Cherry Glazerr - Stuffed and Ready

If you like your self-loathing served with a side of self-loathing, Cherry Glazerr’s Stuffed & Ready just might be what you are looking for.  Aside from a few notable exceptions, the album plays out as confessional passages torn from leader Clementine Creevy’s diary.  Operating as a power trio these days (keyboardist Sasami Ashworth has flown the coop), the heavy arrangements only add to the gravitas.  Tabor Allen is held over on drums from their prior release and newcomer Devin O’Brien holds his own on bass.  Creevy’s guitar playing and intermittent solos add to the crunch.

Lead off single ‘Daddi’ is truly a one-off in this setting both topically and musically.  Creevy pushes hard against the patriarchy in the music industry and life in general with a big nicotine stained middle finger.  On the only synth-heavy song here, she bluntly taunts “Who should I fuck daddy?”  And if there was any sense of irony, the refrain of “smoking makes me taste like metal to keep you away” deflates that balloon.  Willing to toxify herself to keep creeps at bay puts a darker tinge on things. 

The only other outwardly focused song here, the crispier than titled ‘Juicy Socks’, shows Creevy lashing out.  The remainder of Stuffed & Ready is self-reflective and Creevy pushes it to the point of discomfort.  The bordering on gothic grunge of ‘Wasted Nun’ is not a bratty swipe at religion, but rather Creevy’s insistence that she has been defiled to the point of no redemption. 

The album has its relatively calmer moments in tracks like ‘Self Explained’ and ‘Pieces’, but the order of the day is self hate mixed with gut-punch guitar and rhythm.  This reaches its nadir in the cheerless ‘Stupid Fish’ where Creevy declares “I’m a stupid fish and so are you” at increasing decibel levels until reaching a full on scream.  While ‘That’s Not My Real Life’ would make a good companion piece to the most disturbing of children’s books, The Giving Tree, as Creevy invites “take my leaves if that’s what you want from me.” 

In spite of the day-glo cover of prior album Apocalipstick and Stuffed & Ready’s cover that recalls that of the iconic Whipped Cream & Other Delights, Cherry Glazerr has never been about fun and games.  With a tighter focus and distilled musical approach, the album is certainly Creevy’s most intensely consistent and morose.  Setting aside the rush of 'Daddi' and overall punchier sound, the bulk of the album breaks no new ground for the band and becomes primarily a wallow in Creevy's muck.  At her most reductionist moment, she sings on ‘Stupid Fish’ that we’re all just “hairy people trying not to die.”  That’s undoubtedly a true summation of humanity, but sometimes we get ice cream.