Bacchanalia Magazine

by Reb Jordin

An indie-rock band named BODEGA are set to release their third album ‘Our Band Could Be Yr Life’ on April 12th and it will house their most widescreen, melodic and cohesive track listing yet. The album was originally written eight years agoand named ‘BODEGA BAY’ but now that the five-piece band are complete, ‘Our Band Could Be Yr Life’ has been reimagined for an audience of today. Ben Hozie (guitars, vocals) says regarding this, “We thought of it like a director remaking one of their old films, like when Hitchcock remade the Man Who Knew Too Much, or when Yasujirō Ozu re-did The Story of Floating Weeds.”  It is an extremely philosophical album which gives weight to themes of consumerism, wanting to make rock music meaningful again and the effects that corporate think have on youth culture. 

The album opens with ‘Dedicated To The Dedicated’ with an angsty guitar and pounding drums listeners are immediately thrilled by the familiar sound of their favourite band whilst the album still promises a twist of something new that BODEGA still has to offer. The lyrics, ‘I don’t know who I’ll be, but I will sing my song no matter what you think of me’ empower the listener with the message that you are who ever you want to be, and nobody can take that from you so don’t give up on your true self to fit the desired image of somebody else. Through lyrics like, ‘I pray I don’t lose my naïve’ BODEGA immediately address the effects today’s society has on their youth as their try to taint their individuality and innocence. 

Through the sickly plucking of a guitar, we enter ‘G.N.D Deity’ with Nikki Belfiglio’s almost strange vocal style drawing the listener in, refreshed by something different and interesting to listen too. The song is told from the perspective of a fictional sex worker, a unique concept to keep listeners guessing and enthralled by lyrics like, ‘how you touch that’s your language.’ The song explores sex and technology questioning the stability of the age that we live in.

Soon we move onto the short and punchy ‘Bodega Bait’ which begs the question ‘what is the difference between an artist and an advertiser?’ Before swiftly merging into the single ‘Tarkovski’ with its nostalgia fuelled guitar riffs and theme of theory and art working together but in a chaotic way. The single closes with a killer guitar solo from Dan Ryan (guitars) which the band are calling “the closest we’ve come to working our live improvisations into a record so far.”

The album then calms into ‘Major Amberson’ a short and sweet song referencing the patriarch of the Amberson family from the novel ‘The Magnificent Ambersons’ which follows a story of loss of wealth, health and love. ‘Our Band Could Be Yr Life’ then picks up slightly with the moody guitar of ‘Stain Gaze’ which speaks of our gaze of the world being tainted by human’s toxic actions. The song ‘Webster Hall’ soon follows paying homage to the iconic New York music venue through its satisfying guitar riffs and title. The song follows both the theme of loving something saving you, in this case fandom, and a toxic relationship. The lyrics and voices of Hozie and Belfiglio’s contrast beautifully with one another creating vivid imagery to fully immerse the listener into the story the song is telling.

Listeners then enter the world of ‘ATM’ with battle march like drums to echo the battle cry like vocals which convey how consumerism has made humans incredibly superficial. Hozie on this subject says, “There’s this term called “standing reserve,” which is where you treat something as a means to an end. A field is no longer just a field that we appreciate the beauty of. It becomes about the resources we can extract from it. We use the ATM as a playful metaphor for this. Think of every single person you know – your parents, your lovers, even your best friends. We’ve been trained to think, ‘what do I get out of my relationship with them?’ Social media gets you to think of your whole life as standing reserve. It’s a terrible way to live our lives.” 

‘Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Drum’ refresh the listener with its unique tribal and almost ritualistic sound. Listeners are then greeted by the short ‘Protean’ with its nostalgic sound and theme of wanting to change the way you think or act. In this instance it could be related to the way music changes over time and how people perceive different genres of music over time. ‘Born Into By What Consumers’ is even shorter with a haunting electric guitar and chilling baseline it presents everyone as mediocre in a society which strives for its people to lack individuality as a means of control. 

BODEGA gifts listeners with three songs following the story of a man who is a cultural consumer. ‘Cultural Consumer I’, ‘Cultural Consumer II’ and ‘Cultural Consumer III’ are a trilogy of songs which speed up their tempo reflecting the demise of the cultural consumer. He is a wellness retreat, Kombucha drinking, toxic masculinity type of person who is too busy wasting his money to follow trends that he neglectsto support himself or his family. These songs convey how trends and culture can ruin your life but as humans we are tooaddicted to them to see this.

‘City is Taken’ is the single which closes the album on a high note. With its relentless drumbeat and the lyrics, ‘you think that city is taken but not by me’ convey to the listener that just because you think you aren’t the problem it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t do anything when you could choose to help and make the world a better place.

So go and give the three singles from the album which are already out a listen as you anticipate the release of ‘Our Band Could Be Yr Life’ on April 12th.

Photo Credit: Pooneh Ghana