Broken Bottles have me a little confounded. Half of their new crop of songs I think are brilliant. The other half seems a little too easy, a little too redundant, and too inside of what they’ve already made. The crib notes to Broken Bottles is take early Social Distortion, take out prison and rockabilly, replace with mental illness and skateboarding, and steep it in the veneered decay of Orange County. On this single, “Skateboarder” is a little weird in the fact that it’d be best as an “after-skate” cool down tune. It’s mid-paced and not something to get you pumped before or during a session. Even when Jess sings “skateboard and destroy,” it sounds less an anthem and more a lament. That said, “On the Couch,” captures what I love about these guys. You can hear the illness and defiance, the cracks in the façade, the mold in the ceiling all above them, and the pacing suits ‘em to a tee.
–todd (Bat Skates / No Front Teeth)