The album opener, \u201cFollow the Witch\u201d serves as a statement of intent, with guitarist\/singer\/songwriter Guy Keltner<\/strong>\u2019s psychedelic-influenced guitars and soulful vocal delivery pushing the song forward over drummer\/vocalist Ian Cunningham<\/strong>\u2019s backing vocals and beats that hold everything together.<\/p>\n Despite officially being a two-piece, the band does not let this (seeming) limitation impact their studio work. While the primary instrumentation on the album is guitar, bass, and vocals (already one instrument more than members to play them). It doesn\u2019t take long for piano and keyboards to show up and play a prominent role on songs like \u201cBullies,\u201d \u201cForty Years,\u201d and \u201cJenny Lewis\u201d (a song which also seems to serve as a nod to the Rilo Kiley<\/strong> frontwoman, whose second solo album shares the same name as the band). Even string arrangements appear on \u201cBullies\u201d and \u201cLiars,\u201d adding a degree of compositional complexity to otherwise straightforward and simple pop rock songs. When playing live, the band typically expands their lineup to capture and convey these instrumental layers.<\/p>\n While most of the songs are typically at a mid-tempo, the band does pick up the pace for the rocker \u201cWalk Don\u2019t Run,\u201d a song that also shows off Keltner\u2019s lead guitar capabilities. This track stands in stark contrast to others like the doo-wop thump of \u201cSometimes\u201d or the album\u2019s dreamy closer \u201cAm I (The Only One).\u201d<\/p>\n Thematically, the bands lyrics will not be inspiring any master\u2019s theses, but they do speak in a relatable way to the difficulties human interaction and relationships can present (as alluded to by the album\u2019s title). This includes themes of unrequited love, social ostracization, growing older, and rebelliousness in reaction to these feelings.<\/p>\n For anyone who enjoys guitar-driven pop rock, as well the poppy-er aspects of the Black Keys<\/strong> (with a less obvious blues rock influence) and the 2000s era indie feel of early entries in Kings of Leon<\/strong> discography, this album is absolutely worth your time, especially in a world becoming more dominated by electronic music where the \u201cpop\u201d and \u201crock\u201d genres see less and less overlap.<\/p>\n Bullies<\/strong> was released on March 13, 2020 on the band\u2019s on label, Freakout Records<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Acid Tongue<\/strong><\/p>\n Bullies<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Released:<\/strong> 2020<\/p>\n Track Listing:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n 1. Follow the Witch<\/p>\n 2. Candy<\/p>\n 3. Bullies<\/p>\n 4. Jenny Lewis<\/p>\n 5. Liars<\/p>\n 6. Walk Don’t Run<\/p>\n 7. Track Name<\/p>\n 8. Sometimes<\/p>\n 9. Am I (The Only One)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Listen<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Listen<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Listen<\/strong><\/p>\n Related Articles<\/strong><\/p>\n Related<\/strong> Articles<\/strong><\/p>\n Related<\/strong> Articles<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On their sophomore album Bullies, the Seattle-based rock band Acid Tongue present nine lean and well-honed pop rock songs clocking in at just over half an hour, but the duo covers a lot of ground in these 30 minutes. The album opener, \u201cFollow the Witch\u201d serves as a statement of intent, with guitarist\/singer\/songwriter Guy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":113523,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[19421,11100,10080,15769,16696,9426,9439],"class_list":["post-113487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-review","tag-acid-tongue","tag-genre-alt-pop","tag-genre-alt-rock","tag-genre-indie","tag-genre-indie-pop","tag-genre-indiemusic","tag-genre-popmusic","post-wrapper","thrv_wrapper"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"\/\/www.dcmusicreview.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/971786.jpg\" "\\"971786\\"")
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