Label: Terrible Records
Released: 11th December 2020
‘Get Bit’ is the debut album from laidback Californian indie rockers All Things Blue, reflecting the highs and lows – well, mostly lows – of 2020, and how they’ve affected everybody to leave them with “spaghetti brain.”
“In one moment you’re talking about politics and what’s going on in the world, and then the next moment you’re thinking about somebody that you really like,” singer-songwriter India Coombs affirms. “It’s the ups and downs of the human brain.”
‘Get Bit’ perfectly encapsulates that stream of consciousness, as they translate that flitting through ever-changing subject matter, moving from optimism and positivity in ‘White Lady Dogs’ (“Change what you can, knock down what you can’t, don’t let it get you upset”) to a tone of seriousness and despair in the following track, ironically named ‘Dicking Around’ (“Stepping off the cliffside, say goodbye to my life, and it feels fine”). Throughout, the theme of the album remains fixed: “Where’s my mind? I don’t know.”
There’s something cathartic in the structure of the album, which is, in the best way, all over the place. ‘Get Bit’ sonically tries to make sense of all the disparate parts of life which flash before our eyes and ears. It dances between genres, too; ‘Something Weird’ is one of their heavier songs, for a moment borderline grunge; the transitions between the gritty and the glittery are seamless.
And still, there’s more – there’s a message to take away from this whirlwind: we must “work to find different ways to be sustainable, and to not fall into despair and hopelessness.” India invites us to feel, go through the motions and come out the other side having learnt something from it. We can’t sit in complacency, even when the world is so chaotic that it feels past the point of saving. So, what will you do?
