Six Foot Blonde releases sophomore album, Hummingbird.
Written by Eve Elliott
Six Foot Blonde’s sophomore album, Hummingbird, is the ultimate coming-of-age album for your 20s. The Chicago-based band tackles topics like moving to a city and finding new love with a youthful, infectious energy.
Hummingbird is filled to the brim with catchy riffs and sing-along choruses, as evidenced by the second track “Berlin,” which kicks off with an 80s-sounding synth and responding guitar riff. The lyrics bring up ideas about trying to escape feelings of stagnation, only to realize that it’s all about your perspective. You can find joy and beauty anywhere with the right outlook, blue skies or grey.
The spooky, danceable “Carmilla” takes a playful approach to the gothic novella about the vampire Carmilla (published 25 years before Bram Stoker’s Dracula). In the chorus, lead singer Julia Rusyniak sings, “Bleed out, bleed out, bleed something sweet/Oh bleed me dry, hard candy/It couldn’t kill me”. “Carmilla” is a perfect sing-along song with fun, lighthearted lyrics. It’s easy to imagine a room full of fans singing along with the repeated “do do dos” and screaming at the top of their lungs during the final chorus.
Later in the album, Six Foot Blonde takes us back to 2010s folk-pop with “Twin Bed”. The acoustic guitar and call-and-response group vocals seem modeled after the likes of The Lumineers or Matt and Kim. “Twin Bed” is about the feeling of change and moving away. It has a bittersweet quality, simultaneously hopeful for the future and nostalgic for the comfort of home.
“Painted Ladies” explores a similar theme of memory and the way that people take on different roles in our lives as time goes by. Julia sings, “Try and bottle it, try and capture it/In 40 years I’ll pry and open it/Take in particles I know I’ll miss”. There’s a much more melancholy feel to this song, with a marching drum beat that builds into soaring Thom Yorke-esque vocals.
Hummingbird is a perfect representation of the post-adolescent period of life. A bit more confident and self-assured despite existing in a time of life where there’s a lot of change and uncertainty. But most importantly, this album remembers how to have fun! So many of these songs are exciting and upbeat with an emphasis on danceability. Six Foot Blonde found a nice balance of emotional vulnerability and joyfulness with Hummingbird, and it feels like they’ve hit their groove.
