Album Review: Bush Tetras- They Live in My Head

On their third studio album, They Live in My Head, Bush Tetras take the voices in their head and turn them into a nostalgia trip fueled by distorted guitars and syncopated drums. 

In its opening track, “Bird on a Wire,” there’s an immediate guitar explosion that takes hold of the track, supported closely by new bassist Cait O’Riordan’s syncopated bass lines and the simple rhythmic patterns from drummer Steve Shelley, formerly of Sonic Youth. Cynthia Sley enters with soft vocals to explore the idea of watching the world go by with a great lyrical escape. Founding guitarist Pat Place seemingly makes the track her own with distorted solo sections that interchange with Sley’s vocals. 

Sley is the shining star of this album, her voice serves as the narrator pulling the story together. Her voice is similar to the fury of Ann Wilson of Heart but a gentle nature sinks through in her lower range. The high range is showcased well in “2020 Vision,” a song that muses its way through a recap of the pandemic year: “Looking back on 2020 / Oh I know it’s been a journey / Manners told me to be quiet/ Scream to the masses, cause a riot.”

Most of the record is more up-tempo, Place uses her guitar as a distorted pathway that O’Riordan and Shelley follow while Sley is already miles ahead. However, there are some slower moments as well. “Ghosts of People” is where O’Riordan is most noticed with her opening bass moment and the thumping undertones that provide room for the track to stand on. Place still notches it up now and then with fury but the slowed-down tempo mastered by the rhythm section is a nice touch. 

The album’s standout track has to be “I Am Not A Member” by a mile. This track has the perfect walking pace set up by Shelley’s expert cymbal flare and Place walks the neck of the guitar with riff after riff, high to low over and over. Sley takes her place as leader with her powerful vocals and then the song fades out, it’s sudden but finite: “Drawing lines in the sand to make them understand/Put my heart in it.”

Overall, Bush Tetras has kept rolling, and They Live in My Head is another fine piece to hang on the wall. The songs are all easy to listen to so they will for sure get stuck in one’s head and set up camp for weeks on end.