I was so tired, you guys. Like you know when you reach a point where not even sleep seems like it’s going to get the job done, and what you really need is to remove any and all obligations from your schedule for a few days while you blissfully do absolutely nothing of import? That’s where I was yesterday! And I thought to myself, you know what, you still need to finish the week, but let’s keep the sideshows to a minimum and just chill when possible. No projects, no working out, no bringing the job home, no idol.

So of course on that last point I knew better immediately and thought out loud, “Right, and now watch BiSH or somebody drop another MV and then all your not-plans will be for naught.”

Silly, silly Maniac. If I’d been mindful in even the tiniest way, I’d have known that, yes, another BiSH release was looming, and with it likely something to talk about. They were pretty clear about the build for CARROTS and STiCKS — one EP each in April and May, and then the full album in June — and had already provided one MV as promo to prove it. Why was I sleeping on this?

Here we are, then. And can I admit that I had the most conflicted smash of the Play button of my entire life? The song title and general visual aesthetic put my mind right down the path of expecting yet another Kentacore ballad that would probably sound very cool and nice and possibly even powerful, like that style is at its best, but very much the same, and yeah, that blunts a lot of enthusiasm. On the other hand, their last lead song and MV were absolutely delicious and reinvigorated my old passion for the group, so I had to see where this landed one way or another, right?

Yeah.

What an enjoyable J-rock song! And not an ounce of Kentacore to be seen! I complain all the time about the long string of BiSH ballads that are basically all takes on “Orchestra”, so I absolutely must praise this reimagining of what the group can do with material that nobody would be ashamed to show to their mother. That it can balance being a wholesome, boppy rock song with a cool riff and memorable hook speaks all the more for its worth.

So now that CARROTS is (all but) out there, and STiCKS is in the rearview, I guess we just have to wait for the smashed-together full album to arrive next month. What kind of surprises are in store for us then!