It feels like the past 15 years have been increasingly dominated by “self-care” culture—a superficially well-meaning trend that invites you to indulge after a hard day’s work. Over time we’ve lost the plot, though, as the same corporate entities that campaigned for such royal self-treatment are the ones that have legitimized the exploitative gig economy, while the figures who run these corporations have ballooned their wealth from an already unacceptable 10 figures to a truly infuriating 12.
With that context, Vancouver-by-way-of-Philly outfit Buddie seem quite restrained as they address such topics on their forthcoming album Glass. A grunge band at their core, the songs that make up their latest release feel too upbeat to neatly fit into the genre’s canon, at times veering closer to power-pop. Such is the case of the project’s latest cut, “In the Glass Shell,” which gradually builds up from soft vocals and guitar to incorporate layers of sweet melody as frontman Dan Forrest proclaims himself a fish in a stream full of grizzly bears.
“One-click purchases on Amazon, DoorDash delivery foods, binge-streaming a show, doomscrolling—these things have an immense gravity when we decompress from working long hours in precarious employment like gig work, or getting incredibly anxious about another war on the horizon,” shares Forrest of the various apps with our credit cards on file. “But all of these activities mostly serve to meet immediate needs and pleasures, and leave us sapped of dopamine. They can drive us further from building deep and lasting relationships in real communities. And they further entrench the hold that companies like Amazon, Uber, Disney, and Spotify have on our lives. ‘In the Glass Shell’ is about this overwhelming wave of consumerism, individualism, and ‘self-care’ culture.”
Check out the colorful lyric video below created by the band’s drummer Natalie Glubb, and expect Glass to arrive on November 7 via Crafted Sounds. You can also find a poster listing all of Buddie’s upcoming tour dates beneath the video. Also, you should maybe double check that you aren’t subscribed to a streaming platform you don’t think you are.
