BLEACH: Garage Bops for Self-Loathing

By Lily Hoveke

Garage rock meets midwest emo on the newest single from Harrison Gordon. “BLEACH” is reminiscent of the signature emo sound of the 2010s while implementing other subgenres of rock to keep it sounding unique.

During my initial listen, it reminded me of FIDLAR mixed with Prince Daddy & the Hyena. Only this time, it was considerably less whiny.

Despite this, I had a bit of a difficult time classifying what the song reminded me of. While I could notice some of the influences, none of them overshadowed each other, which helped to give the song a more one-of-a-kind feeling.

Nonetheless, it doesn’t feel stale or overdone, which is a refresher considering that it’s easy for artists to stick themselves in a box and create the same thing over and over again.

Lyrically, the song follows Gordon, who feels hopeless in a life that doesn’t seem to get better with time.

While ending on a slower note, he asks himself, “Will I always feel like shit / Almost all the time / If Rukia gets through this, well / So can I” in a clearer voice than the rest of the song. This acoustic finale changes drastically in tempo, displaying the changing amounts of vulnerability shown throughout the song.

“BLEACH” talks about isolating oneself, which is made clear in the lyrics, especially in the more calm parts of the song. The clarity in these parts helps listeners make out the message, especially if they weren’t able to hear the early parts of the song over the instrumentals.

Overall, the song is good and I really enjoyed listening to it. It sounds professional, and if I hadn’t known better, it could have easily been a single from a band on a major label. It’s also a song that I think would do great if performed live. It’s high energy, and the crowd and artist can easily have fun with it at a house show or smaller venue. This song would fit perfectly in my playlists with other emo artists, and I would recommend anyone who even remotely likes rock music to give it a listen.