Friends, meet Frog. Frog is made of Queens pals Dan Bateman (Guitar and Vocals) and Thomas White (Drums) and apparently the UK loves them! They released their single Judy Garland some months ago and their actual LP Kind of Blah on May 25th. I think you’ll like what you hear.
They start their LP frantic and on fire and end it singing you through dreams — there’s a pretty clear ramp-up and come-down, so I’ll start by saying they certainly know how to put an album together. Sometimes Dan shouts through tantrums and then he croons quietly. It’s not confusing or aggravating because it’s real and honestly we’ve all felt like doing both at some point. At the same time you’ll feel like you’ve been taken through an audio pop-culture-history lesson about Jesus Montero, Daniel Day, Toni Braxton, Lynyrd Skynyrd and, of course, Judy Garland.
The balance of wild and calm isn’t too exhausting, but it is a palpable expression. Kind of Blah takes you on a roller-coaster aurally as well as emotionally. At the end you’ll find you’ve just relived your first two decades of life — only this time in some hybrid of the 50’s and 80’s as opposed to, like, when you actually grew up.
Most of the songs end before you know it and you have a moment where you think, wait a second I wasn’t paying enough attention, I got lost in it and now it’s over and I need to hear it again. Replay. Each song has phases, so if the opening ten seconds don’t make you feel anything, give it twenty more or you may miss your new favorite thing.
The choice to make ‘Judy Garland’ the single was a good one, or in any case I liked it best too and would have made the same decision. Full of tongue twister, clever rhymes, and combinations of banjo riffs and chimes, it’s one of those upbeat tunes that’s not as lyrically happy as the tune might suggest. Pretty cool.
Click through for some track streams!
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