In a release week with a whole lot of firepower from some of indie music’s bigger players (New Pornographers, Courtney Barnett, King Tuff, Uni Boys, Pretty Flowers), here’s a record I’d actually feel bad about letting bubble under. It’s Peak Bleak, the second album from Swedish trio Bleak Streak. One of the twelve songs is called Sad Cute Punk Rock, another called Loser Band Plays Rock n Roll, which pretty much sums up how Bleak Streak approach their music. By not taking themselves too seriously, and by carving their own niche where the appeal lies in its contradictions.
You see, these Swedes write extremely likeable melodies, but they don’t write peppy songs, nor do they polish the edges off. The scrappy nature of the band gives them a noise pop and slacker indie rock vibe (their cover of Snail Mail’s Thinning, for example—my word!), while some songs (like Imposter) have that angsty and artsy edge of early Arcade Fire, and others lean into a darker punk rock mood (The World is Your Boot). Still others sound like demos from your favorite power pop band (Loser Band Plays Rock N Roll).
Throughout it all, the boy-girl vocals are another strength of Bleak Streak. Add in surprise cameos of sax, trumpet, glockenspiel (and 12-string guitar), and you get a record that doesn’t strive for perfection but aims for something more interesting and different. Expect variation, expect to be entertained, expect to be touched. Bleak Streak may not be the biggest name to release new music this week, but they may be the most urgent.
LP available now on Svart Ljud Rekords.