Croydon rockers Bellevue Days are all set to release their debut album ‘It Can’t Possibly Go Wrong Ever’ on 22 November. The record has been produced by Jason Wilson (Don Broco, You Me At Six) and features a whole host of live favourites and new bangers.
A brooding bass line signals the start of album opener ‘Gentle Flower’ as Alan Smith starts singing about the sun setting, jealous and hurt: ‘You screamed your lungs out. You choked on the dark cloud’. There’s a big build-up towards a chorus that the band then expertly pull back from as Alan exclaims ‘I don’t wanna go if I go it alone’. Recent single ‘Shotgun’ follows with its scattergun riffs, ferocious drums and huge statements: ‘What’s better than a fucked-up heart?’ The opening notes of ‘Jouska’ are reminiscent of the early 2000s alt-rock heavyweights like My Vitriol, Reuben and Hell is for Heroes while the lyrics offer an insight into Alan’s melancholic state of mind: ‘I’m a cynical kind of guy. I trade my happiness for songs because they sound better when I feel like shite’; ‘I feel happy when I’m sad, how messed up is that?’
The Manchester Orchestra-sounding ‘S A D’ finds Alan opening up about his fears and rallying against the way some people judge others without knowing what’s really going on: ‘I’ve got S A D but no one ever takes it seriously. Feeling down, it’s raining now.’; ‘I’m so M A D and I fucking hate the way they look at me’. There’s a mathy grunge-tinged opening to ‘Sleep Repeat Again’ as Alan talks about being in pain: ‘I’ve heard it all before, the things I can’t ignore’. ‘Dashboard Jesus’, which would sit neatly beside Gender Roles and Dinosaur Pile-Up, is all about how friends sometimes don’t see the real you – and that might be for the best: ‘I’m happier in bed, living off the sad song that’s always in my head’; ‘I don’t expect you to stay because I’m a prick on the best of days’; ‘I’ve been trying to love myself my whole damn life’.
‘Freakin Out’ is a melodic piece with huge riffs and cathartic screams being delivered over a crescendo of noise, while ‘The Joy of Living’ is altogether more nostalgic as Alan looks back at being 19 and having his heart broken: ‘Watch me fall apart’; ‘Wait, there’s a fountain that can bring back memories. We could swim. We could drown in the past’ and the closing 1-minute ‘Lily’ is altogether more introspective and ambient: ‘I knew this would hurt’.
An honest and emotional listen with hooks you’ll be humming for days, Bellevue Days debut album is well worth the wait.
