Album Review: Bad Luck – ‘Drug Phase’

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Many of our contributors write for other sites, and we always try to support those endeavors as well. Good music writing is good music writing wherever it is. 1 of our contributors Hannah just got published in a new limited edition zine called “A Soundtrack To Surviving 2019”, which features personal essays on the best albums of 2019 so far from a bunch of music writers. Hannah wrote about the recent Bad Luck album, Drug Phase, and we’re republishing her essay here.

Take a read below and if you want to purchase the zine (all proceeds go to charity), you can order a copy today for $5 at AuxCord.FM.


All Zines built by @OfAllThingsAli
Cover art by @ArtbyNickFerran


 

“No one can tell what goes on in between the person you were and the person you become. No one can chart that blue and lonely section of hell. There are no maps of the change. You just come out the other side. Or you don’t.”

This Stephen King quote from The Stand is what kept coming to my mind while listening to the recently released EP Drug Phase by Bad Luck. You can say you’ve changed or that you’re undergoing some kind of transformation, but the only person that understands the journey you’re on is yourself. No one can force you to move, or change, or do anything at all. You have to make the choice to become something different, and only you can see it through to whatever end you may discover.

Let’s back up; in 2014 / 2015 the group released two well-loved pieces of work and were touring all over the country before seemingly vanishing. Despite their silence, fans kept playing them loud and talking about their music; sharing tracks such as “Love Song” on Instagram stories and posting about the group in Reddit threads and Facebook groups. Towards the end of 2018, the band began to hint to a return by updating socials before finally announcing they had signed to Take This To Heart Records.

“… it’s just about losing track of yourself mentally and then being lucky enough to have a brand new perspective from doing so and coming back to who you know you are,” says Dominick Fox (vocalist/guitarist) when I reach out via email trying to gain some context.

The EP unfolds like a short series of TV episodes, following a similar storyline but each “episode” tackling its own set of issues and evoking different emotions. Bad Luck. is definitely back but they aren’t the same band with the same sound, and we shouldn’t expect them to be – we have all changed in the past few years and it would be a disservice to our experiences and (hopefully) growth to act as nothing has happened. Bad Luck. actually started as a solo project in Long Island before becoming a full band playing shows thanks to touring friends and Joseph Fox (Dominick’s brother) then based out of Florida. Moving is a big adjustment and can bring up the difficulty of trying to define “home” as both a place and a feeling. I can’t speak for the Bad Luck. dudes but I know it is hard to tap into a version of yourself you no longer associate with. It can be embarrassing to revisit and work through your past, but the art that you can create from that place of vulnerability can really be important, both as a sort of therapy and as something others can deeply empathize with. That is why Drug Phase offers a cathartic break for me to sit and admit I have been through some shit that I still feel deep in my bones some days, and I think part of any healing process is accepting you were hurt in the first place.

As if waking up in a panic, the record opener  “Impressive Depressive” begins with, “I woke up, and I realized I’m my enemy.” The black coffee instrumentals and gritty vocals may catch you off guard if you’ve been following the band for a while but the pop-inspired melodies and playful guitar work return on “Mean Dudes.” The title track acts as an anthem for the record, channeling an introspective born frustration that cries out for a need to feel better / be better ending on the declaration, “So get me out of my head and out of my bed again.” The record then breaks into a sort of hysteric sarcasm on the upbeat ba-ba-ba track “Sheep Song” which discusses the lack of ‘happy chemical’ serotonin, but ironically I bet you’ll want to dance around. “Wish We Still Talked” then acts as a pinnacle of the entire narrative. Instruments work to convey the same intense emotional release the lyrics express – a mix of remorse and rumination. The finale of it all is the lighthearted, whistling sitting-on-your-stoop acoustic of “PS Wiffle Ball” that closes off the series with a shrug “yeah, people suck.”

While it is a short encounter, Bad Luck. make an impact with an edgier sonic landscape that allows the straightforward songwriting to not only be heard but felt. Drug Phase shows the group may be harnessing potential they have not yet tapped into yet as artists or a team. As individuals and a band they have changed, they have watched other people changed both for better and for worse, but they have come out the other side unafraid to talk about that unchartable blue we all encounter at some point in this whirlwind of a life. While it is a short encounter, Bad Luck. make an impact with an edgier sonic landscape that allow the straightforward songwriting to not only be heard by felt. The EP shows the group may be harnessing potential they have not yet tapped into yet as artists or a team. As individuals and a band they have changed, they have watched other people changed both for better and for worse, but they have come out the other side unafraid to talk about that unchartable blue we all encounter at some point in this whirlwind of a life.


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Hannah Hines | @hannah_unlost


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