Wynona Bleach - Animal Style
7.5
Doing a bit of scuba diving through the murky depths of international releases, we stumble upon this Belfast quartet whose name sounds like a deliberate fusion of two worlds: Drop Nineteens and Nirvana. The end result makes it abundantly clear that Wynona Bleach drew heavily from these two imaginaries during their formative years, while still crafting something entirely different and distinctly their own. First of all, this is not a debut album but a sophomore effort following their previous record, Moonsoake (2022). The cover depicts a disillusioned anthropomorphic pig wandering alone down Hollywood Boulevard—an image of alienation that at times rivals the mood of Munch’s Evening on Karl Johan Street. Animal Style is about us: endlessly searching for love and meaning while being constantly pulled along by our most instinctive, obsessive, and self-destructive urges—in other words, our “animal” nature. From such a concept, one might expect a kind of black humour steeped in desperate melancholy. Instead, the Northern Irish band delivers one of the most uplifting, irresistibly singable, and dopamine-fuelled records I can remember since the days of Republica.
It’s part of the collective’s DNA: even in their photos they tend to evoke the classic emo-band imagery, only to frame it with the most over-the-top, vomit-bright chromatic palettes imaginable in glam. There are several enjoyable moments and highlights worth remembering on the record. I’d point out in particular the strong opening track Be Positive—very emo-punk-meets-early-2000s-pop (and even in its title it feels like it’s setting your mood for the rest of the album)—followed by the Placebo-esque Religion. Then there are the nu-gaze guitar walls of I Deserve That; the Talking Heads-style funky rhythms of Not Cool With It; the stadium-chant-ready hit Swim in the Bay, which closes in a kind of All Apologies fashion; the more dance-oriented grooves of Gonk; and finally the album’s epilogue, with its unexpected brass orchestration reminiscent of Tears for Fears. There’s a very deliberate intent throughout the tracklist to be catchy and highly engaging for the audience, without ever becoming overtly crowd-pleasing or overly calculated, or sacrificing production values on the altar of streaming metrics.
Animal Style is a bit of what I always hope to come across when I’m faced with a “pop” or “radio-friendly” record. Being engaging or aiming to act as a mood-booster for listeners is a perfectly legitimate aspiration, with no need for any kind of apology, as long as the artist doesn’t give up too much of their personal exploration and identity. Wynona Bleach don’t lose themselves in the process, and they absolutely deliver—there’s no question about that. Recommended for fans of pop-punk who today can’t stand the pretence of being fake rebels long past their prime, or for consumers of zoomergaze who are tired of cutting their veins in their bedrooms as a matter of principle.
