Released Nov. 6, Glass Beach’s newest single, “rare animal,” feels like — well, it feels like everything. All the emotions that come with another fall pass as scattered red leaves give way to icy sludge and as it becomes increasingly difficult to go out with any less than three layers of clothes without succumbing to frostbite and hypothermia. “rare animal” sounds like late nights spent staring out of bedroom windows, hazily wishing for some impossibility — a semblance of change — while there are too many clouds in the sky to see a single star.
So, funny story: When I decided to write this article, I failed to consider how difficult it would be to describe Glass Beach — a band with such a deeply personal meaning to each of their songs that words alone can’t properly articulate the emotion of their music.
Emerging in 2016, Glass Beach somehow remains genre-less, with their musical inspiration spanning across the board from Lady Gaga to Modern Baseball. Their songs tend to be odd yet seamless mixes of emo-indie-pop-rock. This sound is exemplified in “rare animals.”
With repeated guitar riffs and calm vocals that eventually transition into screaming, the raw emotion put into every moment of the track is astounding. It’s oddly nostalgic, with all the longing of a fifteen-year-old girl getting over her first situationship. The lyrics, too, follow this notion, with the theme of a complicated, forgotten relationship:
“Thinking was he some gig you had to quit in 1999 /
Thinking about the fireflies on your back porch in mid-July /
Thinking about if he keeps playing DB Cooper through her life /
Thinking about you.”
The lyricism Glass Beach employs within their songs is particularly unique; the way in which relationships and emotions are described is poignant in a way few other bands are able to perfect. The singer’s reminiscence here causes an emotional wave to instantly flow over the listener: The tone they use within the track has such a strong connection to the words.
Glass Beach is through-and-through an experience found nowhere else in the music world, something that can not entirely be put into words.
