The Daily Spin, July 14
The Wombats | Glitterbug
Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023.
Each album will be given a rating on a scale from 0 to 10. You can look at the entire set here. Additionally, you can check out a list of my favorite song from each album right here.
Album: Glitterbug (2015)
Artist: The Wombats
Link:
I was gripped by this album, in particular, around 2017 and 2018, when I began to deep-dive into a genre that I have previously affectionately referred to as “FIFA Music” - of which the Wombats are a shining example, with their synth-pop hooks, blasting drops, and rock-tinged verses.
Glitterbug, in that regard, lives up to its name perfectly, twinkling brightly over subject matter that veers into the macabre if you listen, but overtop is peppy enough to make you forget about it, if only for a moment.
It’s that melancholy that drives so many of these rock groups, but the Wombats do it particularly well here, balancing love and lust with equal fervor on tracks like ‘Sex and Question Marks’, ‘Greek Tragedy’, and ‘Your Body Is A Weapon’, yet turning it around and nailing a lot of the uncomfortable questions with songs like ‘Curveballs’.
It’s never truly perfect at what it does, but it nails everything it sets out to be well enough for me to routinely come back to it in a way I don’t for most albums - and that’s enough, for me.
Rating: 8.8/10
Best Tracks: Greek Tragedy; Curveballs; Give Me a Try
Worst Tracks: Flowerball