Bandit – Of Life

Released on Broken Circle, Bandit‘s inaugural LP Of Life is dreamlike in tone and pays homage to rock of the past 30 years. Reminiscent of emotional hardcore classic Sunny Day Real Estate‘s Diary, Angela Plake’s project is also cousin to many contemporaries like Eisley, Now, Now, and Land of Talk. Of Life is that- a viscous and convoluted thesis on the everyday. Childlike ambiance (xylophones!) with a mature grasp of their surroundings (and xylophones!). It is cautioned calm. A reminder of what has come and gone.

Angela Plake started playing as Bandit back in 2011. Since then she has worked as a trio alongside Dan Bishop and Charles Miller. Recorded in 2014, Of Life is 90’s grunge rock with a purpose. It feels like 80’s new wave at times, too. Grungy and violent–“The Divine Home” opens the album with force of guitars and Plake’s sobering voice. “Pushing” is demanding and proud of its physicality: “This isn’t anger, this is pain/ and it sits on her insides/pushing everything.” Immediacy woven within sharp guitars. “Losing My Sense” could indeed be emocore. The cover of “Where Is My Mind?” would make the Pixies proud. The first few keys in are unmistakable, but Plake makes it her own. “Dragon” is a late fall trip that takes place on a windowsill with tea spiked with whiskey. Its beautiful but thorny. 

This album may seem out of place, out of the purview of punks at first. It is right up the alley of classic emocore enthusiasts and post-punk prodigies. Melodic in its masochism, Of Life will broaden your horizons, dude.