Blondshell returns with “Violins,” her third album, as Sabrina Teitelbaum pushes beyond the destructive relationships that shaped much of her earlier writing and toward a broader examination of connection. Across the record, friendship, spirituality and romantic complications sit alongside a shifting blend of pop and rock, giving the New York-based artist room to explore more universal experiences without abandoning the rawness that has become central to her work. Once again working with producer Yves Rothman, Teitelbaum balances polished arrangements with moments of tension, moving between loud guitars, quiet piano and the dramatic pull of 90s alternative rock.
The album’s two most representative songs, “Stone Fruit” and “Für Elise,” capture the push and pull that defines Blondshell’s current direction. “Stone Fruit” places competing desires against chunky, chugging riffs and restrained drums, creating a sense of power that never quite breaks loose. “Für Elise,” which closes the album, takes a similarly expansive approach, surrounding its large guitar parts with a melodramatic atmosphere and an undercurrent of melancholy. Both songs show Teitelbaum working within familiar rock language while allowing more space for emotional complexity and restraint.
That balance continues across “Heart Has To Work,” a forceful, marching composition incorporating subtle industrial touches and synths, while “New Age Trojan Horse” rides one of the album’s strongest grooves, driven by fuzzed bass and drums. Elsewhere, “Lucky” takes a quieter route, drifting around piano and a mixture of mournful and hopeful writing that recalls the Smiths. “Sea Legs” introduces synth textures and references Leonard Cohen, creating a more weightless atmosphere. On “New Shapes,” acoustic strumming accompanies a rising story of betrayal, insecurity and broken hearts before “Reinstall” delivers a much bigger dramatic release, complete with cinematic scale and commanding vocals.
The strongest overall effort is the vibrating title track as the acoustic and electric guitars clash wonderfully around huge drum hits. The fuzzy alt backing allows Teitelbaum to sing with nuance before reaching massive heights in a masterfully overdriven chorus. Blondshell’s best results always arrive when things are raw, messy, honest and loud.
“Violins” also reflects an artist still working through the challenge of following a breakthrough. After the comparatively safe and restrained pop-rock direction of 2025’s “If You Asked For A Picture,” the new album occupies a space between that release and Blondshell’s debut, revealing a more developed approach without abandoning the instinctive energy that first defined Teitelbaum’s music. Its wider subject matter suggests an artist increasingly interested in the many forms connection can take, rather than limiting that conversation to romance and its complications.
For Blondshell, “Violins” represents another step in that evolution, bringing together pop instincts, alternative-rock guitars and quieter passages without settling into a single formula. Teitelbaum remains most compelling when her writing and arrangements leave room for contradiction: intimacy beside volume, vulnerability beside distortion, and uncertainty beside moments of clarity. The result is an album that expands the emotional territory of Blondshell while retaining the rough-edged character that continues to distinguish her work.
0 Comments