Sleigh Bells – Bunky Becky Birthday Boy
Brooklyn noise pop duo Sleigh Bells return to the maximalist immediacy of old, with mixed results
Sleigh Bells have never done subtlety. That much was obvious from the opening moments of their 2010 debut Treats, a lightning-in-a-bottle LP that established a unique sonic signature, one that paired bubblegum pop with gnarly riffs and hurled them through a blown-out speaker. What they did well in recent years, though, is refinement; some of their very best work has been done since 2016's Jessica Rabbit introduced synths and a darker, more brooding feel to the pair’s music.
That perhaps explains why their sixth album feels a little disarming; it's a lurid, maximalist affair that barks back to their early years, whilst also nodding to the now-thriving hyperpop scene that they helped inspire. There’s an effervescence to Bunky Becky Birthday Boy that harks back not just to Treats but to the more polished noise battery of 2012’s Reign of Terror, too. On some tracks, Derek Miller’s pummelling guitars take centre stage (particularly Bunky Pop and Wanna Start a Band?), but it’s vocalist Alexis Krauss who does the bulk of the heavy lifting with her infectious, if occasionally samey, melodies.
Bunky Becky Birthday Boy is a return to the immediacy that made Sleigh Bells’ name – but you wonder whether they had to sacrifice quite so much of the nuance of their last couple of albums in the process.
Listen to: Wanna Start a Band?, Roxette Ric, This Summer