CD of The Week

The Beaches are skyrocketing right now as one of the must-see pop music powerhouses, promoted straight out of the Canadian underground into the major leagues. Shining brightly on the festival circuit and selling out even bigger venues than 2023’s Blame Brett tour (their upcoming 10/27 Union Transfer show sold out weeks ago). Their rise in popularity mirrors the explosion that Beach Bunny experienced a few years ago. Both bands have specific, well-defined personalities, except The Beaches are much more aggressively unapologetic, like a character from Lena Dunham’s Girls universe. Their in-your-face sexuality with no regrets and angsty, simmering cynicism is apparent in their lyrics without needing any poetic deciphering. Even when they offer regret, they take ownership and wear self-deprecation proudly on their sleeves. Their lyrics feel like they were penned by a person you know, but not necessarily someone you like. And that’s perfectly OK with them.

The new album No Hard Feelings is sarcastic and not to be trusted, coming with fingers crossed behind the back and an eye roll as shoulders turn away. That is the arching theme to the album, nowhere more apparent than on the poppy “Sorry For Your Loss.” The lyrics slalom between condolence, “Please Get Well Soon,” followed by a cocky “If I left me, I’d be lovesick too.” The song, like many others, comment on some phase of a bad relationship. The stakes are raised in the most blasé way on the upbeat, “Fine, Let’s Get Married,” when toxic red flags are brushed away because marriage would be something to do out of sheer boredom. The flippant lyric “Fine, Ryan, I’ll f*ck you forever, for now” puts the nail in the “whatever” coffin. And these two catchy, driving pop songs aren’t even singles. On this 11-song album which has already birthed six singles, the other five are just as strong candidates for chart success. They all share singer Jordan Miller’s testy-yet-burly vocals, an unwavering, energetic tempo, and a watery shoegaze guitar, falling somewhere between New Order and The Cure but adapted for a Taylor Swift pop age.

“Takes One to Know One” was the first single released back in July 2024, and it set the self-destructive tone of a couple trying to one-up each other with terrible behavior, singing “Antisocial, maladjusted, noncommittal, can’t be trusted, that’s so us...” Later down the road, that same relationship might be the subject of “Dirty Laundry,” where the singer takes revenge on their cheating partner by making them “wear” their dirty laundry around their friends.  On the other hand, “I Wore You Better” runs away with queer confidence by imagining that their ex was a better fit with them than the ex’s new partner.

Whether all of this is healthy or not, it is a brave, bold confident stance to take, telling their truths even when they may not want to. On the album opener “Can I Call You in the Morning,” Miller puts herself into the song, singing, “Whatever you’re thinking, Jordan, just don’t…” but ends up blurting out “I hate your boyfriends, I hate your girlfriends, I hate your boyfriends’ girlfriends” in an anthemic emo chorus.  Arenas will rock as enraged crowds empathetically shout the lyrics along with the band. The only song that has positive motivation without tongue-in-cheek snark (and the only slow dance song) is “Lesbian of the Year,” where the singer reflects on what they would have told their younger self, knowing now what they didn’t know then.

That is one thing that sets The Beaches apart from many bands. Although they’ve manufactured a singular, unabashedly shameless voice across their albums, all four members contribute to the lyrics. So it makes no difference if the subjects that the band refers to are (or were) boyfriends, girlfriends, anything in between or anyone off in either direction. All relationships have their issues, and The Beaches are here to help you through every single one of them with commiserating disdain and bridge-burning aggression for anyone who’d dare wrong them.