Bedside Morale hits off 2024 with their main vision in sight: “sincere rock without limits.” Discover their first EP, Still Life, released 10 years after the band’s first formation — culminating in an unabashed and expressive four-track masterpiece of musical exploration and insight. Bringing together its indie-rock influences, bridging on heavy guitar, exciting drums, and bass solos to a celebrated journey of what a close-knit, experienced, and passionate group can accomplish together.

The EP begins with its first track, “Bitter Things,” a classic and memorable introduction with a fun twist. The listener is introduced to a fun and overall exciting guitar, counting down — two, three, four —  till the full explosion of rock-band magic emerges. The lead guitar explores riffing up and down, building a memorable tune while allowing hints of fanatic bass to run behind. It’s here that the vocals first hit, enjoyable and memorable with its short and terse phrasing and sound. The vocals almost mimic the playing of the guitar, hopping up and down with each breath, constant in a subtle way.  Eventually, the guitar spikes with the harmonic backup vocals, ringing through to a fantastic and well thought out verse. Each moment is well received, giving time for the guitar to dance, while also allowing each band member to express their joy and sound equally. This comes out with the upbeat tone of the final chorus, as it all rings into a familiar sound— that of our favorite rock band jamming and enjoying their own little world—the clash of all their talent surprisingly mends perfectly into a continuous sound. Little surprises are mixed in the song too: a bass solo thumping around a short silent block, a piano humming in the background of second verse, or the variation of lyrical lines dancing upon rhymes and speech. The verse and structure of the lyrics are apparent and fully compliment the artist who knows how to play with structure. Certain lines expand while others are shortened, also introducing in itself playful rhymes, including “dressed to impress / no, he’s not depressed.” This is only expanded by hitting each lyrical mark and textbook structure of a rock song perfectly, building in a steady rise in the Pre Chorus to a full-on chant till the listener is hit with the final explosion of chorus. These components turn “Bitter things” into a head-bobbing anthem of pure enjoyment. While dancing to its high-pitched electric, drums thumping into the background, a solo appears in its last draw, bringing the listener in closer till the final moments are climatic and suspenseful. First, the quiet and slow whispers in David Bowie-style emerge, until its epilogue crashes with vocal screams, guitar riffs, drums, and bass ringing into oblivion. Implementing a surprising classical rock twist to the already powerful indie tune.

This rock passion is expanded upon and continued with its second track, “Early Morning Sonnet.” Instead, a fun bass is introduced leading into the heavy drums and a rock guitar thrashing hard against its downward strums—almost mimicking a pop-punk aesthetic. This sound is brought home into a cohesive mixture by the lead singer’s indie tune, bringing out his tone of hipster and self-taught aesthetic. His speech style singing and short high tones pushes through with its sophisticated and poetic lyrics. The vocals only build when the verse continues to push further and further—until finally an exhilarating chorus hits the heights and prowess of his range, fluttering with his beautiful screams only now emerging. There are enough fun and enjoyable variations within this song and the rest of the EP, making sure the listener will never get bored. Inside “Early Morning Sonnet” are lyrics like “you crawled inside my head / doused me in sugar and gin,” to “if you leave it up to me, we won’t get very far.” Furthermore, while each verse relies on lyrical sophisticated and drawn-out lines, the chorus in return is replaced with fewer words but longer vocal notes that expand each word to its brink of expression. Finding high-pitch screams, or harmonic backup vocals of unexpected hums and chants, to a new and exhilarating guitar solo, is just a few of the lovely musical variations present throughout “Early Morning Sonnet” and the rest of the EP.

The next track “Safe word” surprises the audience with its heavy-rock guitar, diving into the diversity of sound and the band’s experience. The vocals bellow more, staying in its lower range and not varying too much in the beginning; instead, the guitar and heavy drums have their chance at spotlight. This emphasis on the instruments only draws further the drastic moment of the emerging chorus, where the first touches of vocal screams and high notes drastically adds to the repeating powerful rock motif. Equally interesting is the tone switch to a darker sound, with only its high pitched guitar solos and familiar upbeat vocals perching in for a few moments of the second verse to bring the audience back to the rest of the EP. This slowly vanishes with its heavy guitar strums and fast beat drums once again. The guitar takes a main presence, making sure its screeches match with the drum heavy bridges, until the solo brings in a full rock effect. “Safe Word” marks a more heavy rock aesthetic without diverging away from its indie core, having full solos backing in and heavy drum thumps for the majority of the song. The bitterness of the tune is present, but not overwhelming where it feels like this track song diverged from the last two. Instead, a moment is breached, where the artist and lead singer itself marks a different emotion, maybe even leading the listener to its more heartbreaking track, the next song titled “Yours Sincerely.”

“Yours Sincerely” starts with a heavy distorted guitar plucking into melancholy, ringing inside a solo moment of sadness. The vocals are introduced almost like the beginning of a cry, bringing forward a new aesthetic and sound to the lead singer. The verse continues in a terse way, similar to before but with new meaning and mode. The mission comes clear when the introspective and hurt lyrics are brought to the forefront, appearing as if they were hard to say: “For a moment, I thought I must be the only one / who would let you cry all night.” The chorus rings forward in a style of letting the words speak for themselves, a guitar backing in its single long strums and lead solos coming over faintly, a trademark in sad rock music: “and I might not always get it right / but I’ll hold your hand in the cold dark night / and I’ll hold it all night long / if I can.” The magnitude of love and sadness is explored in a beautiful way, with the slow guitar finally strumming to itself, almost as if a person is singing instead, letting the guitar’s slow and riffs speak in the space between. With lyrics like “the night you pushed me” being followed by a sudden muted tone in verse, “Heaven knew/ did you mean to hurt me?” The song itself explores a crash and almost envelopment of thought, expanding each verse and chorus to add more emotion, thought, and detail. This combusts to the final crash of the chorus, where the musical tones push through to a final epiphany. The final chorus rings: “I’ve got a theory about your kinda love / it’s like knives in the night with the slowest cut.” Here, a liberation of rock and sound blasts through the heartbroken singer. Suddenly, the lyrics push more into screams and a newer wide and full sound, with the guitar bringing in full nob, in itself a triumphant moment of realization and musical ecstasy.

Overall, The Bedside Morale brought forth an exciting and new take on indie rock and unadulterated sound and prowess. Its “sincere” touch of musical variation, magic, and style paved a way for the band to explore its heights in a new magnitude. Hopefully, with this exciting and new track hitting the audience’s ears, we will see more of The Bedside Morale and their exciting adventure into rock sound.