Music Review // Bad Self Portraits "Pensive"

 

As soon as this song begins you can hear the elements of the past combine with the present to make a future sound.  Bad Self Portraits have this way of sounding like dreamwave or darkwave on "Pensive", which can make me think of both older artists such as The Cure and Depeche Mode but at the same time I hear some newer artists in here such as Mae.   Parts of this song also just remind me of pop punk, as it has a very accessible sound in that pop way, and so you might very well hear hints of someone such as Cinema Stare as well.

Hearing this song will say as much about the band as it will about the listener.  Influences can be brought out based upon your own personal experiences as well as relative factors such as age.  "Pensive" might not quite be the mall pop of Debbie Gibson or the current pop of someone such as Chappell Roan, but it definitely has a genre of rock with a sprinkle of darkness that fits neatly between both those sounds and timeframes.

"Pensive" is also the first single from the upcoming debut album by Bad Self Portraits, "I Think I'm Going to Hell", which is due out on August 26th 2025.  This album will be released on vinyl as part of the Buy Before You Stream project, which I definitely enjoy as it puts a focus on physical media over the more temporary streaming and digital.  If ever there was a perfect song to set you up to buy an entire album before hearing the other songs, it would be "Pensive" as this single definitely has me wanting to hear more from Bad Self Portraits.  

I've always felt like one of the measures of a great band is how their sound would translate live in the sense of what types of artists they could play shows with or go on tour with.  Some artists put themselves right into this specific genre (like punk) and that's fine, but Bad Self Portraits has this way where you could hear them opening for someone like Glass Animals or Paramore, Metric or Slothrust and I think that just truly shows how this song has a little piece everyone can enjoy in it, which also can bring us all together.