Sleeper’s Bell debut new single “Bad Word”

Sleeper’s Bell, drop their new album Clover on February 8th via via Fire Talk Records imprint Angel Tapes. Ahead of the release, the Chicago band, fronted by Blaine Teppema and guitarist Evan Green, share their new single, “Bad Word.”
“I wrote this song playing ‘Real or Not Real’ with my friend,” Teppema says of “Bad Word.” “We would sing a song and the other person had to guess if it was ‘real’ or ‘not real.’ The melody just came to me during the game and I wrote the words later.” The resulting lyrics were written after reading Franny Choi’s poem, “Catastrophe Is Next To Godliness,” and the instrumentation ranges from delicate percussion from Jack Henry (Horsegirl, Hemlock, Friko) and traces of Rufus Parenti on the saxophone.
Clover was conceived as a practice of Teppema’s in which she would write letters to her younger self, responding to adolescent journal entries as an adult trying to heal. “Bad Word” holds a mirror to casual forms of self-sabotage, and attempts to place the desire to engage in destructive behaviors. “God, what a lovely pain,” Teppema sings, “but how can I survive if I feel that way? I tried so many things just to feel that way.”
The 9 songs on Clover began as intimate expressions of Teppema, who works as a children’s librarian by day, and have grown into beloved melodies around Chicago’s many independent venues. These songs have yet to see their proper release, but you’ll often catch local crowds singing along to every word. Lifted from the pages of journals that span travel, heartbreak, and therapy work, Clover interrogates past behaviors with the wisdom and kindness that could only come with living through it.
To celebrate Clover’s release, Sleeper’s Bell will play a hometown album release show at The Hideout this Saturday, February 8th. Album collaborator Leo Paterniti will open the show, alongside fellow Chicagoan Henry True.
Pre-order Clover by Sleeper’s Bell HERE
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