CD of The Week

Sabrina Teitelbaum has been releasing music as Blondshell for just over four years, yet she already has an impressive catalog under her belt. Her newest album, Violins, is her third full-length and comes only 16 months after last year’s If You Asked for a Picture. By now, she’s mastered the emotional quiet-loud-quiet guitar rush of her sound, and has begun stretching out lyrically in other directions.

The title track, as well as lead single “Heart Has to Work So Hard,” are both examples of this, as Teitelbaum knows exactly when to bring those guitar chords crashing down for maximum impact.

The acoustic-based “New Shape” travels in the same vibes as Phoebe Bridgers, as she’s trying to define a relationship with someone… are they “best friend… boyfriend?” Teitelbaum dips into ‘90s guitar-pop dynamics on “Two Fried” while “”Sea Legs” is a moody, midtempo ballad.

Much of Teitelbaum’s previous songwriting power has hinged on powerful, raw storytelling – see the revenge fantasy “Salad” or last year’s “23’s a Baby.” On Violins, her lyrics are a bit more abstract, cloaked in mysterious metaphors or incomplete scenarios. “New Age Trojan Horse” splits the difference on a high point of the album, as she muses about PMS and fake-sensitive men who are sexist jerks in disguise: "1965 mind in a new age Trojan horse.” Though the line "sometimes I see men who romanticize war" could apply every time Pete Hegseth is on your screen.

Violins appropriately wraps up with “Fur Elise,” where Teitelbaum fantasizes, “I wanna think about a wedding when I go to sleep / Walk down the aisle to a string quartet playing ‘Für Elise’.”

Blondshell has built a signature sound and can deploy both her emotive voice and grunge-indebted guitar work at will for maximum effect. If you were drawn in by her first two albums, you won’t be strung along by Violins.

Blondshell’s fall tour was rescheduled for early 2027, so she won’t be in Philadelphia supporting Violins until March 14th of next year at Union Transfer.