Broncho - Natural Pleasure LP

**Ltd Edition Translucent Green Vinyl + 18"x24" Poster!

BRONCHO have made a career out of quietly defying expectations. Every time it seems like they can be pinned down, they make a stylistic shift that leaves the listener grabbing air until they are able to figure out where the band are coming from. After the tight, quite accomplished indie rock of Bad Behavior, it only makes sense that 2025's Natural Pleasure sounds like it was recorded on a phone way past everyone's bedtime. The guitars are quiet and hazy, the drums tip and tap like distant raindrops, the vocals are hushed to the point that they are nearly impossible to decipher, and there's a lo-fi wash over everything. It's an interesting stylistic choice that when it works, it really works a treat. Most of the record is quiet enough that it wouldn't wake up someone across the room sleeping -- not surprising since the band's Ryan Lindsey was a new father when it was recorded -- and it's pitched somewhere between Elliott Smith at his numbest and a non-somnambulant Duster. Tracks like "Imagination" and "Dreamin" are lovely and sweet ballads, Lindsey's mumbled falsetto pairing perfectly with the twangle of the guitars and the slowly swinging rhythm section. These tunes are the core of the album, both sonically and emotionally, and it's easy to get lost in the cocoon of sound and restraint. BRONCHO aren't content to only do that, however, and they make sure to add some clacking indie rock ("Funny"); brightly jangling pop ("Think I Pass"); muted-by-cotton-wool moody rockers ("Original Guilt"); and, shockingly enough, a couple of tracks inspired by disco. "Save Time" is a slinky groove featuring Lindsey's most insistent vocal, some guitar playing Boz Scaggs might appreciate, and some incredibly out-of-synch backing vocals; "Get Gone" ratchets the tempo up to a high bpm thump, the band work up some serious sweat, and the whole thing sounds like it was recorded through the wall of a disco club not afraid to play something super avant-garde now and then. First time through the album, these tracks stick out like sore thumbs; the second time through, it starts to make sense, and they work as a nice release valve to all the other songs that feel like they're wrapped doublethink in blankets. Any BRONCHO fan who had this shift in approach on their bingo card deserves the big prize, though really the winners are anyone who has stuck with the group this long or anyone lucky enough to be swept along at this late stage in the game. Natural Pleasure is an intimate delight from a band who always have and always will do exactly what they feel like and make it sound real, real nice.