Stream: Bleached, ‘Flipside’

Daiana Feuer on February 22nd, 2017

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Last year, Bleached put out its best-produced and most personal album, “Welcome The Worms.” It pushed their music forward both in guitar work and engineering, while dealing with serious issues about being in an emotionally abusive relationship, drugs, alcohol and having to rebuild yourself. “And yet,” says Jennifer Clavin, “to this day I am still fielding interview questions that have more to do with my gender than with the art I am creating.” This frustration with gender bias inspired a new four-song EP, “Can You Deal?,” out March 3 via Dead Oceans and produced by Alex Newport (Bloc Party, Mars Volta).

The forceful title track addresses the gender issue directly, and now the band has shared “Flipside,” a song that Clavin wrote about “the relationship we have with an album or a song and how we connect them to what is happening in our lives, like falling in love, being fascinated by a new friend, or some kind of pivotal moment in life corresponding with the record I’m listening to. Once the comedown of that time hits I can’t even listen to that record without thinking about that time or that person. Albums are the soundtrack to our lives, and this song is an ode to the nostalgia certain albums bring.”

Clavin has also assembled a limited edition zine featuring essays, visual art, poetry and lyrics by many artists relating to issues female musicians encounter in a male-dominated industry, including contributions from Bethany Cosentino (Best Coast), Suzi Gardner and Donita Sparks (L7), Laena Geronimo (Feels), Alice Glass, Allie Hanlon (Peach Kelli Pop), Hinds, Lizzo, Kate Nash, Liz Phair, Tegan Quin (Tegan and Sara), JD Samson, Patty Schemel (Upset, Hole), Kim Schifino (Matt and Kim), Allison Wolfe (Sex Stains, Bratmobile), and more. All proceeds go to Planned Parenthood.

“I create music and art because I need to. To express, to bond, to reconcile, and to connect. And to use my voice. To have it received with such a generic labeling as ‘girl band’ and consistently referenced as ‘female fronted’ is insulting and reductive.”—Jennifer Clavin

||| Stream: “Flipside”