REVIEW BY ANTHONY BOLLERO
Although Teresa Suarez Cosio (Teri Gender Bender) & company have dialed back the guitars and let the synths take center stage for Le Butcherettes‘ most recent EP, Don’t Bleed, don’t think for a moment that this Mexican garage punk outfit has gone soft. In fact, Teri explains that the title of this EP is, “a powerful double meaning of being told not to bleed as a woman and feeling shame of blossoming, so with time we are manipulated to hide in the darkness and our blood calls out to the forest creatures pulling them in closer to us for the hunt, even if we hide we are exposed.”
Fittingly released on Valentine’s Day, Don’t Bleed takes the listener on a 20 minute journey of misery and sorrow that eventually ends in a bath of strength, self-confidence and acceptance.
Don’t Bleed opens up with a short scratchy demo that Teri recorded on a little tape recorder alone in the dark in their tour van one night, titled “Wounds Belong to Me”. Clocking in at just over one minute, it’s reminiscent of an old delta-blues recording; gritty and authentic.
The EP quickly opens up and hits it’s stride right away with “Out for You”, which has our central figure walking us through the pain of putting yourself out there for someone and loving them, but that individual fails to answer back with the same level of intensity.
“Don’t Bleed, You’re in the Middle of the Forest” is, as Teri puts it, ” a slow awakening to some uncomfortable truths about our biological nature. About how to rationalize and broker a deal between the emotional and the intellectual. And how as women we are always, in the eyes of others, a prey to hunt as we are always bleeding.”
“Now I Know” seems to show our character following the thought of, “Shame on me for not realizing the person you really are.” This is revealed in the following lines: “Time changed our ways / We came across the many selves / No one felt a difference but I’ve come to notice the truth.”
“Tunisia” is the first single from this EP. Very synth-heavy, this track has our character coming to terms with how irrelevant we all are in this world when everything is taken into consideration. In true Teri fashion, it opens up with our character exclaiming, “And I say I’ve been masturbating thinking of no one at all! / And you may think that it is selfish of me / But I am no one at all! / Thought I’ve seen all of it / Guess we’re just a small part of it all.” Powerful.
“Love Someone” comes in softly followed by Teri’s voice delicately floating above Alejandra Robles’ drums as she delivers the message that the only way of going about anything is to give yourself to it completely; and how vulnerability and outright acceptance also comes at a cost. As Teri states in the line, “Love someone that hurt you / Is the price you pay when you’ve fallen deep”, our character comes to the realization that in the end, it’s all worth it.
The EP closes with “Boom”, which effectively brings our journey to an end, echoing the anguish that comes with loving so deeply. Teri describes this closer as, “Trying to make sense of where we’re at socially but coming up short. It’s amazement, confusion and empathy at the terror of it all. It’s comfort in the ultimate inevitability of this, and a bittersweet embrace in the sentiment that happiness is indeed a warm gun.
Tracklist
- Wounds Belong To Me
- Out For You
- Don’t Bleed, You’re In The Middle Of The Forest
- Now I Know
- Tunisia
- Love Someone
- Boom
Don’t Bleed 12″ vinyl EP can be purchased HERE.
