Skip to content
Hi Sorry State fam! I’m writing this on Saint Patty’s Day, and I heard that someone can pinch you if you’re not wearing green. Well, I’m wearing black and I dare you. No, but seriously, Happy (belated) Saint Patrick’s Day! Moving on….
This week’s pick is kind of a weird album that leaves me a tiny bit confused, but I kind of like that. It’s the fifth album by Why Bother? brought to us by Feel It Records and titled Serenading Unwanted Ballads. You never know what to expect when you hear a new album by this band, as they are somewhat shrouded in mystery. They don’t play live, and they don’t have a signature style in my opinion. Unless you count being predictably unpredictable as a signature style. Nevertheless, they are an intriguing midwest synth punk band.
Why Bother? is a band that truly sounds like they’re making the music they want to make, and have no fear of any sort of negative reception. If you’re making music you like, you only have to worry about whether you like it, and that has to feel incredibly freeing. And you can really feel that sense of freedom and authenticity in the music.
Anyway, many of the songs on this record are getting their first vinyl appearance after popping up on various EPs and singles. I was especially intrigued by the record when I read that the song Testify was written and recorded by their friend Aaron while he was in prison serving a life sentence. I don’t know the details, but the way that bit of information was phrased sounded like the song was literally recorded in prison. Recording a song while serving a life sentence adds a pretty thick layer of mystery and darkness to the record, which is mostly, but not entirely, packed with rather gloomy ballads.
There are some really good tracks on the first side such as a dreamy, mystical ballad called Until. It is somewhere in the vein of The Jesus and Mary Chain, but sadder. I really enjoyed the first few tracks, but the first one to really get its hooks in me is called High as the Heavens. It’s a post-punk up tempo track that’s emotional but doesn’t feel heavy. I love the song’s arrangement and the infectious chorus. It sort of feels like the Why Bother? version of Just Like Heaven. It’s not as poppy and whimsical, but eerily romantic.
They really play around with different sounds and styles on these songs. I was reminded of early Cure and Lou Reed. The next track was the one that made me think of Lou Reed, and not because it happens to be called Heroin Dancer. It’s kind of psychedelic and trippy compared to the rest of the album. But even better is the song called Some Don’t Dance. It has sharper riffs and a late 70s UK post-punk sound. The melody immediately reminded me of The Cure’s Jumping Someone Else’s Train.
There is a lot of diversity in vocal styles, which becomes more noticeable in the shift between earlier tracks and Heroin Dancer. Sometimes the vocals are very prominent, more stripped down, and in the forefront, and sometimes wrapped in distortion or drowned out by synth and noise. But even the tracks that are a little more chaotic are still pretty measured and controlled versus annoying.
I really like the two faster, more punk sounding tracks on the album. One being Frothy Green, which is a live track from 2020. It leans more garage punk. It’s more stripped down and has a lot more attitude than other tracks, and the synth is more dialed down. And right after that is Feckless World, which is another energetic, and more chaotic track with a cool twist and super abrupt stop.
The song Testify is kind of how you might imagine a song written in prison to sound. I don’t even know what I mean by that, but it’s an acoustic, singer-songwriter type song that is very different from the other tracks. It has a really good main riff that feels heavy with emotion. It’s a more straightforward indie-folk sound, but it’s not run of the mill. Obviously. It was written and recorded in prison. It’s a downer, but it’s a good song.
The next and last song, Nobody Knows, is the winner of the downer award. As it should be. It would be a little tacky if they followed up the song Testify with something even the least bit lighthearted. It’s more atmospheric in terms of the music, and the lyrics are bleak as hell. It’s got lines like “I watch you shed a tear. How many lifetimes are we bound to grieve and fear? Some will stick around, others will disappear.” I really like this song and the style of these last two tracks.
The album is definitely worth checking out. It may be a little disjointed with its different styles and moods, but they aren’t a “by the book” type of band and neither is this record. Give it a listen! Thanks for reading! See you next time!
-Angela