Chastity Belt
Live Laugh Love
SUICIDE SQUEEZE
Few phrases are as evocative as “live laugh love.” To read those three words is to see the woodcut, cursive lettering, to smell the apple-cinnamon Febreze plug-in, to feel the heft of an oversized wine glass that reads “I Don’t Give a Sip” or “Time to Wine Down.” It would be impossible for any band to earnestly summon such a phrase for the title of their latest record, doubly so for a band like Chastity Belt. This is, after all, the same group that titled their 2013 debut No Regerts.
This foursome has made a career of, to steal a lovely British phrase, taking the piss, and on the surface, their latest release is no exception. “Live laugh love” is a pretty easy target in this regard. Perhaps a little too easy. To have this phrase stitched on a living room pillow or shedding a neon glow across an overwhelmingly beige living room is cringingly trite—but at this point, isn’t it almost equally worn-out to poke fun at such a thing? It’s this question that drives the most engaging aspects of Chastity Belt’s newest record. For a band for whom disaffection has been a fundamental principle, Live Laugh Love seems decidedly dubious of whether being funny and cool is all it’s cracked up to be.
“Nothing that I do or say today will mean a thing / But I’m not that devastated,” sings Julia Shapiro on “It’s Cool,” a slippery guitar line underscoring her deadpan delivery. This self-loathing realism isn’t necessarily new for Chastity Belt, and the recognition of one’s own cosmic futility is not without its own kind of perverse humor—but it does mark a significant shift from the days when the band would title their songs “Nip Slip” or “Pussy Weed Beer.” A song like “Laugh” directly unpacks just the thing that fueled their earlier work: “Well it’s all for a laugh, and I’d do anything for that, but…” goes the refrain. It’s a direct confrontation with their past tendencies, questioning the “why” and “how” behind the instinct to always go for the laugh. The theme of humor is all over this record, whether it be in straightforward song titles (“Funny,” “Laugh”) or in tossed-off asides, but it’s almost never trying to be funny, an important distinction.
Perhaps it makes sense that this newfound pragmatism would coincide with some of the most purely enjoyable songs the band has written in some time. For a group that’s remained as steadfast as Chastity Belt, they’ve never sounded so in-sync musically. Even the barest of songs on Live Laugh Love feature the kind of small, intricate moments that can only come from decade-long collaboration. It should be noted that, although Shapiro remains the primary voice on the record, Live Laugh Love features all four members of the band on lead vocals and trading off instruments throughout. All of this allows a song like “Chemtrails,” very much a centerpiece of the record and one that addresses the double-edged sword of studied apathy head-on, to remain one of the best things the band’s ever made—the work of four people living, laughing, and loving their asses off.
