Clocking in for a semi-transient exploration into the bowels of overwhelming fears, societal expectations and the re-immersion of sustainable friendly and familial relationships; we find the Norwegian Power Pop radicals Beachheads re-entering the soundwaves with their sophomore studio album II, which we’re assured is a source of gleeful comfort to fans of their genre-bending shenanigans.
After the well received success of their debut LP I back in 2017, Beachheads have spent the past 5 years setting their sights on a progressive journey with their much beloved sound, via stripping back their classic Rock N Roll vibes and injecting the writing process with a slew of post-punk sensibilities while firmly holding tight to residual Power Pop energy, in hopes of sustaining their catchy resilience.
Although described as a punk infused Britpop fantasy blending the lines between “innocence and romance” as well as inhabiting a healthy dose of “social realism and dystopia”; we’re unfortunately pretty hard pressed to identify such intriguing essences amongst its playtime. Plagued by monotony and surface level lyrical expeditions, that frankly leave us somewhere in the realms of scratching our heads in complete bemusement and a frustration induced urge to rip out our hair due to the extent of its wasted potential; II effortlessly breaks the number one rule of the entertainment industry, which is to never be aggressively boring.
Starting off the album’s exploration, ‘Break It Off’ stood as a non-offensive track that we feel would fit perfectly in an open road montage for a B-movie soundtrack, however it also stood as an exemplary track for what to expect of the rest of this rather reductive experience.
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As much as the initial introduction to II was fairly harmless, much hope of elevation or emotional attachment seemed to quickly nosedive off of a metaphorical cliff; inclusions of lyrics such as “now I feel nothing, nothing at all” at the albums midpoint with ‘Nothing’, sparked such thoughts surrounding the idea of apathy transference due to the first half of the LP resembling quite the mind-numbing experience.
Before the second half of the album left us completely deflated and contemplating whether or not our Air Pods running out of battery near the albums conclusion was the universe granting us mercy; the albums midpoint became a moment of fascination to us due to ‘Down South’ capturing an uncanny resemblance to the much loved late 60’s classic ‘Here Comes The Sun’ by The Beatles. As much as contemporary counter-culture is more than happy to add a sprinkle of nostalgic charm to add several layers of unimaginable joy for listeners, whether it was a conscious choice of not; we are of the opinion that the overpowering desire to divert away from the rest of the album to enjoy the tender poundings of a Beatles classic, just validates our thinking that the overall greatest quality this album has is the ability to inspire indifference in the hearts of its listeners.
Overall, this is a disappointing array of soulless iterations of rockabilly, which planted seeds of doubt from the very beginning of this process. The festering feeling of relying on repetitious and tedious song writing tropes, intertwined with a lack of connectivity really left us with little, if any excitement or meaningful engagement.