Review
Bangers
Crazy Fucking Dreams

Bangers are a punk band from Cornwall, but they don’t play to expectations in their second full-length Crazy Fucking Dreams. Instead, the record starts with the mid-to-slow tempo “A Curious Mix,” with speak-sing vocals and a trumpet. Singer Roo Pescod’s voice remains confrontational and direct, and that’s the most “punk rock” thing about “A Curious Mix.” From there, of course, the record goes back into familiar territory, picking up the pace with the vitriol-discharger “Blind Hindsight.”

The overall sound remains in that mid-tempo range, building energy to where a chorus would lie, though that isn’t really Bangers’ lyrical approach. It’s melodic in spurts, with angular chords to build tension and Pescod’s spit-sing vocals leading the charge. There are some group singalongs that build on the positivity but, as a whole, Bangers are a group that sings about disappointment, frustration, and anger. They’re venting about a bad day rather than looking forward to tomorrow and the musical cues follow this same approach. They use detailed lyrics that build a setting and tone, telling little stories to exemplify the points while giving a window into their daily lives. There’s a lot of “I” to the songs, and it’s entirely believable as first-person tale, though it tends toward larger social topics than merely day-to-day anecdotes.

Musically, the record has distanced itself a bit from Small Pleasures by toning down the pace, yet keeping that frustration at the core. It’s less singalong for the listener, instead kicking and sighing its way through the hardships. It’s a sentiment well explained in “Bad Jokes:” 

how we worked so much for so little
and the irony of it, when
all we wanted to be was penniless and passionate
and now that we weren’t 
how much we hated it.

The tempo and tone pick up a bit in “Part Animal” and “The Pits” but, well, look at those song titles. An outlier on the record is “A Quite Different Coastline,” which takes influence from Huntington Beach while aping the influence and bringing it home to their own community.

Overall Bangers play angry, frustrated punk for the heart, not the circle pit, and while it’s a depth that may not instantly hit on the very first listen, it’s one that resonates far greater.