By: Anna Fahy
Bleachers reimagined their debut album Strange Desire on its 10th anniversary this fall,
releasing a re-recording: A Stranger Desired. In lead singer Jack Antonoff’s words, A Stranger
Desired is “the first Bleachers album with me and the band knowing what we know now. all
eleven tracks reimagined without the armor i needed at the time, a different kind now.” In an
Instagram caption, Antonoff explained how a decade ago, with his famous Juno 6 keyboard, he
layered sound on sound to explain the confusion and chaos in his life. With this promise of a
more “mature” sound, fans had no idea what to expect from the band on this recording.
From the first few seconds of Wake Me, the gentle, acoustic whispery sound brings us into a
new world of the album. Void of the powerful Juno 6 keyboard, the songs bring Antonoff’s lyrical
strengths to center stage. Instead of shouting the lyrics of Rollercoaster along the bass, Antonoff
forces the listener to lock into the lyrics. Previously disguised behind layers upon layers of
sound, I felt like he was opening up to us.
The only weakness I can see is a lack of dynamic variety from song to song– one of the
strengths in the original album was the variety in dynamics, song to song, and sonic exploration
with different keyboards, spoken word overlay, and percussion. A Stranger Desire tows the line
between dynamically consistent and sometimes sleepy. The spoken word interludes play a
massive role in the original album, especially in “Wake Me,” and is a significant loss in A
Stranger Desired.
The reimagined album was an unexpected move from Bleachers, who have only released
full-length studio albums and a live album- never a Taylor Swift kind of re-record. It forces an
appreciation of lyrics over production, with an intentional stripped-down acoustic style. While
consistent in its lyrical singer-songwriter style, the album lacks the dynamic heart at the core of
Bleachers’ sound.
3.5/5
