Drawing comparisons between bands, genres, and decades is tricky territory: at best, it’s reductive and boxes in the band/music, and at worst, it’s regressive and limits the boundaries of expression. Still, it’s sometimes a necessary evil when describing a band, especially for a dedicated music journalist like myself. So, at the risk of banally typecasting Atlanta’s premier pop trio Breathers, I’m gonna (with some hesitation) recommend their new LP Designed to Break to anyone who harbors any predilection for 80s pop à la Pet Shop Boys or Culture Club or New Order, et. al. Which is not to say Breathers doesn’t have their own sound, of course. Just that their sound runs parallel to the aforementioned bands, perhaps because their appeal/style is similar, but also because the political and socioeconomic climate right now isn’t so different than in the 80s, and perhaps happy, New Wave-y pop has some sort of inherent draw when political retrogression runs rampant. And besides, music is like, cyclical, or something.
Anywho, Breathers, for me, offer a sort of euphoric escape into a world of fog machines and dancefloors and colored lights and vocoders and drum sequencers, and if pop isn’t escapism, it’s at least a way to bypass the bland ennui of our daily lives by looking at our reflection bouncing off catchy melodies and glimmering synth-hits. It gives us a chance to sing along with people who, at least for the moment, are having fun doing what they love.
Stream Designed to Break below, and buy the cassette here.
More about: Breathers
