“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.
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