Sounds Like:  A blast of 90’s alternative that is so incredibly modern.

So every year, as I’m putting together my year end countdown of favorite records, I try hard to avoid other best of lists. I just don’t want the anxiety of comparison, ya know? But then, after I’m done, I usually spend the first week of the new year reading those lists, seeing what albums I missed and picking them up. Every year, almost like clockwork, there is one that had I known about it, my list would have looked a little different.  In 2020, it was Bully’s album “Sugaregg.”  So when the follow up, “Lucky For You” was announced, you better believe I snagged it on day one.

While Bully started as band, it is now the creative moniker for Alicia Bognanno. Bully’s sound harkens back to the sweet alternative days of 90s, where grunge was colliding with indie rock. While Bully has those influences, and wears them proudly, their output is absolutely in the now, and that’s in large part to blend of Boganno’s vulnerability and energy.  This album is a shot of adrenaline straight to the veins. Boganno has distinctive vocal style, with a breathy rasp that overflows with personality.

While the songs on “Lucky For You” Deal with the family territory of love, loss, and longing, it’s Boganno’s charm that makes each song feel like something new, exciting and unexplored. On the faster songs she sounds like a spitfire, someone who’s ready to raise hell and can’t be contained, but then in the quieter moments, her softer side shows a delicacy that isn’t fragile, but still soft.

Like “Sugaregg” before it, “Lucky For You” is endlessly playable, and it reminds you why albums matter. With streaming, this form seems to be on the decline, but then an artist like Bully shows you that a collections of songs like this, with the vim and vigor to fire you up while speaking from the heart,  can pack a wallop like nothing else.  

I may have been late to the game, but sure glad to have the music of Bully in my life, and you will be too. Records this good don’t come around all that often, but thankfully, we have Bully. Lucky for us Indeed!

Favorite Track: “Days Move Slow” is just a sumptuous gem, that starts with some “My Bloody Valentine” Like shoegaze and just takes off from there. It's one of the tops songs of the year.