The Garden
Bootleg
EPITAPH
Newly donning their Epitaph Records crown, The Garden return with Bootleg, a pyromaniac phantasm written, recorded, and produced by the Shears brothers themselves in Los Angeles. Wyatt and Fletcher have always made music that sounds like a séance and a street fight are happening under the same roof, with their Vada Vada label helping to define that genre-obliterating ethos the twins established years ago. Pressing slinky bass lines into the hostile, mechanical mold of their earliest records, the Shears brothers refuse to sit still throughout these 14 superstitious tracks, and after 15 years, we can finally feel fully at ease under the band’s restless fingers. “Thrilling” is putting Bootleg gently, as The Garden shapeshift into menacing agents of dark anarchy while they discuss burning bridges and paranormal possibilities.
Bootleg is an anarchist’s dream and a civilian nightmare, built like a moving diorama of a supernatural world set in place with heavy-duty staples. They’ve sanded the blueprint of punk music down over time into gritty noise and skank maneuvers, both of which quickly become evident here as the brothers invite listeners into their ghost-ridden space. The sharp corners and jarring diversity of sound built within this tracklist hold a black light to the roughly textured walls of Bootleg’s sonic haunted house to reveal lyrical conspiracy theories, liminal moments of dread, and the fast-paced bolt of adrenaline behind a raging heart. There’s a rush in never knowing what vibe you’re going to end up with next in between tracks, whether the harsh, fluorescent ritual of the title track or the dimly lit street showdown of “White Cadillac.” Barely scratching the surface of The Garden’s amorphous range, each track careens between punchy punk rock and spectral detours that guide us through the band’s long-running intrigue into the experimental and—more prominently felt—the paranormal.
Bootleg will leave the listener surging with electricity as they ponder questions both supernatural and grimly rooted in our shared reality: Is there anyone else here with us? And would you like to burn it all down, too? We know that The Garden’s mosh pits are already sweaty and crowded enough without all the ghosts referenced throughout these 14 songs, so for this fall’s tour with The Strokes and bar italia, I’d suggest you bring a change of clothes, a P.K.E. Meter, and perhaps a small bucket.
