Interrupt

Album review

With 2013's Yeah Right, Philadelphia noise pop act Bleeding Rainbow both changed their name (formerly going under the decidedly less ominous banner Reading Rainbow), expanded their lineup, and changed their sound from melodic fuzziness to more shoegaze-seeped, often plodding wall-of-sound rock. The makeover wasn't without its strong points, but as a whole Yeah Right dragged, obscuring the finer points of the band's songwriting with muddy layers of guitar or ponderous, doomy tracks. Just shy of a year later, Interrupt materialized, succeeding in multiple places where its predecessor misstepped. The first improvement is a far shorter running time, with ten tracks clocking in at just around 35 minutes, a much more enjoyable duration than Yeah Right's often overly long tracks. Trimming the fat also means the tunes are less interested in getting lost in exploration of sounds and textures, opting instead to get right to the point with punk-minded arrangements washed in heavy doses of mid-'90s indie songwriting chops. Tracks like "So You Know" channel the spirit of underappreciated '90s dorm room heroes like Eric's Trip and Throwing Muses, albeit with more muscle by way of drony guitar and a less home-recorded production. Dual boy-girl vocals on tunes like the dissonant pop of "Dead Head" and "Tell Me" highlight songwriters Sarah Everton and Rob Garcia's persistent knack for hooky harmonies, with bright melodies rising above the still-blaring barrage of spectral guitar and blindsiding drums. With Interrupt, Bleeding Rainbow come closer to melding their own voice to the influences of Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine, Dinosaur Jr., and the entire canon of '90s rock icons that continue to fuel their creative fires. As the band gets more straightforward, the best elements of its sound continue to rise to the surface, making way for increasingly interesting work.
© Fred Thomas /TiVo