In case you’ve been standing outside your high school sweetheart’s family home in a trench coat holding up a boom-box in a last-ditch attempt to win her back for the past year, Bleachers are the side project of still Fun. member Jack Antonoff. You’ll understand why I use that metaphor once you listen to his first crack at a solo in Strange Desire. As debut albums go, Bleachers bring a lot of experience in the pop domain to the table. Jack Antonoff has been at it for a while and knows how to craft a decent tune, a theme that runs quite obviously throughout this LP.
Tracks like Rollercoaster, Wild Heart and You’re Still A Mystery are hard done by to miss the cut for the Breakfast Club soundtrack by a solid thirty or so years. They pulsate with everything that was awesome about the eighties, or at least the stuff I know about. Strange Desire has feelings of young love, recklessness and redemption sprinting throughout. The marquee single, I Wanna Get Better is the one that has everyone talking. I feel like it’s one of the least likeable offerings here, only redeemed by a stellar remix from RAC. There’s also a few curveballs here like a team-up with Grimes for Take Me Away and a cool breakdown in Like A River Runs - but curveballs don’t always mean standouts.
Strange Desire is purely a collection of enjoyable pop tunes reminiscent of the eighties. That could be it’s shortfall as much as it is a forthcoming. While it’s a decent album, it can get tiring quickly. A few listens in and I’m already feeling like it has a day or two’s legs at best.
*****
3/5