihilates that assertion.
The second single, “Wanna Start A Band?”, is only marginally less magnetic. If “Bunky” leans all the way into Sleigh Bells‘ pop sensibilities, “Wanna Start A Band?” dials it back just a touch, exploring moderately more experimental ground with its front-and-centre microtonal synths. The keys also take a lead role in “Hi Someday”, a vaporwave-inspired track on the back half of Bunky. While most of the band’s oeuvre is propelled primarily by percussion, “Hi Someday” is mainly built atop driving, twangy 80s-style synths, not unlike those found on tracks by artists like Carpenter Brut. Sleigh Bells are at their best when they are pushing boundaries (both self-imposed and in general); they are at their least compelling when they fall into their comfort zone of bog-standard pop rock.
Unfortunately, while Bunky opens and closes strongly, it fails to maintain that consistency throughout: the tracks in the middle third of the album are all a bit samey, and therefore fail to be memorable. “This Summer”, “Can I Scream”, and “Badly” are perfectly cromulent pop songs, but they all have that familiar verse-chorus pop structure, one or two big hooks, and not much else. This has a cloying effect, like eating one too many desserts in quick succession; you start to get sick of it. When your album is only thirty-two minutes long, you’ve got to give me more than one course, quickly. One cannot survive on empty calories alone.
The bulk of Bunky is built on bedrock familiar to fans of the band: Krauss’ deft vocals glide effortlessly atop Miller’s pop-rock soundscapes; double-time bass pedalling abruptly stops to give space for a massive bass drop; and layered keys and guitars build a sonic nest that gently carries a whole horde of hooks. The soul of Sleigh Bells is on full display, and never has it been more concrete or thoroughly distilled than on Bunky Becky Birthday Boy.
Recommended tracks: Bunky Pop, Wanna Start A Band?, Hi Someday
You may also like: Black Dresses, Rubblebucket, Tune-Yards, The Weeknd’s Hurry Up Tomorrow for a different kind of progressive pop
Final verdict: 7/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram
Label: Mom + Pop – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website
Sleigh Bells is:
– Alexis Krauss (vocals, production)
– Derek E. Miller (bass, percussion, guitar, synthesizer, production, engineering)
With guests:
– Kate Steinberg (touring musician; backing vocals, keyboards)
0 Comments