A queer indie-punk love letter to learning to accept all that life throws at you, with big sing-along choruses and heart-on-sleeve lyrics about relationships, friendship and gender. Hitchin-based indie-punk 4 piece, Brutalligators, are back with their 2nd album, Still Here, a powerful, cathartic, and joyously loud collection of songs about survival, identity, and moving forward. From shout-along anthems to intimate confessions, the album explores grief, friendship, queer identity, aging, and that ever-complicated feeling of simply trying to exist.Following 2021’s This House is Too Big, This House is Too Small, this record marks a sonic and emotional evolution for the band — trading heartbreak and endings for resilience, and healing, bringing the raw energy of Brutalligators debut with more melodic moments, blending the indie punk of PUP and Menzingers with the cleaner indie sound of Future Teens and Weezer. Still Here is an album with the mantra of “I’m still here, and I’m alive” says vocalist/guitarist Luke Murphy (they/them). “Looking at how me and my identity hasn’t been accepted in the past, and focusing on the attitude of ‘fuck you, I am who I am, this is what makes me me’”.There’s plenty of positivity on Still Here too, ‘Safe Haven’ and ‘Giving Up’ are both completely heart-on-sleeve love letters to the life that we have now – kind of spiritual sequels to ‘Josie’ from the first record – whereas ‘Wrong Words’ is a similar vein to ‘November 4, 2016’ from the first EP, revelling in how awesome it is to have solid friendships.The breadth of Still Here showcases the progression of Brutalligators as artists who have been grafting in the DIY scene for the past 8 years. ‘Still Here’ and ‘Get Better’ are flagbearers for the typical sound of the band, blending lyrics about queer acceptance with the energy and shout-along choruses that wear their influences of bands like Los Campesinos! and Iron Chic on their collective sleeve. However, ‘Nice Try’ showcases the more restrained side of Brutalligators – an ode to feeling stuck, that brings in influences like The Beths and Aarron West And The Roaring Twenties. Meanwhile, ‘Wrong Words’ almost feels like an old Deftones track, with soaring screamed vocals and heavy, chunky rhythms driving the song forward and closing out the album.
