Album Review: Beach Baby - No Mind No Money
By Jane Dickerson, Contributor
[Island; 2016]
Rating: 6.5/10
Key Tracks: "Ladybird," "No Mind No Money"
No Mind No Money is London-based band Beach Baby's debut album. The lo-fi four piece combines garage rock influences with an 80's-esque style to create tracks that are both loud and melancholy. "Limousine" kicks of the album with very synth-pop instruments alongside dark lyrical content. It reflects that careless, self-destructive, youth culture adequately. "You cut your arm just to watch it bleed," lead singers Ollie and Lawrence half-sing half-whine.
This album functions similar to noir literature: dark but alluring. The downsides are songs that fall too far on generic side of indie-rock. Songs such as "Lost Soul" and "Smoke Won't Get Me High" just don't bring anything new. At times it works, striking a chord with relatable lyrics on pain and loneliness, love and lust. "Ladybird" is one of the most successful tracks of the album, with the chorus "I don't wanna think about it, I don't wanna live for nothing."
No Mind No Money is the type of album you would listen to while wearing a leather jacket on the beach and being sad. Look out for a tracklist full of being too broke, not being sober enough, self-loathing, but definitely looking hot while you do it. Listening to "No Mind No Money," you can't help but bob your head along, the mangled but bold guitar solos add an element of grit that is missing in other places in this album. Beach Baby shows promise, packed with all the angst of heavier bands and all the potential for making sing-along pop songs, they just need to define themselves more clearly and purposefully in where they want to make those things come together.
