8 Places To Listen To Belair Lip Bombs’ New Album, ‘Again’
Photo by Bridie Fitzgerald.
As the weather warms and Australian summer approaches the Melbourne-based Belair Lip Bombs release their second album, Again, an album perfect for summer listening.
Again fits into this category of music that I’ve coined “Disney Channel music”. That is awesome as I love Disney Channel music, other bands that fit into the category are That Dog, Momma, Letters To Cleo. To define “Disney Channel music” it’s music that you could imagine fitting perfectly in the final scene of a Disney movie or TV show when the superstar teen wins the game or absolutely kills their performance at the school talent show. It’s uplifting, warm, fuzzy, fun, bouncy, and makes you want to jump in the air, kicking your heels together with a giant smile on your face and hands in the air.
The album commemorates a huge milestone for the band, being their first to be released by Jack White’s Third Man Records and the first ever Australian release in the legendary labels 24 year history – just look at the list of bands on the label. To commemorate the release, here are eight places that are perfect to listen to Again.
Road Trip
It’s obvious, but is it too obvious that it’s not worth writing about? I don't think so, it’s the perfect place to start. Go on a roadtrip with your friends, listen to Again over and over. Look out as you’re driving along the scenic route with your best friends, as the windows are down and the ocean breeze is running through your hair. Pretend you're in your own music video, except it’s a little uncomfortable as you’re all getting squashed by everything you had to pack into your friend's tiny Nissan sedan.
The Beach
The road trip ended up at the beach. Be that insufferable person with the UE Boom out in public. Instead of everyone hating you, they’ll ask you what song you’re playing to which you’ll seamlessly reply, “If You’ve Got the Time” by the Belair Lip Bombs. They’ll say ‘thank you’, go on their way and before either of you even know it, the album will be their most listened to of the year, even with its end of October release.
At the Club With Headphones On
This one can be interchangeable for any scenario where it’s extremely inappropriate to have headphones on. It could be in the theatre, a local band's gig, at a cinema (awesome song).
One time my friends told me about a pro skater who while on a trip in Sydney ended up at a party and spent the entirety of it in the corner with his headphones on. I think this is maybe the biggest sign of disrespect you could ever show anyone but it is also really funny. Sit in the back of the club or party, and try keep a straight face while you listen to the jivey tune of “Cinema” because you don’t like the music the DJ is playing, you also don’t want to be in control of the AUX, and you don't want anyone to talk to you.
The Shower
If you’re a morning shower fan, most of the album is perfect to uplift you to start your day. Use the shampoo bottle as a microphone as you scream at the top of your lungs the catchy lyrics... ‘Again and again and again and again wooooooo’.
If you’re someone who showers in the evening, “Burning Up” is the best song on the album to listen to for you! It’s emotional, a little slow, the perfect song to get in your feelings. The song literally starts with the lyrics, ‘Talking out my ass about loving someone I hardly know’, come on now if it wasn't written for overthinking in the shower, I don't know what it was for.
On the way home from a really nice night with friends
One of my favourite times to ever listen to music is on the way home from a really nice night with friends. Whether it's an album that I've been really enjoying recently, a recommendation someone has given me that night, or something completely new that I can look out the window to while thinking about how nice my night was. Two songs stand out on the album perfect for this listening. “Again and Again” the record’s opener perfectly encapsulates that feeling of pure beauty, bliss, and the lust for life you regain after a beautiful night with friends. It’s bouncy, playful and is sure to put a pep in your step and a smile on your face on the way to the bus, train, walk home, riding a lime bike, or while you look out the window of the uber. Also, “Smiling”, like duh, it’s in the title, it’s full of joy, smiling to yourself thinking about how grateful you are for your cute little life and the friends you have and how special it all is.
As a whole, Again has that nostalgic feel, not like a classic nostalgia for the past but more a nostalgia for the life you’re living now. The feeling you have when it's nostalgia for the life you’re living. It feels like that feeling where you’re like ‘things can’t get better than this’ except they do, they always do, even if they get worse for a bit, they’ll get back to being this nice. Life works in funny ways.
On the Way to Work
A study by YouGov I found after googling ‘percentage of people who like their jobs’ says that 44% of Australians like their jobs. This means that more people don’t like their job than do. If you’re in the former, it’s likely going to work is not what you want to be doing on a Tuesday morning. To make that insufferable commute to work somewhat better listen to Again, as the Lip Bombs self-coined their music “Yearn-core” there is no better soundtrack to your longing you feel for a different life where you don’t need to work and can just enjoy the sunshine.
At Your Job
There’s always something really cool about going into a cafe, bar, or store and they’re playing music that you already really enjoy. The cafe I go to most days has a playlist that features Greg Freeman, Dutch Interior, and MJ Lenderman playing on repeat. It makes me happier than you could ever imagine a morning coffee run to be, going into a cafe where some of my favourite music is playing. Play Again at your job, who knows if you’ll have that same effect on a Lip Bombs fan or maybe you’ll introduce someone to their music, either way it’s likely you’ll start up a conversation with someone new and maybe you’ll make a new friend.
Halloween Party
This one isn’t as fitting as the beach or roadtrip, however, with the album being released on the spookiest day of the year, it feels like it was intended to be played at a Halloween party. Maybe if it’s not playing the album you should dress up like one of the many characters from the Belair Lip Bombs notoriously chaotic beachside hometown of Frankston to commemorate the release. There’s so many options, you’ve got the King of Frankston, the prepubescent eshay kid on the train screaming at an old head ‘I own Frankston’. The average kid in a Posseshot shirt and paint splattered Dickies double knees, who hangs out at Frankston skatepark and has no fear, regularly will get smoked trying to ollie the five-flat-five after two years of sort of skateboarding, but mostly smoking bongs at the skatepark. The Cooking on the Frankston Line guy, go steal some of the finest cookware from your local Kmart, get some milkcrates, last nights leftovers and set up shop at the back of the party, reminding everyone of the video they never forgot. The surfer, through all its cracks and oddities at the end of the day Frankston is indeed still a beachside town, dress up like the surfer who drives down the peninsula every weekend to go for a surf. Or finally you could dress up as the Lip Bombs themselves in the “Hey You” music video, where all four of them are wearing suits, but unfortunately everyone will ask you if you are dressed up as The Dare.
