This is it! The one you’ve been waiting for. Forget all other artists because BAIT is here with your most favorite debut of 2022 (Aside from labelmates A Cause In Distress at least). The brainchild of ex-Baddies vocalist Michael Webster and accompanied by former bandmate Jim Webster along with Luke Branch and MRE (Who also produced the record), Sea Change is an anxiety-ridden journey told in 10 parts. If any record captures the feel of uncertainty that the last 2 years has wrought it’s this one with even the recording lending itself to the atmosphere and opting (Mostly out of necessity) for more remote and separate sessions to capture it all.
The title track is an acerbic aural assault that immediately necessitates a pulse check with the way the track ebbs and flows between a soothing elegantly executed Electro ditty and a grating Industrial stomp with “My Tribe” settling into a more restrained synthetic hum. Speaking of “My Tribe”, we’ve been reviewing so many singles from this thing that we probably should just hyperlink a portion of this post to former reviews…but we won’t! Because context is everything and while we had a lot to say about “DRAMA DRAMA DRAMA DRAMA”, “My Tribe”, and “TV Personality” individually, the impact they have as a part of the whole is also an important story to tell.
The way that “My Tribe” seamlessly bleeds into the propulsive Electro of “TV Personality” which in turn gives way to the swirling onslaught of “DRAMA DRAMA DRAMA DRAMA” is just so much more clever within the fabric of Sea Change and indicative of the complex contrasts within Webster especially who treads a fine line between eloquent and erratic here as BAIT’s resident manic maestro.
Further in, “No Sleeping For Light Sleepers” is electric and eclectic creating both a menacing and ominous air while “Somewhere To Be” packs a massive sonic wallop and is spacious and soaring. “Sugarlumps” sounds downright evil with the way the synths encircle like a hungry shark around chum bringing to mind Brad Fiedel’s quirky score from 1985’s Fright Night. “Electric Murder” is a suave modern Pop/New Wave hybrid which Tears For Fears has mastered so well and “We Will Learn To Bark” is a biting finishing moving with Webster adopting a gnarly snarl to conclude preceded by a hushed delivery that just seethes amidst bouncing bass lines and some Gary Numan-esque synths to round out the boisterous beats and scorching shreds.
Sea Change drops on April 1st through Cool Thing Records. Pre-orders are available now and can be perused then purchased when you click here. For the latest on BAIT, follow them across their socials by heading here, here, or here.