Beach Bums, an orange county based rock band, released its sixth album entitled IRL on November 13. Described as more of a “collective” than a band (similar to Wu-Tang Clan), Beach Bums has explored various genres throughout their nearly 10 year career and their most recent work is no exception. 

While previous albums had typically been either rap metal, surf rock, shoegaze, or trap rock, this album is an eclectic mix; elements of glitchcore fused into otherwise organic surf rock instrumentation, and rap metal lyrics create a depressing, albeit confusing atmosphere. There are a few tracks that invented a somewhat nice balance, but much of this album feels overproduced or incomplete. 

I had two primary grievances with this album. First, few tracks fully lean into the genre they represented. There is no commitment to a distinct sound and a lot of the special effects or impressive sounding components cancel each other out with an element that doesn’t compliment the other. Tracks like “Mystkluv” and “Beauty and the Beach” are an odd combination of glitchcore and surf rock that doesn’t sit right with me. ‘Beauty and the Beach’ has some impressively soothing organic guitar chords and melodies, but they’re lost in between the overly produced, incessant trap-rap drum kit that drowns everything else out. Similarly, ‘Mystkluv’ has some awesome shoegaze components, but again the simplistic and fast-paced drum kit spoils it. 

“Intimate” encompasses my overwhelmed headache. It’s an odd combination of emo droning vocals, glitchcore, surf rock guitar, and rap, having an off-putting like halting quality to the lyric delivery. It made me anxious and I don’t understand what the band was going for. I found myself mostly upset because I felt like if they had capitalized on their strengths instead of experimenting with every genre in the book, then the whole album would have been a homerun. 

My second grievance was that certain tracks feel far too overproduced and not in a masterful way. It feels like they are putting frosting on a steak: the overproduction doesn’t make sense and it doesn’t combine with the foundational components. Tracks like “There is no me and you” sound great because they fully leaned into the lo-fi techno world, but others like “You” have me running for the hills. It sounded like trap-rap with unfortunate whisper vocals and so much distortion that it brings to mind a scratched vinyl. In combination with the lacking lyrics “One of a kind, you’re the only one/ Everyday I see it two two two/ Everything I do is all for you / Two three four five years have past” I feel that there was a lack of sight and ultimately a lack of vision. 

However, they still have their fair share of decent songs. The band has generally depressing lyrics, but in select tracks they come across as deep and well stated. For example, “Amina” has resonant lyrics like “Are you ready to leave? / We’re moving onto something better / I’m aching to breathe and feel the warmth of freedom’s weather” that combine dark tones with bouncy guitar. Certain tracks like “Banana Backwoods” and “Charm” are reminiscent of Linkin Park with their scream metal components, glitch detailing, and pumping shredding and I don’t hate it because the track  fully embraces that mode of music. Also, I love the tracks with the female vocalist. She really rounds out the music and has a voice similar to Emei who is an artist I really like for her delicate, yet forceful vocals.

My favorite tracks were definitely the ones that left behind the drum kit and droning vocals for a more varied, organic sound. “Passion” – a short, instrumental filler track – has an atmospheric vibe to it and a guitar that sounds almost like a train chugging past. “Amino” was my second favorite, featuring deep lyrics like “Are you losing your mind to the bore they call maturing?” and varying vocals with grandiose, projecting delivery and low to high pitch notes. It feels more classic and fully thought out. 

Beach Bums has worked hard to explore genres throughout their extensive career, and while this album wasn’t a full success, it definitely had its victories no matter how minor. I think more balance between the cybercore and rock-metal was found in prior tracks like “Keepaneyeout” which exemplifies the best of Beach Bums. But the trap-rap drumkit that lacks rhythm and the random hyperpop found on this album just drowns out elements that were otherwise masterful. All in all, I can’t say I’d recommend this whole album to anyone, but I would definitely recommend some of the standout tracks that found a nice balance between genres.