Hey everyone, Boothony Legtano here, the internet's busiest music nerd, and it's time for a review of this new album Bootleg from The Garden.

Bootleg is the sixth full-length LP from these guys. It's brothers Fletcher and Wyatt Shears, who, as The Garden, I believe have been at it for about 15 years now, creating this genre-bending, experimental brand of weirdo rock that a lot of the time is laced with some pretty prominent horror themes, thanks in part to their deep shared appreciation in the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series. Now, this new record from them was self-recorded and produced over in Los Angeles, and surprisingly sees them graduating to a big-boy rock label this time around, Epitaph.

It's been a while since their last full-length album, about four years or so, which is a surprising gap in records given the pace the duo was working at when they first started to break on the underground scene. And while they have not been completely silent since 2022 – it wasn't too long ago they put out a very solid EP of tracks – I was starting to wonder when we would see kind of like the next full-length album chapter in the duo's evolution, especially given that on their last LP, Horseshit on Route 66, it seemed like they were on to something.

Now, with the announcement of this album prior to its release, the duo made sure to let fans know that apparently the tracks on this record don't follow a cohesive overall script or theme. And in addition to that, I do feel like the cover and the title itself are kind of helping to make fans set expectations here. Like, are we going to be in for a series of like demos or one-offs or something like that? And I will say, in terms of presentation, the recordings and performances on this record overall are pretty raw, sort of stripped back.

If you expected the duo's transition over to Epitaph to lead to them sort of like balling out instrumentally and sonically, you would be mistaken. Because if anything, Bootleg here is kind of the opposite, really reducing things down for the most part to drums, drum machines, guitars, and vocals. Even the opening track is kind of like a lo-fi piece of '90s alt-rock with a cow-punk twist. An interesting assembly of influences to present out of the gate, but definitely not the most striking piece of songwriting I've heard from the duo.

I feel like similar eras of rock are evoked on the closing track as well. Which, even if it is kind of aggressive and fast-paced, I feel like I can hear the echoes of at least a few old-school Pixies songs there in the mix, too. The first track on this thing that really stopped me in my tracks was, in fact, a teaser, the song "5 Mile Ponytail," which is a very weird combination of heavy beats, grimy bass lines, vocal snippets, and what feels like these hypnagogic washes of vocals and synths that are surprisingly catchy. There's so many moving parts on this track, so many fragments, and yet it all kind of works cohesively.

Then there's "White Cadillac," which I think is one of the most straightforwardly enjoyable rockers on this thing. This sees the duo kind of leaning into their goth influences, too, with some of the stronger choruses among these 14 tracks. "A 50's Guy's Eyes," as well as the title track of this thing, all contribute to a relatively solid first leg. Though I will say, the title track, with its very simple presentation of these fast-paced, punk-influenced drums, these peppy rhythm guitars that have almost a jazzy flavor coming off the chords – this becomes kind of almost a prime formula for quite a bit of the songwriting on this project, to the point where the itch that it's scratching kind of stales out by the end of the album.

But really, that's not even my biggest issue with the record. I feel like a lot of the performance quality and the songwriting quality in general kind of drops off after this track, most notably on "Duck and Cover," which has a short runtime, distorted guitar chords, and this kind of drunken, sloppy, caveman-type spoken word. Which, is it weird? Sure. But is it enjoyable? No. Kind of feels like the duo is taking the piss to a degree, honestly, at the expense of anybody willing to listen.

I feel similarly about the chaotic riffs and barking dog samples all over "Down Doggy," and, to a degree, "The Mess" as well, which also instrumentally takes an everything but the kitchen sink approach. Not to mention the lyrics of this track, which I kind of read as being packed with this defeatist nihilism. Essentially, everything is bullshit, there's no point in saying anything, burn it all down, it's all crap kind of mentality. Which I kind of get, but I think maybe makes for a more compelling tweet than a full song. Especially one such as this that does everything that it can to avoid being catchy.

The final moments of the record aren't really anything to write home about, maybe outside of "Flailing on the Tracks," which, again, does have a fast-paced and exhilarating goth-rock flavor to it. But everything else is just kind of unremarkable, which I feel like is kind of generally the case for this record. Not only because, once again, The Garden are sort of sidestepping the requirements for a good, quality, consistent batch of songs. Which has been a problem on past releases, but at least on those past releases, they made up for that with some undeniably cute oddball charm which I feel like, frankly, is kind of lacking on this underproduced record, which doesn't have nearly as much goofball moments, as many bells and whistles as previous The Garden projects.

Again, this really does feel like the duo sound and style stripped back, streamlined, simplified, maybe overly simplified. And to what end, I don't really know. Because it's not like it makes their songs or their performances sound any better. In fact, the best and most memorable tracks on this thing are the ones that are the most creatively or experimentally produced. And I feel like this project has kind of put The Garden in a position where bands that have obviously been taking influence from them, such as Lip Critic, sound even weirder than them by comparison. Which you kind of hate to see, given that for a while The Garden have been one of the stranger, more left-field bands in the underground rock scene.

Again, compared to past releases, Bootleg just kind of sounds plain and a little too predictable. Which is why I'm feeling about a light to decent 5 on it.

Boothony Legtano. Forever.