Text: Florian Baudouin

After two albums, the last of which “Hello, It’s You” was released in 2020, Canadian pop-punk combo Bearings have announced their third opus, “The Best Part About Being Human”, to be released on 18 August. We really enjoyed “Hello It’s You”, which we saw at the time as a breath of fresh air for pop-punk, so we were curious and impatient to discover this new Bearings album.

On first listen, we quickly notice that the band seem to take fewer risks than on their previous album.  For a good first half of the album, the tracks seem to be of a rare constancy, as they seem to be built on the same model without overflowing with originality, either melodically or in the structure of the tracks. You have to wait until halfway through the album to notice a saxophone solo on “Ocean Dream” and a very heavy “I Want To Heal” with a much fatter and harder riff than Bearings usually produce, although the mix remains very pop…

It’s only on the second listen that we begin to appreciate the tracks for what they are. You’re already shaking your head and moving your lips to the opening track “Scenery”, which kicks off with a sing-along chorus, appreciating the discreet synth accompaniments on “Go Long” and “Ocean Dream”, and wanting to dance to “Gone So Gone”, which invites you to embrace life, sad though it may be, with self-mockery… We wait a long time for an acoustic ballad à la “Lovely Lovely” from “Hello, It’s You”, but it never arrives, which is a little disappointing. As a logical conclusion, the album ends with “Human”, whose opening line says “The best part about being human is being alive”.

In fact, this album of 11 tracks, most of which are less than 3 minutes long, leaves us with the feeling that the potential of many tracks is not being exploited as much as it could be. But don’t get us wrong, it’s still a good album, albeit slightly below its predecessor..

Pure Noise Records