Skip to content

Primary Menu
  • Interviews
  • Music Reviews
    • Premieres
    • Taste Test
    • The Singles Bar
    • Boombox Blitz
  • Horror Movies
  • Essays
    • Best of 2019
    • Personal Essays
    • Lists
  • Poetry
  • About
    • Contact
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Review: Boy Band rise up from the mud on debut EP, ‘Begin’
  • Reviews

Review: Boy Band rise up from the mud on debut EP, ‘Begin’

By Bee Delores 7 years ago

The folk-pop trio shatter the glass ceiling with fearlessness.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)

The irony of the band’s name should clue you in on their mission: shattering the glass ceiling. Boy Band ⎯⎯ a magically-talented, tightly-crafted troupe of musicians named Ana Dratz, Jen Fischer and HaleyJane Rose ⎯⎯ let the patriarchy have it on their luscious and rootsy debut EP, Begin. Swelling with swampy folk shapeshifting and smooth wrinkles of glossy pop magnificence, the sturdy five-song disc stabs deep into the chest and wrenches away the most crucial of life forces as a way of deconstructing the system and jerking the straight white men from their lavish ivory towers. “You didn’t want me or my body / You didn’t even say you’re sorry / Now, you’ve left me high and dry,” they dress plaintively but assertively on the lead single, on which they don’t let an abhorrent lover have the last laugh.

Then, on “Up from the Mud,” they wield “a firm, determined hand,” a well-poised but tattered fortitude as they morph into bloodthirsty death-eaters looking for payment in flesh ⎯⎯ in much the same regard as systemic sexism has extorted from women for centuries. “I’m coming for blood / I’ll find you / Everywhere I look, no, you ain’t go no where to run / I am the strongest flower rising from the mud,” the trio determine, starring down their detractors with grit rolling between their sharp and shiny canines. From the kazoo-drenched rollick “Think Things Through,” in which they galavant around as “modern-day female” crusaders to the tragic but merited fall of “King Lear” (inspired by a play by Shakespeare which is conversely extracted from the legend of Leir of Britain), Fischer, Rose and Dratz revel in man’s demise, ripping away their control and usurping the egregious throne of assault.

The band are steadfast in their harmony work, too, packing wall-to-wall with vocal streaks, even on the more brittle moments. The titular song relinquishes the fiery angst ignited throughout the previous four tracks, bookending the EP in a ghostly echo chamber. “Sometimes, I’m dancing by myself / Pretend that there is no one else / Sometimes, I’m dancing by myself / At times, I watch the train go by,” the plush first verse rings out over violin and ritzy percussion. “Wishing I was a passenger on that line / At times, I wish that I knew why.” The melody glides gorgeously up and over the sun-painted peaks, dipping into shadowy melancholy before rising again, victorious but worse for wear. Begin is just the beginning. They know that; we know that. And now, it’s time for the world to know that.

Grade: 3.5 out of 5

Begin EP is out now on iTunes, and you can spin it below, via Spotify:

Follow Boy Band on their socials: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Website

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)

Related

Tags: Boy Band

Continue Reading

Previous Review: Alex Williams exposes fearless vulnerability on debut album, ‘Better Than Myself’
Next Review: Loreen exposes everything on new ‘Nude’ EP

Follow Us

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram

Submit music via SubmitHub

Support B-Sides & Badlands

New Music Weekly!

Trending

  • Review: 'Ganymede' takes Christian extremism to task
    Review: 'Ganymede' takes Christian extremism to task
  • Throwback Thursday: Demi Lovato, 'Heart Attack'
    Throwback Thursday: Demi Lovato, 'Heart Attack'
  • Review: 'Get Away' swerves when you least expect it
    Review: 'Get Away' swerves when you least expect it
  • Review: 'The Shade' offers thought-provoking thesis on suicide and grief
    Review: 'The Shade' offers thought-provoking thesis on suicide and grief
  • Review: 'Horror in the High Desert 2: Minerva' mines unfathomable dread
    Review: 'Horror in the High Desert 2: Minerva' mines unfathomable dread
  • Review: Blanco White sets listener adrift on oceans of sound with 'Tarifa'
    Review: Blanco White sets listener adrift on oceans of sound with 'Tarifa'
  • Review: 'Alone' is a lean and mean survivalist thriller
    Review: 'Alone' is a lean and mean survivalist thriller
  • Review: 'Hell House LLC Origins: The Carmichael Manor' makes for a frightening time
    Review: 'Hell House LLC Origins: The Carmichael Manor' makes for a frightening time
  • Review: 'The Blackwell Ghost 8' chokes you and won't let go
    Review: 'The Blackwell Ghost 8' chokes you and won't let go
  • Throwback Thursday: Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, 'Mary Jane's Last Dance'
    Throwback Thursday: Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, 'Mary Jane's Last Dance'

Sign Up for Ghoulish Treats

My Tweets

Email Signup




My Tweets




Hours & Info

Lewisburg, WV
bee@bsidesbadlands.com
M-F: 8am-6pm




Copyright © All rights reserved. | Magazine 7 by AF themes.
Support Indie Writing!

B-Sides & Badlands would most certainly not be here without you, dear reader, and the love of celebrating good music and indie-horror.

As the media landscape continues to devour itself, and we hope it does stabilize soon, we want to continue bringing you the content you so crave. In order to do that, and perhaps recoup some of the expenses of keeping a blog afloat, we ask you to make even a tiny donation to the cause.

$1 will go a long way to keep independent thinking and creating alive.

Yours Cruelly,

Bee Scott

 

Loading Comments...
 

    Verified by MonsterInsights