Feel like a bug
I’m too small to keep up
with your talking
just say something real
squashed on the sidewalk
people keep walking
around me
I’m disgusting
I keep on flying into the light
Bug is so goddamn catchy, I’m tempted to object to it being called shoegaze. Maybe my experiences with the genre are too narrow—I certainly don’t spend as much time on it as you’d expect, if you saw how many pedals are on my own board at home—but Bleary feels like, despite the moniker of the genre, to have their eyes and ears up on the audience in a way that is, frankly, refreshing as hell.
The way the vocals sit so far forward in the mix, for one, is an absolute joy. It’s one of the few things that tends to bug (I couldn’t help myself.) me about the DIY music world, the tendency to absolutely bury the vocals. Transcribing the above lyric passage took two quick passes of that section of the song—bless you, Bleary, bless you.
The vocals ring slightly of Death Cab for Cutie, but only superficially. The sections of the song are so dynamic, making the moments of light or heavy touch matter so much more since they’re not buried in an ocean of sameness. Any heavier and it would feel strange, any lighter and we might get bored. Fans of Paramore, Of Monsters and Men, early Switchfoot, and, of course, Death Cab, will probably find a new favorite band here.
The lyrical content is clever, well thought through, and accessible. A song about feeling like a squashed bug? In this, the year 2026? Hell yeah, Bleary. Same.
Similarly, the guitar hook in the instrumentals of this track is easy to grab onto—it lingers in the mind long after I’ve moved on with my day. I’m sure, if you give it a listen, you’ll feel the same way.
Written by Willow Stonebeck
