Review Summary: Bring on the Apocalipstick.
Clementine Creevy's youthful and burning desire to unfuck the world resulted in Cherry Glazerr's releasing their previous album, the sharply titled
Apocalipstick, on the very same day that US president Donald Trump was making his way to the White House. Amidst the political storm, the album made waves, not because of Creevy's flammable and ricocheting opinions but because the band sounded like it meant it. She did realize one thing though: you can't change the world if you don't start with yourself.
Following synths sorcerer Sasami Ashworth's departure from the band last year to hop on her solo crusade, and back to trio formation, the band named after an NPR reporter returns in 2019 with an explosive package of fuzzy 90s garage rock produced by Grammys’ regular Carlos de la Garza (Paramore, M83, Wolf Alice). The follow up to 2017's
Apocalipstick doesn't mean a radical change of course for the band helmed by the incendiary Clementine Creevy. Building from the foundations of their previous release, Cherry Glazerr's fourth full length and second work for Indiana's label Secretly Canadian is, simply put, bigger and wilder than anything they have done before.
The political flavor of
Apocalipstick has been accidentally diminished in their latest release in favor of more introspective themes.
Stuffed & Ready is a peephole into the front-woman's twisted psyche but it also serves as an outlet for Clem’s caustic takes on the role of women in the entertainment industry. The barrel of the gun that is her provocative lyricism aims now to her own head in standouts like "Stupid Fish", "Ohio" or "Wasted Nun", to the point of being satirically disturbing in “Daddi”, with lines like
["Who should I fuck daddi? / Is it you?]. Her sugar-coated vocals are once again backed by a thunderous guitar tone and the rock-solid machinery of now full-time member Devin O'Brien on bass, and master hitter Tabor Allen on drums. Whatever knobs were set to max in
Apocalipstick they have been brute forced beyond their reach in
Stuffed & Ready.
Structure-wise, the band's latest feels like an ice-cream. Once the palatal spark of the ice is gone, all that is left is the crunchy fun of the cookie. Songs like "Wasted Nun", "Ohio" and "Daddi" claim a good portion of Clem's sweetest melodies, which binds a track like "Pieces" and its mono tonal vocal line to be helplessly sandwiched between two bangers like "Juicy Socks" and "Stupid Fish". These are two cuts that still manage to uplift a lighter second half that ends on a high note with "Distressor". The closer is the condensed version of everything Cherry Glazerr has been producing in the last 3 years and a much needed punch to send off the album with confidence.
About that first part, "Ohio" makes a wonderful job as an opener, starting with 10 seconds of a raw room recording that swiftly transitions into the album's monumental sound. Some Smashing Pumpkins comes to mind, maybe even Pixies, Garbage or L7, but all in all, this sounds unmistakably like Cherry Glazerr. Clementine's robotic singing style rarely leaves the frequency she is comfortable with which, on the other hand, it gives her songwriting a very cohesive feel. The very subtle touches that pop up on the quiet parts and the way the hard sections hit are some of the aspects that make Cherry Glazerr's most recent album worthy of more than a ceremonial jam. 2019 is, indeed,
Stuffed & Ready.
