Album Review: Cherry Glazerr Makes The Future Sound “Apocalipstick”

Apocalipstick sounds like Mad Max held up a MAC store in the best way. The new Cherry Glazerr album feels like a glamorous apocalypse of dreamy synths, doomsday guitar riffs, and the lusciously lax vocals of lead singer Clementine Creevy. If the end of the world were as glittery and bright as this record then maybe I would be excited for it, which is why Apocalipstick is truly a charming album if it makes an “end” feel like a beginning. 

Cherry Glazerr – Nuclear Bomb 

From songs like “Nurse Ratched” to “Trash People”, Cherry Glazerr has made an album that captures human chaos and throws confetti on it. For however dark its apocalyptic theme should be, it is not, and that is what is so fantastical about the record. Usually, when you think about the Apocalypse it is Heaven opening up to spew spitballs of fire at humanity. Yet, instead, the Heavens have opened to fire Creevy’s femme pop, anthemic vocals. This woman sings with a sultry boredom as if she is exhausted by the fooleries of the world, and is ready to teach it a lesson on feminine strength and solidarity. (Yes, Teacher, Please!). She can rage her voice with a simmering rasp like a dragon in “Sip O’ Poison” or come off like a Barbie Doll with bite in “Moon Dust”. Her vocal ability to come off sweet like honey and suddenly turn into a maniacal Mad-Hatter is terrifyingly good, and drives the empowering aspect of the album. Apocalipstick is a fiery, musical world, of which the fierceness and conquered struggles of its female protagonists will encourage any lady listening to grab her red lipstick, strike an electric guitar, and defend her equality. 

Apocalipstick is 100% the album you put on when you are ready to summon your inner soldier. It is loud and quiet, all at once, which is what strength should be. This virtue is silent and still in presence but big in action and reception. In many ways, that is what Cherry Glazerr has done in this album: a giant action that is a still-frame of feminine ferocity/ beauty. “Told You I’d Be With The Guys” and “Instagratification” are subtle, perceptive songs that look into female unity and positivity from woman to woman and also from a woman to herself. The idea of women not trusting other women, their bodies, or even their hearts can be prevalent in this historically oppressed community, which has had its social interactions constructed by men rather than given the chance to blossom by nature. Thus, the apocalyptic theme furthers a “survivor” quality that is not so much religious as societal. What happens when it is not the Heavens that have turned on you, but your neighbor? This a question every human faces, including women, who can have an added endangerment because of the objectification of their being. In Apocalipstick, Cherry Glazerr assures their are no “objects” is sight. Instead, there are thoughtful lyrics that hits listeners minds like an after-taste from the sweet and sour instrumentals of the brilliant Sasami Ashworth and the pouncing pulse that is drummer Tabor Allen. These two are like the fleshy heart of the record by giving Apocalipstick a raucous rhythm that assures Creevy’s pensive words never misses a beat.