Naomi Baguley | Heartbreaking Bravery

October 29, 2016

Bruising – I Don’t Mind (Stream)

bruising

EDITOR’S NOTE: This series of posts reflects back on some of the best material to be released over the past few weeks. Each post with this heading is a part of this series. After this series has concluded regular coverage will resume.

Last year Bruising very quickly established themselves as a site favorite and they’ve only solidified that status in the time between the release of “Think About Death” and now. Just a few short days ago, the band unveiled the electrifying “I Don’t Mind”, which finds their sound reaching exhilarating new peaks. In full control of their craft, the band leans into a towering, dynamic basement pop anthem leaving nothing but smouldering wreckage in their wake.

In just under three minutes, the band offers up a striking reminder of their preternatural abilities with melody and composition. There’s a sense of ennui but it’s offset by a frantic sincerity that continues to pay massive dividends for the band. Every second of “I Don’t Mind” is impressive and continues to heighten the anticipation for the day the band issues their debut full-length. Until then, “I Don’t Mind” will be on repeat until the other half of the band’s forthcoming single finds release.

Listen to “I Don’t Mind” below and pre-order I Don’t Mind b/w Rest In Peace Kurt Donald Cobain (1967-1994) here.

December 23, 2015

Bruising – Honey (Stream)

[EDITOR’S NOTE: With the site now entering emergency year-end catch-up mode thanks to the cruel, mocking nature of time, tonight’s trio of posts will simply be short reviews of the song(s) in the headline(s) and an accompanying list of tracks that deserve to be heard.]

One of the finest emerging bands of 2015 has been Bruising, an act whose origins can be traced back to a Perfect Pussy shirt. While they’re steadily building momentum to what promises to be one of the more anticipated debut full-length efforts in recent memory, the slow stream of songs they’ve been releasing have merited a great deal of excitement on their own. Earlier this year, the act unveiled “Emo Friends” the A-side of their latest single, which saw them refining the things that helped them stand out. In the time elapsed since this site last covered single streams, the band released the b-side to that single, the propulsive “Honey”.

Built around incendiary guitar work and another compelling vocal performance from Naomi Baguley, the song exemplifies the band’s impossibly charming aesthetic. There’s some menace buried in a shoegaze-informed basement pop track that feels improbably light. Nearly paradoxically, there’s also some real weight to be found in “Honey”, thanks to the scathing lyrical kiss-offs and the hard-charging instrumental section. In all, it’s another triumphant effort from a band that’s already established themselves as a site favorite only a few songs into their career.

Listen to “Honey” below and pick up “Emo Friends b/w Honey” here. Underneath the embed, explore a list of great songs to have appeared over the course of the last several months.

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Luxury Gbg – Strand
Bilge Rat – Jon Puked Last Night
Halfsour – Porch Sittin
Little Star – For Goth Easter
Living Hour – Seagull
Washer – Pet Rock vs. Healing Crystal
Soft Fangs – The Air
Thao & The Get Down Stay Down – Nobody Dies
La Sera – High Notes
The Dirty Nil – Zombie Eyed
Telepathic – Suit to Fit
Kal Marks – Dorothy
Pinkshinyultrablast – The Cherry Pit
Half Japanese – Hold On
The Foetals – The World Isn’t That Big
Way Out – Arrival
Acid Fast – Just Grin
Thom Fekete – Treason
The Castillians – Piggy in the Middle
Casket Girls – Western World
Massenger – Cristal Animal

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October 3, 2015

Bruising – Emo Friends (Stream)

Three weeks is a long time to go without covering a specific song in a feature section, something that inevitably means grappling with a whole lot of content. Occasionally, some of the heavier decision making is made easy through very particular releases. One such type of release occurs when a young band (especially one who’s already been featured on this site) brings new material into the world. After establishing some level of investment through coverage, it’s exciting to see those acts capitalizing on early momentum.

Bruising are one of those bands and “Emo Friends” is their latest musical adventure. The duo of Naomi Baguley and Ben Lewis continue to complement each other to some sort of perfection. The pull between their twee tendencies and something far more sinister continues to sustain their aesthetic and lend it a surprising amount of propulsive force. Effortlessly light melodies and razor-sharp guitar figures provide the song with a tattered cloth and give “Emo Friends” a palpable sense of place. As the distortion and cleanliness dip in and out, weaving an intricate pattern, the song as a whole barrels forward with little to no regard for easy expectations. It’s another thrilling moment from a band that’s continuing to build something worthy of greeting with genuine excitement.

Listen to “Emo Friends” below and pre-order the single from Beech Coma here. Underneath the embed, explored a handful of other great songs to find release over the past three weeks.

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Winstons – Do My Best
Father John Misty – The Memo
Alex G – Kicker
Painted Zeros – Call Back
Yvette – Calm and Content
Promised Land – Push and Pull (All the Time)
Triathalon – Slip’n
Mount Moriah – Calvander
Coke Weed – New Jive
Boosegumps – Stole Ur Bike
Little Fevers – Apple Tree
Lucern Raze – Happy and Astray
Public Access T.V. – Patti Peru
Babes Are Wolves – Wait
Paul Bergmann (ft. Emily Kokal) – Wishing Song
The Dirty Nil – No Weaknesses
The Radio Dept. – This Repeated Sodomy
The Decemberists – Why Would I Now?
Pony Time – Really Nice Guys
Threading – Candy Girl
Major Murphy – On & Off (National Broadcast TV)
Juliet K – Live With Me
Laura Stevenson – Cocksure
Linear Downfall – The Question
Courtney and the Crushers – Room 309

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April 23, 2015

Bruising – Think About Death (Stream)

Any band that’s origin story can be traced back to a Perfect Pussy t-shirt’s going to be one that will have at least some of my attention. That’s getting a little ahead of schedule, though, so we’ll come back to that later. Just as all of the preceding posts have done, this one will start with 10 tracks well worth hearing. Among them are two tracks from Thee Oh Sees mastermind John Dwyer from both his main vehicle (“Withered Hand“) and his new(er) Damaged Bug project (“Jet In Jungle“)- both of which sound like some of the songwriter’s most vital material yet. Slow Down Molasses indulged their atmospheric sensibilities with “Home“, Protomartyr turned in their most biting lyric track to date with “Blues Festival“, and Spray Paint continued to sound downright feral with “Day of the Rope“. Miniboone unveiled a surprisingly punchy indie pop tune in “Any Other City“, Your Old Droog unleashed a masterclass in throwback hip-hop with “Hidden Persuaders“, and Honeyblood turned vicious in “The Black Cloud“. Rounding everything out was Oddissee’s typically inviting “Belong To The World” and Paul de Jong’s typically inventive “Hollywald“. All ten are worth attempts at total immersion but the focus for this particular post falls on yet another duo: Bruising.

The duo, as mentioned above, formed in a Leeds nightclub after guitarist/vocalist Naomi Baguley saw Ben Lewis wearing a Perfect Pussy shirt (the band this site has covered to exhaustive detail). If that meet-cute scenario wasn’t enough, the band they formed now has a makeshift home in site favorites Art Is Hard, a label that’ll be releasing the second volume of their excellent Family Portrait series on May 11. Topping everything off, the song they’re contributing to the series- “Think About Death”- is precisely the kind of song this site was created to celebrate. Clearly clinging to a DIY ethos while bringing in elements of twee, powerpop, basement punk, and shoegaze to create something that feels new and exhilarating, the band’s latched on to a kind of near-magic that’ll serve them extraordinarily well going forward. As ambitious as it is easygoing, “Think About Death” is an absolute triumph for a band that seems to have already figured out exactly who they are what the want to achieve. One climactic moment crashes in after another, with gentle vocals floating over impassioned drumming and urgent guitarwork, weaving one of the year’s most captivating tapestries. Only a few songs into their career, Bruising have already emerged as one of the most exciting young bands of today- a point driven emphatically home by “Think About Death”.

Listen to “Think About Death” below and pre-order Family Portrait Pt. II from Art Is Hard here.

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Tag: Naomi Baguley