Album Review: Bush – I Beat Loneliness
3 min read
Following nearly three decades in rock, Gavin Rossdale and Bush deliver their tenth studio album, I Beat Loneliness, via earMUSIC. The UK band, who curiously were somewhat a one-hit wonder with Swallow in the 1990’s, whilst simultaneously a huge deal stateside, return after a three year gap, with Rossdale himself co-producing their latest offering (with Erik Ron). Rossdale’s aims for this latest LP were to blend their 1990’s grunge-rooted intensity with themes of personal resilience, mental health, and emotional healing, with Rossdale himself describing it as his “most honest album” yet. Let’s dive right in….
Kicking off proceedings, we have Scars, which immediately feels (to me) more on the metal side of grunge, with a nice blend of synth and analogue to create a track that wouldn’t be out of place on Keanu Reeves’ ‘The Matrix’. Title Track I Beat Loneliness follows, with a distinct turn of the century metal sound, and the chorus providing a nice shift between melodic chorus and riff-dominant verse, and this vibe continues through to second single The Land of Milk and Honey – which for me is a strange pick to release as a single, as at times I found the vocals didn’t flow in sync with the music. My favourite guitar arrangement on the album appears on We’re All the Same on the Inside, though I found myself persevering rather than enjoying the opening bars of the track, while I Am Here to Save Your Life has the same energy, but slightly lower quality track (but a better intro). The first half of the album ends with first single release 60 Ways to Forget People, which is light on the use of synths (a good thing), and generally shifts from calmer verse and really heavy riffs in the chorus.
Love Me Till the Pain Fades begins the aft side of I Beat Loneliness – a good track where the melody in the chorus is very Rob Dickinson-esque, and is a great song in general, with a great bass synth outro. We Are of This Earth is a slower heartbeat of a track, which has minor Cure vibes, and a nice slower track to break the prior heavy rock, whilst Everyone Is Broken follows suit in the less rocky, more ballad-like track, which has great lyrics. Returning to a more up tempo vibe, Don’t Be Afraid continues to combine analogue and digital sounds with high production values. Penultimate track Footsteps in the Sand lends synthetic basslines from Drum and Bass in a dark, slow and moody track with great guitar riffs, whilst we finish proceedings with Rebel with a Cause which is in the running for best track on the album – lyrics written from an introspective view, whilst uncomplicated arrangement.
More than a legacy release, I Beat Loneliness feels like a declaration: vulnerability can be strength, and shared pain can spark connection. The lyrics are clearly reflective on how Gavin’s last few years have gone, and whilst the track is well produced, it is almost overproduced & heavily leans on synths – which for me doesn’t mesh with the raw lyrics… I feel a more unpolished analogue sound would have been better received (by me, at least). If you like Bush it’s worth listening to – furthermore if you like late 1990’s/early 2000’s rock you might get something out of this… it’s a well-constructed album! But, personally, I’m not deep into this sub-genre of rock, so when I want my fix from this kind of music I won’t be returning to this album, but rather delve into some of the absolute classics from the 1990s! Sorry Bush fans.
