Bachelor debut album ‘Doomin’ Sun’ released 28th May (Lucky Number). Doomin Sun Fest is on 10th June.

Review by Alan Neilson

There is a wonderful thing that happens listening to this album, where I am transported back to the early 1990s and to the first time I fell in love with bands like Veruca Salt, Belly and The Breeders. 

Bachelor’s close vocal harmonies, their incredible dynamic shifts, the raw guitars and perfectly fitting bass line and rhythm section, which is sometimes so minimal you have to applaud the bravery of these arrangements, are clearly inspired by these bands but have enough of Bachelor’s own personality that any claims of being derivative can be all but disregarded. 

Second song ‘Sand Angel’ illustrates this musical connection across the decades exquisitely, as well as ‘Stay In the Car’ which is dripping with Pixies references (most notably the Joey Santiago-esque guitar breaks).  Not to say that Bachelor are simply imitators, they clearly have a deep love for these bands, but they add their own twist and style as you unravel the rest of the album.

There is great light and shade on ‘Doomin’ Sun’ and the track order plays to these strengths.  The delicate ‘Went Out Without You’ that follows ‘Stay In the Car’ is a perfect example.  The soft falsetto voices coming after the earlier glorious screams is a part of the wonderful journey the album takes you on.  It really takes the Pixies ethos of quiet-loud-quiet-loud to its logical conclusion.

They repeat this when ‘Moon’ follows the blistering first single ‘Anything At All’ (click here for the single review), although ‘Moon’ does contain the sloppiest solo and dirtiest guitar sound I have heard in a while, reminding me of Dinosaur Jr. 

Bachelor have spoken about the way they made this album and how performances were captured quickly with a purity and honesty, and sometimes leaving slightly imperfect takes in.  This album, although beautifully crafted, does retain a humanity that can be lost on searching for a perfect vocal performance or edit.  It is raw, real and imperfectly human in every note and written and recorded in just two weeks.

‘Sick of Spiralling’ features an incredibly tender vocal performance and captures the most truly heart-breaking recording of a voice since Elliott Smith was alive.  Ellen and Melina’s voices blend so beautifully and are so in time with each other, initially it sounds like a single voice: “You are a brazen light, in a world so dark” - never a truer word spoken.

There are beautiful sonic moments in ‘Aurora’ where backwards guitar lines echo and splash in waves of reverb and shimmer delays.  Their attention to detail with regards to the space the instruments on the songs exist in is startling.  Vocals at one moment have a glorious reverb trail and the next they are much dryer and sound right next to your ear:  it really is production at its finest.  However, the production supports the fine songwriting rather than making up for deficiencies: there aren’t any auto tuners, brick wall limiters or aural exciters making this sound beautiful, just artistry and musicianship.

The final track ‘Doomin’ Sun’ is like a long sigh.  Softly played on acoustic guitar with understated, closely mic’d up vocals.  The album’s journey ends without fanfare, but with a beautiful melody that tucks you up in bed.

When I reviewed the outstanding first single ‘Anything At All’, my only criticism was the artwork and this follows into the album cover for ‘Doomin’ Sun’.  There is something fascinating about why an artist would choose to use a clearly old imaging software like Paint, and then paste in a few photos and write the band name with the brush tool by hand… they obviously are aware it looks hand made by a five year old, but go with it anyway.  That ‘do it yourself’ attitude is at the heart of this album, as Ellen and Melina produce, write and perform everything, but their skill musically is in sharp contrast to their design work.

Incidentally, I have deliberately not mentioned that Bachelor is a collaborative project by Ellen Kempner of Palehound and Melina Duterte of Jay Som, so as to review this release on its own merits. 

Their solo projects are packed with great songs (and much better artwork), but there is real magic when they work together; the way their voices blend together is sublime.  Still, their solo back catalogues are well worth getting hold of as well.

To support the release of the album, Bachelor have also announced the Doomin’ Sun Fest; a massive livestream festival / telethon to benefit and uplift Seeding Sovereignty. 

The online event happens on 10 June 2021, starting at 6pm ET / 11pm BST.  It will feature performances by Tegan and Sara, Courtney Barnett, Benjamin Gibbard, Sylvan Esso, Adrianne Lenker, Jeff Tweedy, Japanese Breakfast, Julien Baker, Soccer Mommy, the wonderful Alynda Segarra from Hurray For The Riff Raff and many more.

Ellen and Melina have said that the festival was organised as a chance to gather for the four C’s: “Community, Compassion, Climate, and Celebration.” 

Doomin’ Sun Fest is free to attend, but they hope for donations to Seeding Sovereignty, the organization /collective working to “radicalize and disrupt colonized spaces through land, body and food sovereignty work, community building and cultural preservation.”

Bachelor will host Doomin’ Sun Fest, which will incorporate their first ever live show.   They say: “We just wanna have fun celebrating our album release, raise funds for Seeding Sovereignty and get people excited about donating and opening their hearts to themes of the fest: the ‘Four Cs’ as we call them that are driving this endeavour.”

You can RSVP the event by visiting

https://doominsunfest.bachelor-band.com/

and get the album on pre-order with three tracks available immediately from https://bachelortheband.bandcamp.com/album/doomin-sun