2025 has already been a dark and chaotic year, but there are always a few bright spots on the horizon. The good news is new music from the quirky and addictive quartet Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Broncho. Their first album of new material since 2018’s stellar fourth album, Bad Behavior, is titled Absolute Pleasure, it certainly lives up to its name. Set to be released on April 25th, fans are ecstatic to hear the first single and see the video for the catchy, velcro-strength and infectious song “Funny,” featuring one of Ryan Lindsey’s signature irresistible choruses and melodies. I dare you not to hum it repeatedly.
While past albums such as Can’t Get Past the Lips (2011), Just Enough Hip to Be Woman (2014), Double Vanity (2016), and Bad Behavior (2018) included some dark, introspective moments, they were generally characterized by peppy, upbeat pop anthems with hooky, hummable choruses and melodies. “Absolute Pleasure’s” first single “Funny” has a sweet-and-sour quality, but many of the other 11 tracks on the album are more introspective, dreamy, morose, and poignant. This shift is a positive evolution that Broncho fans are already warmly receiving.
The pandemic lockdown and personal experiences—such as relationships, welcoming new children, moving, and pursuing personal interests—have inspired Ryan Lindsey, the guitarist, vocalist, songwriter, and leader of Broncho, to incorporate a new dimension of dreamy, soothing, and quirky elements into his expanding palette of sounds and approach. Lindsey is joined on the recordings by bassist Penny Pitchlynn, drummer Nathan Price, and guitarist Ben King.
It is not an exaggeration to compare this latest release to the melancholic soundscapes and classics crafted by Nick Drake on 1972’s Pink Moon or even to Elliott Smith’s final work, From A Basement on A Hill, or moments from the Flaming Lips’ masterpiece, Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots. You can almost feel his breath, his heart beating, and the thoughts tumbling from his imagination onto the page and tape. It’s personal. It’s vulnerable. It’s real. It’s confessional.
The shimmering, gossamer, delicate, gliding lead track, “Imagination,” is a stunning and shiver-inducing number set to gentle cymbal flourishes and ocean drum rolls. Music like this is not made for the masses. This track is meant for you, after a breakup, a hard day, or just to chill like a villain. In your room, things are alright. Next up, is the gem above, “Funny,” which hasn’t left my playlist since I bookmarked it on YouTube. Like all Broncho tracks, it features Lindsey’s nasally, gentle, vulnerable, soft, sensual siren song over an almost danceable drum machine loop and icy, strummed guitars.
It’s not a stretch to say that Lindsey’s vocal delivery and style are as identifiable as Dylan’s, Morrissey’s or Donovan’s. His voice is that singular and memorable. It may not be for everyone, but it resonates deeply for those who love sad pop with a psychedelic, homegrown, intimate vibe. While his lyrics are hard to understand at times, it hardly matters. The overall effect is narcotic, dreamy, and without gravity. Common topics seem to be high school crushes, irresistible single moms, breakups, infatuations, love buzzes, and just the weight of living as a modern human.
Tracks like the delicate, heartwrenching, acoustic track “You Got Me,” hurt so good. This is the ethereal sound of heartbreak and longing. Lindsey’s falsetto is inviting, cracking, and wraps you like a warm blanket, Valerian root, and a mother’s embrace—music to dream to. “Cool” gurgles with pounding toms, fills, and percolates throughout. This track shows Lindsey’s growth as an “artiste” who is willing to experiment with the formula and go in a new direction. The ambition and textures of this album are reminiscent of Beck’s melancholy masterpiece, 2002’s Sea Change.
“Imagination” is another stellar track featuring wispy, vulnerable vocals and a gentle, wave-lapping melody with an almost Spiritualized vibe. It’s hypnotic, trippy, somnambulic, and irresistible. “Way Into Magic” sounds like it was recorded in the wee hours of the morning, during the dark of winter, and in a tiny warehouse. It is the sound of joyful sorrow and love—just a man, a microphone, and a guitar.
Broncho is a band we need. They may never appear at the Super Bowl or the enormadome near you, but this album and the soundtrack of their lives are essential for their many diehard fans. This album adds yet another planet and star to the Broncho solar system. Let’s orbit.
FILE UNDER: East River Pipe, Spiritualized, Elliot Smith, and Nick Drake.
Watch video for first single, “Funny.” https://youtu.be/07KWtD4LwD0?si=JNHTq6ia2oOqr9du
