Chastity Belt - I Used to Spend So Much Time Alone

Chastity Belt
I Used to Spend So Much Time Alone
2017
Spotify

If you haven't figured it out by their album titles, 2015's Time to Go Home and this new record I Used to Spend So Much Time Alone, Seattle band Chastity Belt often have a hard time keeping it together. Their blend of post-punk, shoegaze and possibly surf rock(?) finds it's groove from the first note of this record, and weaves perfectly into their songs about depression, feeling alone and trying to just hang on. Many bands write about depression, it's almost as synonymous with music as love, but never has being depressed sounded so mundane, so average and in turn so very real. Chastity Belt don't sings about things they've heard of, they sing about things they've done or felt which gives the album this honesty which is one of it's greatest attributes. In the past Chastity Belt used to excel with songs like "Pussy Weed Beer" because they were fun and seemed to keep the mood light while other songs only hinted at their actual darkness. This record makes no such attempt. The tongue and cheek things, the jokes just don't feel right anymore and Chastity Belt know it. Another artist may try to hold on to what made them popular as tightly as possible for fear of it slipping away, but you do not sense any of that on this record, though the music may sound similar. The world just feels heavier and thus their music does as well to the point where they ask "How the hell do I get out of here?" on "This Time of Night".

"Stuck" has a very distinct Slowdive vibe to it and really one of the more shoegaze heavy tracks on this record. It does however manage to sound really great at times, yet another shoegaze made good in 2017. "Complain" is exactly what you think it is, a track with almost no chorus and just a bunch of complaints shrouded in their poetry. It's touching, and sad all at the same time to see someone loosing that youthful hope, "It's Obvious" has this really beautiful and rich opening but looses some steam in the chorus. I Used to Spend So Much Time Alone is one of Chastity Belt's longer records, but it also doesn't have some of the punk elements we are used to from them. You really do get the sense that Chastity Belt have concluded that problems do exist and are real, but recognizing them is the first start to make a change even if that change isn't going to be crystal clear by the end of a three minute tune. It is about a process of living and growing up despite the struggles which might come along the way. The one thing missing perhaps is some kind of release, because after almost an hour of this kind of music you do leave with a bit of a bummer. That's the point though, what you do to get through those moments and press on. I Used to Spend So Much Time Alone might be written in the past, but clearly the ladies of Chastity Belt are still spending quite a bit of time by themselves, luckily this time around they let us in.

8.0 out of 10