Bridge And Tunnel - Rebuilding Year (No Idea)
Bridge and Tunnel’s new offering, Rebuilding Year, was one of the year’s most anticipated releases for many people, myself included. Considering the quality of the band's prior catalogue, including their fantastic first EP and their debut full-length, East/West, and the fact that the new album is produced by the legendary J. Robbins, the hype seems understandable.
Sonically, the record doesn’t disappoint. It sounds more robust than any of their prior releases: the loud is louder, and quieter moments still manage to hold an ambient intensity. The songs blend heavy hits, melodic riffs, and poignant and poetic lyrics that range from rage over health care to anger at being stuck in a shitty job and fury at life in general. Being pissed off is this band’s business, and business is a shitty part of a fucked up world. There’s no shortage of highly charged emotion on this record, a key to the Bridge and Tunnel sound. If anything, this record might be the angriest thing I’ve heard all year--songs like “Outgrowing Pains” feature an increased vocal role from guitarist Rachel Rubino, who manages to scream lyrics between blistering post-hardcore riffs that are reminiscent of their now defunct friends from Richmond, Mouthbreather.
Despite the increased intensity and the fullness of this record, it lacks some of the cohesiveness and rawness of their earlier releases. The production paired with the heavy atmospheric sound often reminds me of the epic, post-apocalyptic sounds of Explosions in the Sky, but the record fails to build suspense the way that such a sound should. The dynamics shift frequently, but overall they don’t hit the same lows and highs that made East/West such a fantastic release. This record will receive plenty of time on my turntable, but it’s got a lot of growing to do to earn the same place in my heart that East/West has held for the past few years. I don’t rule out the possibility of such growth—there’s lots to like and plenty I could learn to love—but it’s not there yet.