Ballad Of The Bathroom Floor and Everything But You-Recreational Mouthwash review

 

Today I’m reviewing two singles, ‘Ballad Of The Bathroom Floor’ and ‘Everything But You’ from Recreational Mouthwash’s debut album ‘If That Means Anything’ which releases on July 9th!

Recreational Mouthwash is a emerging queer four piece indie pop band from New York, and most importantly voted #1 queer indie pop band by 9/10 gay dentists. You know It’s not very often that you hear the words Recreational and Mouthwash together in the same sentence so when I heard about them let’s just say I was more than intrigued to listen to their music!

I have to say that I really didn’t know what to expect from these singles and I went into it blindly but I was really surprised! 

Both of the songs were amazing, my favorite out of the two songs was ‘Ballad Of The Bathroom Floor’. It was a bit more emotional and the amazing guitar was a lot more present in the song which gave it a harsh edge to it which I loved. ‘Everything But You’ had a lot more simple and sweet tones which gave it more pop like vibes but was still incredible!

The songs had a clear and recognizable chill indie style and I really liked the difference between the two songs as well, one about breaking up but still being in love with them and the other about the hard hitting acceptance.

After listening to the two singles I was very interested in ‘If That Means Anything’ so I reached out to Recreational Mouthwash and they were really nice and they let me ask them a few questions about their album!

What can listeners expect from ‘If That Means Anything?’

Ian (Drummer): I think what listeners can expect from ITMA is catchy, groove-focused songwriting with some heavier moments as well.

Kate (Lead singer & rhythm guitar): ITMA listeners can expect energetic, catchy songs as well as a few hard-hitting emotional tracks. There are a few different styles explored, but all with the recognizable mouthwash guitar and vocal composition and tones. This album is also a great showing of our growth as musicians and songwriters.

Jimmy (Bassist): Listeners should expect bangers!

What was the creative process like for this album?

Jimmy (Bassist): my goal for my writing in this project is to frame Kates melody writing as best as I can while also creating movement via bassline, so that guitars have more freedom to be textual or do other interesting things. 

Tom (lead guitar): Creative process on my end: They mostly had the songs written and figured out by the time I joined the band - most of the creative process for me was trying to find ways to glue all the parts together. I workshopped my guitar parts and tones to try to fill in the gaps for each song and helped Kate figure out guitar tone arrangements that helped suit her end of what the songs called for.

Kate (Lead singer & rhythm guitar): The songwriting process typically starts with either a vocal melody, guitar line or a combination of the two that I bring to the boys. From there, they add their own individual flairs and we workshop everything as a group to finalize. The creative process of this album focused heavily on learning the best way to work with each other as both musicians and people. We had to find a way to meet in the middle of everyone's playing styles to find our sound as a group.

And lastly out of curiosity, how did you all come up with the name Recreational Mouthwash?

Ian (Drummer): When we were trying to find a band name we thought the idea of doing something recreationally which was not meant for recreational use was very funny. We bounced around a lot of other products but we ultimately decided that mouthwash was probably the most absurd one we could use so we took it and ran with it.

Overall I would give ‘Ballad Of The Bathroom Floor’ and ‘Everything But You’ 7/10 slices! The full album releases on July 9th and I have a feeling it’s going to be rad and I can’t wait to listen it! Remember to brush your teeth and most importantly use mouthwash (recreationally of course)

Recreational Mouthwash’s Socials

Spotify-https://open.spotify.com/artist/5b2PQUhwrzlSmkRbTnm8Ag?si=4-vwWS2XRKWS5Fbrv2kABQ&dl_branch=1

Apple Music-https://music.apple.com/us/artist/recreational-mouthwash/1444520322

YouTube-https://youtube.com/channel/UCl6vhX0Z2r8d3LA3I5bdD5A

BandCamp-https://recreationalmouthwash.bandcamp.com/album/if-that-means-anything

Instagram-https://instagram.com/recreationalmouthwash?utm_medium=copy_link