Between new releases from Skunk Anansie, Garbage, Pulp and Suede, the (already tedious) live return of Oasis, and baggy jeans and plaid shirts making a pleasingly comfy comeback, the 90s are back with aplomb in 2025, much to the delight and slight age-related horror of those of us whose misspent youth traversed that decade.
So Bush should slot straight back in with I Beat Loneliness, their tenth album, and sixth since they re-formed in 2010. And yet, largely because they were always more successful in the US than their UK homeland, they remain on the outside of it all, their sound still tailored to the American radio stations that made them millionaires.
Wisely, they’ve chosen to keep on doing what they know the best – indeed, what they’ve been doing since their debut Sixteen Stone hit in 1994 – and the first half of the record churns out one blustery grunge rocker after another. But keeping a musical theme together makes a lot of sense when the lyrical journey starts to reveal itself, frontman Gavin Rossdale delving into an exploration of self-harm, mental health struggles, recovery, survival and the urge to reach out a helping hand to anyone else who might be struggling.
The latter lightens the load on the songs, Rossdale’s deep, sometimes doomy vocals taking on a slightly brighter note when the search for hope comes to the forefront. Side A is very much business as usual, then, aimed firmly at the fans who’ve stuck with Bush over the past three decades and know exactly what they want from the band.
It’s when we hit side two that things get a little bit more inventive, turning a corner on We Are Of This Earth, which brings things down a notch with a dreamy, spacey, mournful little bit of echoing shoegaze. It’s a moment of beauty that gives pause for thought and paves the way for the raw honesty of Everyone Is Broken, a stripped-back, gentle call for kindness and solidarity, with sweet gang vocals in the chorus driving home the idea of all of us being in this messy old life together.
It’s not the most ambitious record in the world – at this stage in their career Bush don’t seem to be trying to capture a new audience or to chase the zeitgeist – but I Beat Loneliness does give the impression of a band reaching out to the listeners they know are already there and offering the comfort of emotional understanding and musical familiarity.
