Bent

Excuse the premature gushing, but I love SSION. I really, really do. They had my heart after seeing them live in 2006, my mind completely addled in all the right ways by their blend of queer-soaked art-disco and visual extravagence. Cortex Sex. However, low output since the mutated pop of 2007's Fools Gold had me starting to think of them as a non-musical entity, frontman Cody Critchloe seemly focused more in the world of art from whence he sprang. Expectations are proven scrub-bait, because SSION have come back with an album that takes everything you knew about them, coats it in hot electric jizz and jams it straight up your ear-holes. Bent's opener 'Listen 2 The Grrrls' is an obvious mission statement, as elements of so many classic pop-divas are represented in the musical textures as well as referenced in Critchloe's vocals, which range from sleazy croon to takenoshit nasty as they shimmygrind down to the filthy floor on 'Blond With U' and pulse back up your spine with 'Psy-Chic', summer bubblegum in all the best ways.

Jamming across my room, making my own smoke-machine and dancing with myself, watch those hands GropeBro we got all night. Sweaty-check my iTunes just as 'Growin' hits and oh my god is this the catchiest thing I've heard all year? Feels like it. 'Adjusting' is probably the theme but it's also 'should have known better than to get with you' and boyyyy, I feel you. 'Feelz Good (4-Evr)' is dark, throbbing industrialized fingersnaps; "Will I see you in Hell tonight?" Well, they clearly have the best music. I immediately put this track on my tumblr; first message? 'thats horny'. Sums up this album perfectly. The sun was setting when 'Nothing Happens At Nite' started, introspective opening notes that build into a sparkling track packed full of '70s testosterone…..you can see the neon reflecting on shiny leather as the melody pumps down onto you. "These are the weird yearz" sneers Cody as the album closes, and as his pitched phaser-vocals rap out a half-legible life statement, I close my eyes and melt into the bed. Bent is the Teen Dream generational album of the Now, and I'm living it so hard. You will too.