Summerbruise – Never Bothered

SideOneDummy Records

The ‘Bruise is back, baby. That’s right, after making one of my favorite albums of 2022, participating in one of the best splits in recent memory, and re-recording their debut, the pride of Indiana is back with a cutting new single called “Never Bothered.”

I don’t know if it’s because they’re from the Midwest, the fact that they have played numerous different Fauxchellas, or just the company they keep, but Summerbruise often unfairly get categorized as emo music. In reality, the band is hyper-lyrical, funny-as-fuck bummer-punk that has more in common with Sparks or Matthew Sweet than they do Mom Jeans or Marietta. The band themselves seem to be aware of this, leaning into the schtick with “Defend Fake Emo” shirts and a healthy amount of meta humor toward the scene they’ve accidentally found themselves to be an institution of. 

The group’s newest single appears to pick up exactly where “Dead Daddog 20/20” left off, that is to say, racked with a complicated grief and wading through life with a shit-eating grin. In the first verse, bandleader Mike Numan unspools, “It’s said you die a second time the last time someone says your name / but that’s the third, cause the second time’s when your next of kin throws the last of your shit away.” 

After recounting a morbid exchange, the band throws to a carefree “woo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo” vocalization that sounds suspiciously like Carpool’s “I Hate Music,” making me think that maybe the battle set beef is still on. The rest of the song is littered with clever barbs and cutting ruminations that are sure to be etched in my brain for years to come, including an outro chorus about a dog in a hot car. Name another band that can do that. 

Side note: This single also doubled as the band’s announcement that they’re signing to SideOneDummy Records, and holy shit, between this and Kerosene Heights, that label needs to start paying me as an A&R, because I’m beginning to look biased as fuck since they keep scooping up all my favorite bands. All the same to me, though, if anybody deserves it, it’s Summerbruise. Here’s to a Summerbruise Summer.