A Homecoming of Sorts Displaying Sheer Determination
MisterWives’ lead singer Mandy Lee told Rolling Stone around the beginning of May that the group’s newest album, Nosebleeds, gets into the kind of material that tears bands apart, all the tracks coming together to showcase how resilient the group’s remained over the tumultuous past few years. Lee and the band’s drummer, Etienne Bowler, separated romantically in 2020, causing a rift in harmony. Fellow band members William Hehir, Marc Campbell and Mike Murphy came together and made the choice to stay as a united unit. Nosebleeds exists as a testament to what true perseverance looks like.
MisterWives has brought forth music for the outsiders with Nosebleeds. On almost every track, Lee sings of prickly predicaments, fiery falsehoods and the overall aftermath of rather sticky situations. It appears that her mind might still be on heartbreak, but that’s not to say she doesn’t prosper on the creative invasion of inspiration it brings along to all downhearted souls. The whole of the percussion on “Dagger,” for instance, ushers in a twilight of instrumentation, the drums thumping stylistically, like a beating heart. Then there’s the whinnying guitar that excellently makes the lyricism’s deep emotional cuts felt. It’s one of those tracks that could help any listener accurately imagine the body-shaking madness and feet-stomping mania presented from seas of fans attending concerts where it’s performed.
“Out Of Your Mind,” the opener, allows Lee to fully personify the attitude of an angsty artist. An epic through its words, the entirety of it perfectly encapsulates what likely pounds through the bedrooms of brokenhearted teenagers. She asserts that whoever’s mistreated her would be out of their mind to think the circumstances that follow the fallout of fractured relations will be any different from what ignited them in the first place. Addressing the recurrence of the theme of perseverance, she croons, “Like that first time, I’ll survive,” putting forward the notion that MisterWives is an unstoppable force. The track’s slick outro only adds on to all of these lasting effects.
Although she embodies the spirit of a punky rockstar throughout most of the 40-something minutes making up Nosebleeds, Lee gets to be a tad sing-songy every now and then. The title track is perhaps the most brilliant example of this. It’s an ode to wonders of any kind of nature, and features the ever-so-slight inclusion of clapping in the background, creating a sensation for the ears of what a stadium full of folks doing just that might actually sound like. There’s the briefest of breaks in the song, and it’s colorful and dramatic, much like the journey MisterWives has been on together over the course of the past few years. Near the end, a robotic-like utilization of technology is placed on Lee’s voice, masking it to make it feel eerie and alienating.
A trio of tracks — “All The Same,” “Silver Lining,” and “Broken Glass,” to be specific — breathe with indelibly hopeful energy. The first is uplifting in all its aspects, with an incredible use of the bass. The second one is the shortest of the album, but sure says a lot. “You don’t know who anyone is,” Lee urges on it, helping the personality of this one’s outro to be capped off by an operatic flair. With the last-born of the trinity, MisterWives wholly delve into what it’s like to be on the outside of everything.
There’s a certain elegance to Nosebleeds. It’s an album that’s aware of both itself and what’s in the air. The synths are dashing and poppy, a touch of electronic music, too, finding its way into the mix from time to time to only strengthen the pieces present. Every smack the drumsticks make are swift and quick-witted. In regard to their future, MisterWives has a lot going for them and there seemingly are no boundaries to the avenues they might explore in their next coming projects. After all, they’re a band that thrives on their own history, which will only be deepened as long as the group stays alive.
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