There’s a clip from a 2023 Rock Sound interview with Dave Grohl that I found myself thinking about while listening to Again by the Belair Lip Bombs. In this interview, Grohl praises the British band Wet Leg in somewhat odd terms. “I am really excited about Wet Leg, and I consider them a rock band,” he says. “They have a bass and a guitar and some drums and there’s people singing.” What he’s describing is indeed a rock band, but you wouldn’t tell someone about the most delicious cake you’ve ever tasted by saying, “It contained flour and sugar and butter and eggs.” The Belair Lip Bombs, an Australian four-piece signed to Third Man Records, meet the criteria for being a rock band. In terms of technical proficiency, they’re a good rock band. But there’s no shortage of good rock bands, and on their second album, the Belair Lip Bombs do little to set themselves apart from the pack.
It’s not quite a case of all style and no substance—the Belair Lip Bombs have some of both, though neither is especially distinct. The Lip Bombs’ latest LP has has plenty of tight, catchy melodies—brightened by Maisie Everett’s warm, capable vocals and exuberant riffs from Mike Bradvica (Again’s MVP). At its peaks, Again casts a cinematic glow over stories of young adult misadventure, never-ending nights out, and getting crushed by crushes. “Don’t Let Them Tell You (It’s Fair)” is an ode to sticking to your guns, a pep talk that coasts on glimmering guitar licks. “Hey You” lays all its cards on the table, with thick basslines and howled hooks that make desperation sound triumphant.
The rest of Again fails to sustain the momentum of these obvious standouts. Vagueness is the band’s Achilles heel; their love songs are cluttered with clichés and clumsy metaphors. The lyrics of “Cinema” and “Another World” come off as word-salad signifiers of chic, carefree youth that, in context, don’t actually make much sense—a couplet like, “Slip into your grasp like a magazine/Moving to your rhythm like a tambourine” sits atop an equally indistinct melody. “Didn’t mean to mess around/Used to be the baddest bitch around” could be a throwaway lyric from any post-2020 Taylor Swift album. Again’s take on timeless themes is more likely to leave you wondering how many funny/money and crazy/baby rhymes a person can take.
The Lip Bombs’ lyrics hit harder when they zero in on charged moments, like the will-they-or-won’t-they nerves of “Smiling.” The intimate yet anthemic closer “Price of a Man” sounds like a full realization of the resonance the band reaches for throughout the album, but most of the preceding songs lack the tension or texture needed to make the payoff feel earned. Again doesn’t seem interested in standing out, or in setting itself apart from Lush Life, the band’s debut. I could rattle off a dozen rock records from the past 10 years that Again calls to mind. What differentiates the Belair Lip Bombs from the countless bastard children and grandchildren of the Strokes out there? Maybe the album’s called Again because we’ve heard it all before.
