Search The Line of Best Fit
Search The Line of Best Fit

Listen: Bleachers - "Shadow"

30 April 2014, 18:50 | Written by Chad Jewett

“Shadow”, the new single from Bleachers - the side project of Fun. / Steel Train guitarist Jack Antonoff - is an outgoing four minutes of electroclash pop; a bouncy confection of programmed drums, clattering stomps and broad-shouldered shout-alongs (there are even some faux-tropical bird noises dotting the margins). ​

More rhythmic than either of Antonoff’s day-jobs, there are various mid-80s analogues for Bleachers’ day-glo aesthetic – the witty off-beat of Speaking In Tongues-era Talking Heads, late-period The Clash at their most arena-rock populist, the chanting hooks of Fine Young Cannibals. One might even get away with an Arcade Fire comparison, though Bleachers play their version of pop-drama for glee rather than weariness or paranoia. If there isn’t a lot of innovation to be gleaned from a decade whose aesthetics have already been all-but strip-mined, Bleachers nevertheless charge “Shadow” with enough earnest energy to sell its familiarity as good-natured extroversion.

At its best, “Shadow” is a wholly likable dose of festival-indie cheerfulness from a modern-rock lifer who’s had a hand in his fair share of cross-over sing-alongs already. Listen below. ​

Share article
Email

Get the Best Fit take on the week in music direct to your inbox every Friday

Read next