Back in 1986 in Boston, Massachusetts, a cool little band was born from the ashes of punk rock. This band, known as Blake Babies, set the stage for a lot of future bands as well. The band’s lineup was rather small but it didn’t stop them from making some pretty great tunes; the three main members were John Strohm, Freda Love, and Juliana Hatfield.
Over the years, the band managed to create great music that made a decent influence in the alternative rock scene at the time. Blake Babies went on to make four studio albums, but their career was short lived, as they soon disbanded in 2001.
Though they hadn’t really played together since then, the band managed to unite for a show earlier this year in Boston. As Stereogum reports, this performance was their first one in 15 years and thus it was a pretty big deal.
In fact, guitarist and vocalist John Strohm spoke out about the band’s reunion, “I can only speak for myself, but it felt both completely natural and completely bizarre at the same time making music with Freda and Juliana again. But if we weren’t all completely proud of the songs and what we created back then, there’s no way we could make it work. It took quite a bit of work, both apart and eventually together in a room, to make it actually sound good enough to honor the legacy. But it was very worth it and now I hope we can find our way further into the material, and hopefully explore new challenges.” Strohm additionally mentioned how great it was to see his fans at the shows as well, and that plans for future set lists are still in the works.
What came out of this celebratory performance was a series of recordings, one of which was just released. The newly released song, “Lament,” is a great nostalgic tune that is worthy of several listens. The nineties are definitely coming back and this is just one more example of it.
The song is just under three and a half minutes long and is a wonderful ride. It holds true to the Blake Babies’ memorable sound, with a lighthearted but earnest melody.
Take a listen to the recently released track below.