On Friday, Bay Area punks Swmrs released their third album, Berkeley’s On Fire. It’s a savagely political slice of pop-leaning punk music on which the band assesses the world in which they’re coming of age. Single “Trashbag Baby” is a scorching piece of grunge-y power-pop that serves as the album’s biggest highlight.
After the infectious riff settles, brothers Max and Cole Becker trade off vocal duties, letting their distinctive sound bounce off each other like a fast-paced conversation. The conversation they’re having is about baggage; the boys lament a girl who’s unloading some excess emotional cargo at their expense (“I’m sick of being your trashbag, baby, wanna see you fall down/I can’t wait until you’re not around”). The chorus is bleeding with energy, building until it’s impossible not to imagine yourself belting along and thrashing across the floor of any venue as the band powers through it. The way the brothers scream-whine the song’s title is enough on its own to get your body moving, in the pit or not.
