By Maria Lubanovic, Copy Editor
[Secretly Canadian; 2019]
Rating 7.5/10

Key tracks: “Daddi”, “Juicy Socks”, “Stupid Fish”

Cherry Glazerr triumphantly return with their third studio album, Stuffed and Ready. Filled with rage, self-loathing, sexiness, power and overall weirdness, the trio relives moments from their previous albums and pushes them forward with a more mature approach.

Read more: Album Review: Cherry Glazerr – Apocalipstick

In the two years since their last album, Cherry Glazerr played Coachella and a number of other festivals, experienced multiple lineup changes and saw frontwoman Clementine Creevy as the subject of a documentary. Though this has put the band in the spotlight, the tracks on Stuffed and Ready don’t reflect this sort of fame. Instead, an overall change in attitude resonates throughout the record, which is further enhanced by the conceptual and NSFW music videos supporting it.

Creevy presents ideas of confusion in her lyrics as she asks questions that only she can answer. What should she do? (“Daddi”) Is she a waste of a woman? (“Wasted Nun”) Do people know how lonely she is? (“Isolation”). Between these questions is a longing for emotional encounters, contradicting the themes of self-searching.

Such contradictions lead to the perfect mix of weirdness and sensuality, especially in tracks like “Daddi”, a song about relationships and Creevy’s uncertainty about her own needs. Creevy works through an ebb and flow in both the lyrics and in her vocals, pushing harder through lines where she sings “Don’t hold my hand / Don’t be my man,” and keeping her signature soft style in lines like “Where should I go? Is it okay with you?” It definitely pushes boundaries, but in a different way than her earlier, more direct, work.

As always, Cherry Glazerr’s best traits are in their ability to blend guitar, synth and highs and lows in vocal style and timbre. Creevy’s sharp tones screech the hardest on tracks like “Stupid Fish” where she scream-whines “I see myself in you and that’s why I fucking hate you” as a guitar solo slams under her. It’s raw as she bargains with herself, singing that she doesn’t know what is happening and admits she doesn’t want to pretend to be smarter than she actually is. This track is the closest to the band’s early work, showing that Creevy’s youth and aggressiveness still shine under a newer coat of polish.

Though this album has a more mature sound, it is more reserved than Cherry Glazerr’s earlier work. Creevy doesn’t let loose as much on this album, making the few tracks where it happens even juicier.

Cherry Glazerr’s tour dates are listed here.

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