Blondshell is a quickly rising act who has been demanding attention with sprawling songs like this new one, “Sepsis.” “I’m going back to him / I know my therapist’s pissed,” she sings, opening the track with her signature acerbic charm, “We both know he’s a dick / At least it’s the obvious kind.”
Against warped, reverb-drenched guitars, Sabrina Teitelbaum’s deadpan vocals are spellbinding as she grapples with self-destructive tendencies and disillusionment. It proves that she can keep up the momentum after the great tracks “Kiss City” and “Olympus.” The build-up is cathartic and explosive, similar to Porridge Radio’s, who she’ll be touring with this fall.
“In the thick of COVID, I became obsessed with Hole’s song ‘Doll Parts’ and it inspired me to write something cathartic and pissed,” Teitelbaum said of the track. “I wrote ‘Sepsis’ as a way of getting anger out — anger towards people who have treated me as if I didn’t deserve very much care and anger towards myself for accepting that treatment. I wanted to create some accountability with this song and also sing about the counterproductive nature of trying to outrun loneliness. Most importantly I wanted to give myself permission to be as dramatic as possible and say aloud that I’m afraid bad feelings might actually kill me.”
Listen to “Sepsis” above.