There is something fitting about Bleeker naming this record Elephant. The animal is powerful and imposing, but also associated with intelligence, emotion and memory. Those contrasts run throughout these 12 songs as the Canadian band balance strength with vulnerability and huge choruses with moments of genuine self-reflection.
“We wanted this record to feel big,” says vocalist Taylor Perkins. “Not just sonically, but emotionally. There’s aggression, humour, doubt, confidence and a lot of honesty in these songs. We weren’t interested in pretending we’ve got everything figured out. We just wanted to make the most authentic Bleeker record we’ve ever made.”
They have certainly achieved the first part. Formed in Orillia, Ontario, Bleeker comprise Taylor Perkins, guitarist Cole Perkins, bassist Mike Van Dyk and drummer Chris Dimas, and “Feel It Again” opens the record with effortless arena rock.
“Great Unknown” underlines what they do so well. Essentially, Bleeker are masters of making three-minute pop songs sound absolutely enormous. The hooks are immediate, the guitars are polished and everything feels designed to reach the back of whichever arena they find themselves playing.
Delve a little deeper, though, and the title track has a raw blues quality that gives Elephant some extra dirt. It is still accessible, but it reveals another side to a band that could easily have relied on gleaming production and massive choruses alone.
That said, “Something On You” is basically all about exploding into one of those choruses. “You’re already dead if you live in your head,” sings Perkins, providing the sort of line that thousands of people can yell back in unison.
“Outside” sounds like a simple plea, while “Laundry” deals more explicitly with mental health. “Baby, there’s something wrong with me,” Perkins admits, and its openness captures the doubt and honesty he talks about.
They are on a mission, apparently, with “Boom Boom,” and it is the best thing here. Confident, infectious and full of purpose, it brings together everything Bleeker do best without wasting a second.
“Boring” tries to escape the tedium its title suggests, before “Last Night” adds a burst of Strokes-style hedonism. The latter sounds like a night of bad decisions remembered with a grin, lending the record some welcome looseness.
“Wake The Kids Up” moves into almost pop-punk territory, and from here Elephant begins exploring areas untouched by its more straightforward opening songs. “More” continues that sense of expansion and ensures the album does not simply repeat its earliest tricks.
Then “Blue” brings everything to a close with Beatles-style psychedelia. The final words are “I’m feeling blue,” but they arrive over music far more colourful than that line might suggest.
Across Elephant, Bleeker confront chaos, desire, resilience and the uncomfortable truths people carry with them. They do so without pretending to have found all the answers, but with an insistence that moving forward still matters.
It is big, certainly, but its sensitivity provides the real weight.
Rating: 8/10
