Even though the Calvin sisters’ old band Mika Miko was so readily embraced by the LA beach punk scene, you couldn’t be blamed for getting the feeling they were making dressed up pop music.
Since Mika Miko’s break up the pair have started a new sugared up act called Bleached who flip the switch from the in-your-face shout rock of Mika Miko’s last record We Be Xuxa to something inspired by various girl pop icons from the 60s and 70s. The move was a good one. As fun as they were fronting their previous band, they now sound much more at home.
They’re really not shy about fully embracing this shift. Halfway through Ride Your Heart there’s a song called “Waiting By The Telephone” and at points “Searching Through The Past” is almost an exact copy of Fleetwood Mac’s “I Don’t Want To Know” but surprisingly it’s these more familiar, predictable moments that feel the most magnetic.
Where once these girls sounded downright intimidating, there’s many times on Ride Your Heart they sound convincingly innocent and delicate as glass while skilfully retaining the infectious energy of Mika Miko’s best work.
Bleached are at their weakest lyrically, with almost every song containing a bunch of teen-girl sentiments about boys but this is a minor complaint as this music doesn’t really lend itself to poetry anyway. It certainly doesn’t derail the striking and mature balance between innocence and punk struck by a pair who were writing songs called “Too Cute To Puke” not that long ago.
