Bludgers is a band who, according to their Facebook Page, were formed in Champaign, Illinois. On December 3rd 2020, they released a new single titled “Dirty Laundry”. From viewing their Instagram page, the only two members (we presume) are Jon Fitzgerald and Henry Pheloung. However, when you view their Soundcloud, there are apparently more members to this “American Band” with members from California, Ohio, Boston, New York and America’s 51st State, New Zealand (we kid). Anyway, we took a listen to this relatively new(ish) tune and here’s the review!
If you were going into this expecting a cover of the classic track of the same name by Don Henley, you’d be mistaken. This track starts off going for a 70s-ish styling. The good thing about it is it doesn’t waste any time getting started. The track pans quite nicely in headphones, little elements pop here and there that add a nice touch to the listening experience. In terms of the music, it’s a pretty solid progression over all. The bridge switches it up about two minutes in, which goes into a nervous sounding guitar solo. In terms of the mix, it sounds like the audio bounced from a video of someone singing this as part of some sort of karaoke cover. The drums are nowhere near punchy enough to be convincing. The vocals are at times flat and the vocalist really needs to decide what accent they want to use for this because where it switches, it’s off key. The guitar tone throughout was totally brilliant, a perfect twang for this country-ish rock.
Overall the track is almost there in terms of a finished product, give it a few months at the most of studio work – get a producer in and it would be a pretty solid track. There’s a lot of potential here which, given enough time, could be realised. We appreciate the hard work and distance that had to be overcome given the circumstances of the world and the band members apart from each other. Not great, not terrible.
Listen to “Dirty Laundry” by Bludgers on Spotify. Follow them on Facebook and Instagram!
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