Working once again with producer Yves Rothman, – her third album as Blondshell – has all the components of what makes Teitelbaum cut through, exploring the personal and emotional complexities of modern relationships, romantic or otherwise, with a strong flavour of the '90s.

In her wider listening around the album, Teitelbaum says she felt a particular connection with the music of her childhood – more specifically, the music on her father’s old iPod – and the record is accordingly shot through with legacy rock influences, from staple powerhouse bands to canonical rock ’n’ roll bards.

Opener "Violins" initially sounds like a Nirvana deep cut buried in a digital deluxe edition, hinting at the sort of sound Teitelbaum played around with in her DIY years – until the track bursts into life with the kind of crowd-pleasing, arena-sized crescendo that's become such a prominent feature of the Blondshell sound.

At other times, recalls the bigger moments from Fontaines D.C.’s , which makes sense given that Blondshell supported the band at their huge Finsbury Park show in 2025. Tracks "Fur Elise" and "Reinstall" both follow that signature musical format and, alongside several tracks that close with a Slash-style miniature guitar solo, allow the album to construct a sonic identity of its own. The former references both The Velvet Underground and The Cure in its lyrics, while Leonad Cohen, another of Teitelbaum's favourites, gets a shoutout on "Sea Legs".

Teitelbaum's forensic analysis of relationships allows for a direct comparison with Cohen, particularly in their shared ability to find poetry among the daily grind. The astute emotional intelligence on display in "Lucky" is universal in its appeal, bringing together the best and worst of times that make up a life – veiled enough to flirt with being a poet, yet direct enough to be understood by even the most inattentive of listeners.

"New Age Trojan Horse" serves as a brutal takedown of so-called liberal men who have learned all the right vocabulary in an attempt to be chivalrous but remain squeamish about the most basic facts of the female body. On this, Blondshell hits a devastatingly perceptive and personal note that allows her artistic prowess to truly shine.

Not everything here is quite so distinctive, though. With its deadpan honesty, "Knotted" is where Teitelbaum's love of Phoebe Bridgers is at its most obvious. The vocal delivery would complement a similar indie-folk sound, but that atmosphere is not recreated here. Instead, songs like "Knotted" and "New Shape" float around at mid-tempo and feel somewhat dwarfed by the album's larger, more emotionally punchy songs. It's in her ability to take the everyday experience and turn it into an epic noise that finds its sweet spot.