“We don’t want perfection because it’s boring,” Jennifer Clavin explained in the lead-up to Welcome the Worms, the second outing from her Los Angeles garage pop band Bleached. “We want to make music that’s as real as life.” It’s a bold statement, like announcing that you’ve arrived to kick ass and chew gum, and that you’re all out of gum, and that if anyone has any gum that would really be appreciated. It’s also fundamentally meaningless, presumably drawing on the vague notion that lo-fi recordings are more authentic – especially odd when you consider that they roped in Joe Chicarelli (Elton John, Morrissey) to produce this one. Unfortunately, it’s the kind of air-punching vacuity that permeates the entire record, like a car bumper plastered in driving slogans. You might as well say “keep on keepin’ on” and be done with it.
Matthew Neale 