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Photo Credit: Meghan Marshall

Punk trio Sorry Mom have finally released their long-awaited debut album, babyface, and it was well worth the wait. The twelve-track body of work is an emotional rollercoaster ride with relatable tracks that touch on a variety of complex topics like complicated parent-child relationships and the highs and lows of growing up in a way that finds the band wearing their hearts on their sleeves. The NYC-based femme punk band, whose music chronicles queer experiences and suburban despair through a nostalgic punk sound, continues to boast a lyrical playfulness present in their previous release June Goes to the Big House but sonically with a more hardcore edge.

"babyface is about feeling perpetually like a child in a room full of adults," shared the band. "The album chronicles suburban despair, the nauseating feeling of growing up, and queer experiences - all through a trans and nonbinary lens."

In honor of its release, the trio has shared a track-by-track breakdown of the album with The Noise and their thoughts behind each carefully constructed song.

Shaving My Legs: This song is an introduction to the album's overall exploration of the idea of suburban despair; it explores the feeling of being trapped, promising, again and again, to start tomorrow while tomorrow never seems to come. It centers on the feeling of needing to be stronger or more 'normal' to overcome what everyone else seems to have already overcome on their own.

Hiccup: In contrast to the self-blaming narrative of the previous song, Hiccup is an explosive and quick track full of the violent anger that comes with the end of a relationship and the realization that you have been taken advantage of.

Getting Sick: This track delves further into the feelings of suburban despair, touching upon food service work, the rage of staying home while others leave for college or careers, and the desire to be anywhere else doing anything else. Inspired by the sound and feel of the punk songs my older brother used to play with his band in the early 2000s, it captures a nostalgic and tongue-in-cheek vibe.

You Scare Me (VIRGINIA WOOLF): With a heavy country feel and a banjo feature, this song has a much different sonic feel than much of the rest of this album while maintaining familiar lyrics, emotions, and motifs. We've coined our own term for this genre of sound: Punktry (punk + country <3). The song imagines a character much like those described in previous tracks, but living in a sad man's fantasy- the country. But this track is silly, containing cowboy noises and hoots and hollers, which contrast the downtrodden lyrics about suicide and alcoholism. The hoots and hollers are comprised of fan submissions because we wanted them to be a part of this album.

Town Clown: This track begins more slowly than any of our others, with the first half of the song bringing a mournful ballad describing the feelings of changing over time and losing someone you love for it. The vocalist begs the listener, through the track's lyrics, to talk about them to their friends as the girl they once were, who they loved, and not what they've become. This song was more significantly inspired by artists like Mitski and ends with a sudden switch to a final verse and chorus with a far more metal feel, featuring heavy distortion, screaming, and more hardcore drums.

Enema: Ending the first half of the record, "Enema" is the most stripped-back song we have ever released. Featuring only bass, synth, and vocals, Enema longs for a time when we were younger when the things that plague us now seemed like far-off dreams.

awesome party, reprise!: The album's second half starts with a callback to one of the first songs we ever wrote and released: "awesome party, dude!" off our first EP. "awesome party, reprise!" is a complete rewrite of, and part 2, to, a song that is very special to us as a band. This track features entirely new lyrics, which serve almost as a sequel to the story of the first song while heavily featuring our growth as musicians. We advanced melodies, instrumentation, and vocals from the first version of this song to show how far we have come as a group and how far we still hope to grow. The track's use of the word 'reprise' in its title is a nod to the many fans who expressed their love for the first song by comparing it to musical theater for its storytelling, and we hope this song can also serve as a show of gratitude to fans who have supported us since the very beginning when this song was first released.

Seafood: Seafood attempts to capture the feeling of sitting under 'seafood lights'- fluorescent, nauseating, and off-putting greens and yellows, often paired with the unsettling feeling of staring into the grocery store lobster tank. The song's chorus repeats, 'but it's alright, it's alright,' following the album's motif of suburban sadness while centering the feelings of putting off growing anxieties by just claiming "it's alright."

wire mother: This track is the album's most in-your-face hardcore- featuring abstract instrumentation and heavy, screamed vocals. This song is about wanting to be a fly on the wall to see the people you hate, the people who have wronged you, being yelled at by those they love. It is a sort of 'giving in' to these uncontrollable feelings of hate.

I Saw Jesus Hanging on a Basketball Hoop: This track is a brief spoken word interlude relating to queerness in the suburbs and how the alienation being queer in the suburbs entails makes it only more visible. This is also about how everyone else who has alienated you is just suppressing themselves, as well.

Teeth: Teeth is another track that builds, with a mournful first half followed by an enraged closing half. This song describes the feelings of watching your parents grow old and quickly while never seeming to mature or change, in conjunction with watching the fallout of a failed relationship. The lyrics describe begging someone you have lost to admit that at least they loved you the most.

Stoop Kid: The closing song of the album, "stoop kid", is a step back from the rest of the tracks. Beginning with just vocals and guitar, the song tells the story of growing up in an upside-down world and knowing you will never grow up again. Though the choruses repeat the phrase "i grew up in the city," the lyrics state that this is an explicit lie, but one that they will continue to tell when anyone asks where they are from. The song ends in a final musical explosion, both hopeful and despairing, capturing the wildly conflicting joy and sadness that comes with growing through your early twenties and coming into your own for the first time.

Be sure to check out Sorry Mom's debut album, babyface, today!

Upcoming Tour Dates:

5/18 – Washington, DC @ DC9

5/19 – Philadelphia, PA @ Milkboy

5/20 – Brooklyn, NY @ Saint Vitus

5/21 – Portsmouth, NH @ Press Room

5/23 – Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground

5/24 – Hamden, CT @ Space Ballroom

5/28 – Boston, MA @ Boston Calling