Album Review: Bad Things’ “Bad Things”

Dan MacKnight

    In honor of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, I figured I would take a closer look at legendary US snowboarder Shaun White’s new band, Bad Things, and their debut self-titled album.  White and Co. teamed up with producer Rob Schnapf (Elliot Smith, Beck, Dr. Dog, Kevin Devine) and released the album through their label, Warner Bros.  Not a bad label to back you on your first-ever release, huh?

Ok, now for the actual music. Overall, the album sounds fantastic.  Everything is produced to sound crystal-clear and polished.  Sonically, the album reminds me a little of Tokyo Police Club, which isn’t too surprising, considering Schnapf produced their last album, too.  Each song is chock-full of simple, catchy melodies and hooks.  

My only criticism comes once you stop listening to the instrumentation and hone in on the lyrical content within the songs.  In the first track off the album, “Anybody” (which also served as the first single, released on 7”),  the song starts off pretty strong with tasty guitar tones and a choir humming the melody.  Then Davis LeDuke comes in singing “I get up just to bring you down, I never loved you so don’t bleed it out just let it go.”  I am no master lyricist, but I feel like the majority of the album lacks much substance in that department, which in turn can make the songs less memorable.  But hey, a catchy pop song is a catchy pop song, and not many people are looking too deeply into the message behind the songs.

The two tracks that stick out to me are “Vices” and “Bury.”  “Vices” has huge drums, guitars reminiscent of The Clash, and anthemic choruses.  “Bury” has a more shoegaze-y feel to the song, with some great harmonies coming from drummer Lena Zawaideh.  I wish her vocals were a little more prominent on this album, because they compliment LeDuke’s perfectly.

Overall, Bad Things is a pretty decent first album from the band.  Their music fits right in with all of the other contemporary synth/indie pop/rock bands out right now like Tokyo Police Club, Said the Whale and Imagine Dragons.   I am excited to see what their next album sounds like after they get some touring time under their belts and really develop their band’s own sense of identity and begin to make something that is uniquely Bad Things.  The future is bright for them.

Listen For Yourself

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