Album Reviews
Bad Astronaut released their record untethered on November 8th of 2024, and it's a fascinating piece of music. Almost teased in the press as a swan song for the band, it is a revisitation of some of the band’s classic tracks from past years that have been stripped of just about all of the original instrumentation. What we get here is a kind of melancholy, slowed, restrained, introspective take on these punk classics, backed by just soaring and moving cello and piano accompaniment.
Despite being stripped-down retreads, each of these songs feels complete and whole; there's nothing small feeling about this record. It's actually a little transcendent! The string and piano instrumentation really pull out the emotionality of the lyrical intent in the songs, so humor becomes poignant and references to violence become sort of eerie. The style makes already poetic and opaque lyrics into something sort of ethereal and deep reaching and soulful. I wasn’t expecting one of my first reviews for Punk Rock Theory to make me cry, but “Grey Suits” is a killer of a ballad here.
So is the record self-indulgent? Maybe, but so what? Is it thoughtful and emotionally impactful? 110%! Is it punk? Absolutely, undeniably. Untethered is well worth a listen for any fan of punk, any fan of Bad Astronauts, and any fan of good, thoughtful music and risky experimental efforts by skilled musicians.
Untethered track listing:
- Greg’s Estate
- Anecdote
- Grey Suits
- Deformed
- These Days
- Logan's Run
- Go Humans
- San Francisco Serenade
- The "F" Word
Once described as "a gas station philosopher trapped in a pop punk drummer's body," Lee enjoys thinking and writing about music outside of his creative and intellectual grasp!
