Beabadoobee's new album is set up to be a big deal. In March, Beatrice Laus returned with "All I Did Was Dream Of You," a new collaboration with the Marías that served as a non-album appetizer for her new era. When she circled back with "Sun Has Set" in June, we learned the new LP is called Pylon and includes contributions from many other noteworthy figures including Hayley Williams, Chino Moreno, Turnstile's Brendan Yates, the 1975's Matty Healy and George Daniel, Basement's Andrew Fisher, Title Fight's Shane Moran, and Pinegrove's Evan Stephens Hall.
Today we hear a second track from Pylon, but there's no big name attached to "Switchblade" besides Beabadoobee herself. The track is a slow-creeping alt-rock track laced with noise and melody, built around the recurring refrain, "Self-defense is to be brave/ Do you start the fight or take the flight?" Later in the song, the acoustic foundation is graced with some twinkly Midwest emo guitar that hits just right. The bass emerges as a stealth MVP here, and the chant-along vocals at the end serve as fitting punctuation.
This is as effective of a '90s pastiche as you could hope for. Listen below, ideally between Stone Temple Pilots and Alanis Morissette.
Pylon is out 9/18 via Dirty Hit/Interscope. Pre-order it here.
