LORRAINE – Healing & Easy Listening Review

You might not have heard of LORRAINE, but they’re about to make a splash in the world of emoviolence and sasscore. If you’re a fan of An Albatross, Circle Takes the Square, and The Blood Brothers, then let me introduce you to your new favourite band.

LORRAINE popped up on my radar through a clip on TikTok of them playing live in a record store. It was oddly nostalgic, reminding me of that time Rolo Tomassi played in a clothing store. Somewhat frustratingly, the band were difficult to track down, but after finding their correct social handles, I found their stuff on Bandcamp and snapped it up right away.

I appreciate that, despite having a presence on social media, it’s not their core way of grabbing attention. It’s very DIY in a sense, reminding me a lot of the early noughties, when bands would rock up to random stores, play in basements or fill out tiny venues where the band can barely move for the crowd. I know underground scenes are still booming, but all we’re being told is that bands need to create content to get ahead. LORRAINE are doing it differently, and it’s working.

The band already has one great album under their belt titled HASMA TOLD ME YOU SEE RAINBOWS NOW, but they recently just dropped Healing & Easy Listening, and I’m enamoured. This album, much like the first, is pure unadulterated sasscore. It’s loud, it’s chaotic, it’s even jazzy at times. It’s a full-on, in-your-face torrent of erratic guitar riffs, groovy bass and psychotic screams that all seem to be fighting for your attention while also being oddly coherent. 

Compared to HASMA, this album is much more melodic than their previous LP; there are more tuneful periods between the madness, letting you gather your senses before dogpiling back on with more guitar-screaming insanity.

LORRAINE bring together so many nostalgic sounds from bands that defined this genre. At times I’m reminded of An Albatross with the band’s use of an organ patch on the keys; at other times, The Blood Brothers, as vocalist Walker Miller comes at us with his high-pitched screams. There are also janky honkytonk moments similar to Nero’s Day At Disneyland. It’s an amalgamation of everything sass, and I bloody love it. Ever since I stumbled across their first album, I’ve been hooked, so seeing that they dropped a second was like Christmas coming early.

Another thing that Healing & Easy Listening brings to the table is that element of fun we got from early sass bands. The genre is full of absurd lyricism and instrumentation that isn’t supposed to be taken seriously. Sure, there are times LORRAINE touches on political themes (at least from some of the lyrics I can find online), but with some songs barely hitting the one-and-a-half-minute mark, it’s an explosive period of joy.

Overall, LORRAINE have managed to build upon their previous record with a sense of maturity while also keeping the madness. With some slightly more melodic moments, there are a handful of accessible entries into this band’s discography, but for the most part it’s an incredibly well-put-together record of chaotic sass that we’ve been missing from the scene since The Blood Brothers disbanded.

Score: 9.5/10

LORRAINE released Healing & Easy Listening on July 24 via Vamonos Records.