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Toronto Star
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Toronto Star
Blondshell alt-rock finds new nuance on ‘If You Asked for a Picture'
Sabrina Teitelbaum, who records under the band name Blondshell, is a longtime student of alt-rock. She knows a thing or two about all the ways in which a cutting lyric and thunderous guitar can rejuvenate the soul and soundtrack rage. On her sophomore album, 'If You Asked for a Picture,' named after Mary Oliver's 1986 poem 'Dogfish,' she builds from the success of her earlier work – 2023's self-titled debut and its haunting single 'Salad.' Over the course of 12 tracks, much like on her first album, Blondshell reckons with a woman's role in her various relationships, personally and societally. Those messages — gritty, real, existential and fluid as they are — arrive atop visceral instrumentation, hearty guitars and punchy percussion.
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Blondshell's Sharp, Secret-Sharing ‘If You Asked for a Picture'
For her second album as Blondshell, L.A. singer-songwriter Sabrina Teitelbaum is figuring out how much of her life story she wants to tell the world — how much she needs to tell — and how much to hide away for herself. On her acclaimed 2023 self-titled debut, she was really letting it all hang out, in searing confessional indie-rock. But on If You Asked For a Picture, Teitelbaum's more ambivalent, more questioning, reckoning with her painful past, from childhood misery to dysfunctional young-adult romance. These are the songs of an artist who wants to figure out who she is by singing about it. Teitelbaum takes her album title from the Mary Oliver poem 'Dogfish,' with the key line, 'I wanted the past to go away, I wanted to leave it, like another country.' That's her approach in these songs — she sorts through her secrets and memories, wondering how much of her damage to take with her into the future and how much to leave behind. As she laments in 'What's Fair,' 'I didn't grow up/And it spilled over/Now I'm left open/When I'm in love.' More from Rolling Stone How Blondshell Tapped Into an Even Deeper Feeling for Her Second LP Being in Your Twenties Can Be a Mindf-ck. Blondshell Wrote a Song About it Blondshell Showcases Rolling Stones-Inspired Single 'T&A' on 'Kimmel' She sets the tone with 'T&A,' as she finds herself stuck with yet another worthless man-boy lover, recalling, 'I said if you stop drinking maybe I could find you attractive/Maybe I could let you have it/And it happened.' She can't even tell her sister she's still with this guy — 'she knows about that fight, remember?' — but she can't let go of him either. She winds up asking herself, over and over, 'Letting him in, why don't the good ones love me?' The album flows in a mellow folk-rock groove, close to the Cranberries or Sheryl Crow or (for you really deep Nineties pop connoisseurs) early Duncan Shiek. She combines her moody-blue guitar and spiky lyrics — shimmeringly pretty on the surface, but with a bite. With producer Yves Rothman, she piles on the vocal overdubs, inspired by her love for the Beach Boys. She digs deep into adolescent identity crises in 'Event of a Fire,' singing candidly about body image and social anxiety, with piercing lines like 'Part of me still sits at home in a panic over 15 pounds.' In tough family songs like 'What's Fair' and '23's a Baby,' she goes into mother/daughter tension with anger that cuts both ways; she takes her share of the blame, admitting, 'I said something when I was ten that I take back.' Like her debut, If You Asked For a Picture has a rogue's gallery of disposable menfolk — when Teitelbaum sings 'You're a thumbtack in my side,' that's the closest she gets to an upbeat love song. The standout tunes come when she gets nasty, as in 'Toy,' with its New Order-style guitar hook, where she compares the relationship to a Wendy's (she doesn't mean it as a compliment), and the slow-burning 'Man,' where she admits, 'I needed the world from just one man.' That Mary Oliver poem has the lines, 'If you asked for a picture I would have to draw a smile/Under the perfectly round eyes and above the chin/Which was rough/As a thousand sharpened nails.' That sums up the album — Teitelbaum might be willing to show the world a smile, but there's no mistaking the sharp edges behind it. Best of Rolling Stone The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
Winnipeg Free Press
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Music Review: Blondshell alt-rock finds new nuance on ‘If You Asked for a Picture'
Sabrina Teitelbaum, who records under the band name Blondshell, is a longtime student of alt-rock. She knows a thing or two about all the ways in which a cutting lyric and thunderous guitar can rejuvenate the soul and soundtrack rage. On her sophomore album, 'If You Asked for a Picture,' named after Mary Oliver's 1986 poem 'Dogfish,' she builds from the success of her earlier work – 2023's self-titled debut and its haunting single 'Salad.' Over the course of 12 tracks, much like on her first album, Blondshell reckons with a woman's role in her various relationships, personally and societally. Those messages — gritty, real, existential and fluid as they are — arrive atop visceral instrumentation, hearty guitars and punchy percussion. 'Oh well you're not gonna save him,' she reminds listeners in 'Arms.' Much of 'If You Asked for a Picture' sits at the intersection of modern indie, '90s grunge and '80s college radio rock, like that of 'Event of a Fire.' On the acoustic fake-out 'Thumbtack,' instrumentation builds slow and remains restrained. 'Man' is muscular, with its soaring distortion and layered production. On 'If You Asked for a Picture,' relationships are nuanced, awkward and honest — her flawed and frustrated characters show how easy it is to succumb to the whims of someone who doesn't have your best interest in mind, to become someone else when you don't know who you are. That's clear on 'Change,' where she sings, 'It's not my fault it's who I am / When I feel bad I bring it back and leave it all at your door.' And the anxious complications compound: 'A parting gift / Kiss me back / I'm sorry for changing.' If there is a main weakness in 'If You asked for a Picture,' it is that a number of the tracks bleed together sonically near the record's end, making it hard to distinguish a three-song run: 'Toy' to 'Man.' Fans will likely label it stylistic consistency rather than tiresome repetition. During Elections Get campaign news, insight, analysis and commentary delivered to your inbox during Canada's 2025 election. That said, there's a lot to love here. 'T&A,' 'Model Rockets' and the palm-muted power chords of 'What's Fair' warrant repeat listens. 'Why don't the good ones love me?' Blondshell asks on 'T&A,' with its dreamy guitar tone 'Watching him fall / Watching him go right in front of me.' The swaying mellotron of 'Model Rockets' ends the album. 'I'm a bad bad girl / Bad bad girl,' she adds to the closer. 'Life may have been happening elsewhere / And I don't know what I want anymore.' It might serve as a mission statement for the album — where identity and desire are malleable, influenced by relationships and the evolving nature of the world, made more complicated by simply being a woman in it.
Associated Press
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Music Review: Blondshell alt-rock finds new nuance on 'If You Asked for a Picture'
Sabrina Teitelbaum, who records under the band name Blondshell, is a longtime student of alt-rock. She knows a thing or two about all the ways in which a cutting lyric and thunderous guitar can rejuvenate the soul and soundtrack rage. On her sophomore album, 'If You Asked for a Picture,' named after Mary Oliver's 1986 poem 'Dogfish,' she builds from the success of her earlier work – 2023's self-titled debut and its haunting single 'Salad.' Over the course of 12 tracks, much like on her first album, Blondshell reckons with a woman's role in her various relationships, personally and societally. Those messages — gritty, real, existential and fluid as they are — arrive atop visceral instrumentation, hearty guitars and punchy percussion. 'Oh well you're not gonna save him,' she reminds listeners in 'Arms.' Much of 'If You Asked for a Picture' sits at the intersection of modern indie,'90s grunge and '80s college radio rock, like that of 'Event of a Fire.' On the acoustic fake-out 'Thumbtack,' instrumentation builds slow and remains restrained. 'Man' is muscular, with its soaring distortion and layered production. On 'If You Asked for a Picture,' relationships are nuanced, awkward and honest — her flawed and frustrated characters show how easy it is to succumb to the whims of someone who doesn't have your best interest in mind, to become someone else when you don't know who you are. That's clear on 'Change,' where she sings, 'It's not my fault it's who I am / When I feel bad I bring it back and leave it all at your door.' And the anxious complications compound: 'A parting gift / Kiss me back / I'm sorry for changing.' If there is a main weakness in 'If You asked for a Picture,' it is that a number of the tracks bleed together sonically near the record's end, making it hard to distinguish a three-song run: 'Toy' to 'Man.' Fans will likely label it stylistic consistency rather than tiresome repetition. That said, there's a lot to love here. 'T&A,' 'Model Rockets' and the palm-muted power chords of 'What's Fair' warrant repeat listens. 'Why don't the good ones love me?' Blondshell asks on 'T&A,' with its dreamy guitar tone 'Watching him fall / Watching him go right in front of me.' The swaying mellotron of 'Model Rockets' ends the album. 'I'm a bad bad girl / Bad bad girl,' she adds to the closer. 'Life may have been happening elsewhere / And I don't know what I want anymore.' It might serve as a mission statement for the album — where identity and desire are malleable, influenced by relationships and the evolving nature of the world, made more complicated by simply being a woman in it.
