Nashville’s Bully broke out in 2015 with Feels Like, a debut full length that shattered the expectations set by their previous, more easygoing EP with 10 tracks of visceral pop punk. In particular, frontwoman Alicia Bognanno came into her own with sharp, hyper-observant songwriting and throat-shredding screams, the latter of which made few appearances in the band’s early music.
Bognanno and Co. have been rather quiet since Feel Like’s June 2015 release, but now they’ve returned with a new track. “Right” is a full-steam-ahead barnburner, and is included on the anti-Trump benefit compilation Our First 100 Days, which also features contributions from Angel Olsen, Toro Y Moi, Speedy Ortiz, and many more.
“Right” is kicked off by the same sugar-rush guitar bursts that defined Feels Like, providing infectious hooks amidst an otherwise chaotic atmosphere. On many of her songs, Bognanno waits to break into a scream until a particularly cathartic moment, but that’s not the case here. She hits the ground running, shrieking about a drunken conversation that led to some revelations that she hopes to carry into the sober light of day. After listing some of these things that she’d like to change, she frustratedly caps off a stanza with, “But it’s hard when everything stinks!” In the Trump era, truer words have never been spoken.
Our First 100 Days has been releasing a song a day since the inauguration in January, and it’ll wrap up with its hundredth release on May 1st. For $30 (or more), you can own the whole bunch, with all proceeds going “directly to organizations working on the front lines of climate, women's rights, immigration and fairness.”
Learn more about the Our First 100 Days organization here.