Over four years ago in the bedroom of a fifteen-year-old high school freshman, Clementine Creevy, from Las Angeles under the name ClemButt, rocked the creases of Soundcloud and Bandcamp alike. Recording dozens of bedroom tapes alongside drummer Hannah Uribe, and bassist Sean Redman before catching the ear of Burger Records co-founder Sean Bohrman. Under the new official band name Cherry Glazer, the trio recorded their first full length commercial record under Burger Records titled Haxel Princess. Though rough around the edges, the group struggled to conceive stage opportunities and commercial success outside the realm of the cumulonimbus SoundCloud.
It wasn’t until Saint Laurent’s ex-creative director Hedi Slimane who saw the phenomenal potential in Clementine’s sonic muse and as a natural model. As Creevy and her band’s reputation preceded them, it was clear that they needed a shift in pace and sound. Now it’s 2017, and Cherry Glazer is not slowing down as they release their second full-length record Apocalipstick.
Now, I’ve been following this band closely recently; hearing them in television series like “Transparent”, and slowly listening to them experiment into new territories and of course seeing Creevy reach new heights with her vocal performances. Creevy even appeared on Death Grip’s latest record Bottomless Pit on the opening track, ‘I give bad people good ideas’. Unfortunately Hannah, and Sean left the band, and replaced with Tabor Allen on drums and Sasami Ashworth on the synths. With the change of cast, I was anticipating this new record for quite some time and after hearing their explosive single and first track of the record ‘Told You I’d Be with the Guys”- I knew this record was going to be hard hitting and ballistic. This track is explosive, it’s loud, and with Creevy’s hollering lyrics, “I was a young wolf/ I told you, I told you, I told you, I’ll be with the guys”, this track precedes a melodic groove similar to Sonic Youth’s in your face drum roaring performances. Easily this is the best single of Cherry Glazer’s career, January and honestly perhaps a contender for one of the best singles of the year.
Creevy’s fiery vocal performance proves to be a force not to be reckoned with at her peak. Lyrically, however, it could be up for debate. The second track, ‘Trash People’ did not provide highlights especially with such lyrics as, “My room smells like an ashtray/we wear our underpants three days in a row.” You know I get it; I get the point, but not lyrically. It’s safe to say this track sure had to grow on me. Tracks like ‘Moon Dust’, and ‘Humble Pro’ I personally didn’t really care for. The second single of the record, the track ‘Nuclear Bomb’ however. Arguably Creevy and her band’s quietest performance off the whole record, proves to be one of their best, if not the best song off the LP. “All the stars are swimming in the bathtub/ like a nuclear bomb’, and ‘fell through the clouds like a painted picture’ glimpse an “apocalyptic” scenario of oneself. A dissolution of one’s character painted over a wall of guitar riffs and Creevy’s soft edged vocals. The track runs into another one of my personal favorite cuts, ‘Only Kid on the Block’. A track that soft punching at first but as momentum increases, so does one of Creevy’s best vocal performances. She killed it in every aspect in my opinion. She howls at the top of her lungs, in agony, in a gorgeous post-punk barrage that would make the likes of Kim Gordon proud.
The track ‘Lucid Dreaming’ is paraded with a sick riff and baseline that runs throughout the whole track for a slim danceable groove.
The last quarter of the record kind of loses me at points, and to say eleven tracks on this record didn’t do it justice is an overstatement. The last song ‘Apocalipstick’ is a gnarly head-banging instrumental anthem just two minutes long as a farewell-parting gift.
The record is jagged, it’s gnarly but at the same time Cherry Glazer loses me at times. The riffs were well executed but at times the song structures and lyrics were a stretch and a bore at times throughout the whole project. I’m impressed on their latest work and curious to see what the future holds for this semi-new band. I guess when I start hearing their riffs on car commercials I can safely say they made it far.