Tuesday, September 01, 2020

BLOXX: 'Lie Out Loud' Album Review

Bloxx - 'Lie Out Loud' review: hook-stuffed indie-pop for the virtual  mosh-pit | NME

What I love about writing for this music blog is that I have discovered some good new music. The band BLOXX is absolutely no exception to this rule, and lucky me I get to listen to a brand new album of theirs. Lie Out Loud is the band’s debut album and for those of you, like me, nostalgic for the days of garage bands and indie glory, this is a band for you.

BLOXX has clearly got a lot going for them, this album shows that. Excellent vocals, great bass and guitar playing, steady and inventive percussion and excellent production to bring it all together, not to mention a real knack for making a good hook. 

But let’s get straight into some of the highlights shall we...

The title song of the album ‘Lie Out Loud’ is the first one we get to hear and this song really sets the tone of the rest of the album. With no real lead in, we’re thrust right into the catchy tune and excellent vocals provided by lead-singer Ophelia Booth. This was a punchy way to start into the album and really showcases that the band has one unified sound. I don’t mean this to sound as though they slot neatly into one genre, they don’t, but they sound cohesive, consistent and unified.

Use of production really strikes me in their next tune ‘Coming Up Short’ where layering vocals and effects are used to heighten an already good song. The band uses layered vocals and back and forth effectively in more than these couple songs – notable for this are songs such as ‘Give Me the Keys’, and ‘Hey Jenny’.

They’re setting up a pattern nicely here which is basically saying ‘no matter how negative my emotions are during the creation of this song, I am going to turn it into something people will be able to belt along to and feel great’. Songs such as ‘Go Out With You’, ‘Off My Mind’, ‘It Won’t Work Out’ and ‘5000 miles’ are great examples of this. Since I’m a fan of a sassy song as well, ‘Thinking About Yourself’ quickly became one of my favorites with an early 2000s guitar riff to open the song and big f-you vibes to it.

Songs that kind of break the mould a little bit for me are ‘Changes’ and ‘What You Needed’. Both of these songs have much more vulnerable vocals to them. ‘Changes’ reminded me a bit of The 1975 with more of a full synth sound to it, at least at the beginning, but not to the degree where it doesn’t feel like BLOXX anymore. ‘What You Needed’ is a delicate song and is especially intriguing given its placement right before the last number ‘Swimming’ which is a big number to round off their album.

Go check them out, I’ll leave my parents’ garage door open if anyone wants to come have a little

listening party with me.


- Chloe Boehm

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