Beach SlangWe Were Babies & We Were Dirtbags (Quiet Slang)

Beach Slang have garnered a solid reputation for embracing the role as punk’s sad and more alternative younger cousins, unafraid of wearing their teenage bleeding hearts on their sleeves. This ethos has manifested itself in a collection of anthemic and driving rock tunes that have served the band on the stages of festivals and dive bars across the globe.

On We Were Babies & We Were Dirtbags, frontman James Alex has successfully stripped down the distorted stylings from the band’s back catalogue without compromising the deep cutting emotion the band so genuinely delivers. ‘Quiet Slang’ is a tribute to pure expression and celebration of the subtleties that bombastic alt-rock may not be able to convey.

Stripping Future Mixtape For The Art Kids of its bratty veneer, James transforms the pounding punk banger into a piano driven ballad. Exemplifying the undercurrent of sadness that propels the song’s core message, its classical leaning instrumentation leans on the side of showtune-esque drama. Plucked strings and suffocating violin swells evoke the a trauma that the original renditions beer-soaked, gang vocal quality may not be able to deliver fully.

‘We’re allowed to be loud’ ironically rings out in a solemn whisper, a celebration of the monstrous power of vulnerability

The anthemic opening guitar riff of Bad Art & Weirdos is re-appropriated with a starry eyed nursery rhyme like piano key motif and harmonies meld together with purely whimsical drawn out violin. ‘We’re allowed to be loud’ ironically rings out in a solemn whisper, a celebration of the monstrous power of vulnerability.

Androgynous (originally by the Replacements) is a song that has seen endless re-doing, Alex adding his own flair with aplomb. A tasteful play on Big Star’s Thirteen sees James tread into folkier territory, a testament to his musical mastermind.

Acoustic EPs are often used as filler between albums, however ‘Quiet Slang’ breathes new life into an already emotionally charged discography, proving the power of a good tune to transcend genre.

STANDOUT TRACKS: Future Mixtape For The Art Kids, Thirteen, Bad Art & Weirdo Ideas
STICK THIS NEXT TO: Death Cab For Cutie, Father John Misty, R.E.M