Throwback Thursday: Bleachers’ Debut Album “Strange Desire”
When I was in eighth grade I was finding myself. I started 2014 as a 12-year-old who (like most 12-year-olds) didn’t really know who they’d end up as. At such a formative moment in my life, the media I was surrounded by profoundly affected who I turned into—some pieces more than others. Some pieces that were in my life ten years ago have remained a constant in my rotation and continue to impact me in ways I never could’ve imagined, much to my surprise.
I held off on writing about Jack Antonoff for a while. It took until my second TBT to touch any of his many works even in my stint as the Weekend Replay curator. After passing that threshold of starting, it’s hard to stop especially when Strange Desire hadn’t been talked about yet.
Strange Desire was the first album where I experienced the rollout in real-time. On February 17, 2014, Jack Antonoff (or @duckyantonoff for those who were following him at the time) posted the single art for the debut Bleachers single “I Wanna Get Better” with the caption “iwgb” on Instagram. The next day, the world was formally introduced to Bleachers when the track was released.
Six months later in July, Strange Desire was released. Between February and then, a few singles were released (“Shadow”, “Rollercoaster”, “Like a River Runs”) that showed the direction the project was heading. It was different from what Antonoff was doing with fun., whom he had just won his first Grammy awards with a year prior. However, Bleachers was similar to fun. in that the “project” was different, the music didn’t sound like anything else out there.
Strange Desire opens with “Wild Heart”. It’s a big track, but fairly unassuming at the beginning. Even to a new listener, the vocal effects and the Juno-106 that Antonoff cites as the heart of Bleachers and the clarity with authenticity in the lyrics create such a fascinating listening experience. These elements remain constant throughout the album, even on more pop-driven tracks like “Rollercoaster”. If you know one song from this record, it’s probably this one—and for good reason. As I mentioned, it leans into a pop structure, but it has the Bleachers core to it that makes it so special. “Shadow” keeps the poppy beats in with a truly sweet message of unbreakable, unconditional love.
Then, of course, is “I Wanna Get Better”. This song is pure energy. It’s electrifying. It’s one of very few songs that I can put on anytime anywhere and it will just shape my mood into something better. And of course, there is nothing like screaming along to this track in a crowd full of people screaming along at a Bleachers concert. It’s a deeply personal track that is incredibly relatable for so many people because of that desire to get better and to be better. It’s unifying, really. Plus, the music video features some familiar faces and it’s just really fun.
“Wake Me” follows. It’s more subdued compared to the first few tracks, but it carries the sound of Bleachers to a new terrain in a really beautiful way. The remainder of Strange Desire fluctuates with the energy a little more with some lower lows, taking it slower and deeper. “Reckless Love” obviously fits this trend, but it’s a really special song. Despite what the first few listens of this track would probably make you think, it’s an introspective track about Antonoff’s relationship with himself, not a second person, as he explains in an interview with RadioBDC from 2014.
One of the most shocking things about this album is the features from artists. Grimes and Yoko Ono both make an appearance on the debut album from Bleachers— “Take Me Away” and “I’m Ready to Move On / Wild Heart Reprise” respectively. If there was ever a testament to a band’s debut album and the promise of the group, it would be these features. These are, weirdly, two of the least streamed tracks from the album, but they are still such impressive works that these icons—love them or hate them—have lent their voices to.
Photo: Autumn de Wilde
On tracks 8 and 9, the energy picks back up for a moment. “Like a River Runs” leads and builds up to the danceable excitement of “You’re Still a Mystery” (another essential Bleachers live track). For “You’re Still a Mystery”, the energy of the crowd is palpable in the studio version and it translates so well from the studio to the stage.
“Who I Want You to Love” closes Strange Desire out. It’s about devotion and how far Antonoff will go for love. This is one of my favorite Bleachers tracks—for now. The new self-titled Bleachers album out March 8 might change that. The vulnerability and the matching sonic tone paired with the repeated “And I really wanna be grateful for the experience that I've had” closing the track and album out each contributes to this being what I feel to be one of the most underrated Bleachers tracks.
This album will forever hold a special place in my heart. Strange Desire made me fall in love with music to a new level. Until this album, music culture was a mystery to me. Bleachers let me in on a big secret that I am forever grateful I had the opportunity to experience with such a beautiful and special album.
