Forge Again (2026)
I know you've been waiting. We're almost through March. When is it going to happen? When am I going to proclaim something as the first great record of 2026? I am aware no one is actually waiting for me to do this, but...it's time and probably not a surprise of the band that takes the crown.
Never Felt Bitter is the third full length from one of my absolute favorite active bands, The Pretty Flowers. They initially popped up on my radar in 2018 when Dirt Cult put out their debut full length, Why Trains Crash. Since the moment I first heard that record, I have been a vocal advocate insisting that everyone on the planet earth that can hear my voice or read my words must check this band out. And they are a band that never lets me down. Each time they put out a new album, I find myself enamored with the new songs the same way their debut captured my imagination eight years ago.
For the uninitiated, The Pretty Flowers are a top notch indie rock band, with major power pop leanings. When I'm doing the lazy compare-to-other-bands thing, they always make me think of a cross between Built To Spill and The Weakerthans. This is at least the third time I'm writing that I'm sure, but when I listen to their albums, that's where my brain goes. Lyrically and vocally, the song wringing reminds me of The Weakerthans in the way they tell stories of regular people, but where Pretty Flowers up the ante is the absolute onslaught of harmonies and backing vocals. They make these songs soar and fully differentiate themselves from the more intentionally sparse Weakerthans sound.
And that separation is more prominent in the music which accomplishes the herculean task of looking at a Built To Spill record and saying 'I can make poppy songs with insane guitar work too' and then just do it. You have these supremely catchy songs, with hooks just falling out of them, and suddenly...boom. Massive guitar solo/pyrotechnics. And not in that annoying, self indulgent way that a lot of bands do (even Built To Spill is guilty of that self indulgence from time to time). These guitar passages serve the song, rather than having the song be a set up to show off. It's a tricky balance that I don't think many bands are able to pull off, but yet The Pretty Flowers do it time and time again over three albums. It's so good it almost makes me angry.
I'm not the sort of person that's going to write a lengthy technical deconstruction of an album. I'm not a good enough writer to pull off examining a record and providing a dissertation of its poetic merits. I can only tell you how a record makes me feel. Never Felt Bitter makes me feel great. In a time where there are so many things to look around and be depressed about, a new record by The Pretty Flowers is one of those things that I find tremendously uplifting. More than anything, I feel like it's important to hunt for joy these days, and man do I find a lot of it in this album. Stop reading this and go buy it.
The Pretty Flowers - Never Felt Bitter:
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