I like to consider myself a good consumer of music and media, and that has only been enhanced during quarantine and beyond. I’ve expanded the selection of music I choose from and the types of media I watch. One album, in particular, has been life-changing these past three months. Chloe Moriondo released their newest album Blood Bunny on May 7, 2021. Their music had interested me for a while before this release, and I was only more impressed with them following this. It is a bedroom pop album, the second that Chloe has released. This album, however, incorporates more production than his previous albums. She takes the idea of her more acoustic songs, which are based around a ukulele and recordings in her bedroom, hence bedroom pop, and brings it up. This new album elevates the music with the addition of more instruments and noise. 

The first song on the album is “Rly Don’t Care.” It is an upbeat song in which Chloe is telling us how they don’t want to base their decisions on other people, and they are doing what they want to do. I love this one because I love the way he sings with such abandon. He is committed to the idea that his choices are his. You can hear the passion in their voice, and the song conveys the joy that comes with this feeling so well. 

It is followed by “I Eat Boys,” which is such a fun song. It’s upbeat enough to easily get stuck in my head, but it still keeps the chill energy that makes it so appealing. Chloe sings about eating boys, which appeals to their demographic because many of us are not fans of boys. This song uses interesting word choices and descriptions to make you do a double-take. It is fascinating to me because the words are so bizarre and the music is so sweet. The contrast makes it hard to resist. 

“Manta Rays” is the next song on the album, and this one for me is full of emotion. Chloe sings as if their love is all that matters, and they have lost it. The song exudes simple beauty, and the words he used to describe only add to its appeal. The softness of the music and the voice make you realize the rawness of feeling that this song contains. Feeling so fully is something I can so powerfully connect to that makes this song never fail for me. There are a few more songs on this album that make me feel as strongly as this one, and the particular emotion that I feel is present with all of them. 

The next song is “GIRL ON TV,” which brings a new, carefree, blunt, and exhilarating angle to the album. This song revolves around the idea of not being the happy, go-with-the-flow girl that everyone idealizes. Chloe sings about this with the tone that you imagine that perfect girl to sing with. The song is endlessly fun and full of sweet melodies, but the subject is a little less so. The song does a good job of capturing Chloe’s wish for a carefree life, using their more bittersweet words with the melody that they want to carry with them. 

“I Want To Be With You” is a happy love song, the kind that makes you wish you had whatever they have. Chloe uses a bouncy, smiley verse line with the “dancing in your room to a rock song” chorus. The excitement that they are conveying makes me feel like I need to be jumping up and down. He just so simply is in love, and that feeling is so beautiful to hear in song form. I am smiling into my hands just thinking about their happiness.

“Slacker” has a much more down feeling. The tempo is slower and his voice is moving more leisurely through each word. I like this song less because it just never really attached to my emotions like the others did, so I have less to say about it.

“Take Your Time”’s emotional vibe is hard for me to understand. It is clearly emotionally charged, and it seems like Chloe is conveying her wanting more. This song strongly affects my emotions, as well, because I associate it with a certain yearning feeling that goes along with songs like “Personal Hell” by Kim Petras. It has a more risk-based energy, and it leaves me a bit uneasy. Songs that feel like this leave me wanting, the same way the artist feels. 

“Bodybag” takes on a feeling similar to a couple Wallows songs I know. It is quicker-paced, and I think it suits Chloe’s voice especially well. I tied this song in particular with a real-life experience I had, so it was always very meaningful for me. It is another one in which Chloe’s word choices and syntax make you realize how honest they are being. The honesty seems to be what attracts me to many of these songs. 

“Favorite Band” was one of the first songs on the album that I played on repeat. It has gone through my music cycle quite a bit, so it is a little burnt out in my brain, but I still recognize the way the melody and the lyrics got me hooked on this album overall. The chorus’s melodic line is just very attractive. Chloe references so many of their favorite artists, which they like better than the “lover” in the song, which gives it another level of personality. 

“Samantha” is a love song. It keeps a warm feeling and once again, the honesty and the way Chloe’s lyrics are just so human is amazing to me. The love that you can feel in this song is envy-inducing. Its melody is also so well suited to be a love song, and every time I hear it, I can feel the feeling that they wrote it with. They are brilliant at capturing the emotion they want with melodies and words, and this song is an excellent example. 

“Strawberry Blonde” expresses another beautifully honest love. It is slower, and it moves in a very purposeful way. I think Chloe is guiding us on their emotional path. This love is a bit less completely happy, because it is also about how Chloe was struggling, and their lover made it better. You can feel the struggle in the more depressive verse, and the chorus takes you up, the way that Chloe was emotionally changed when she had her girlfriend to help her. 

“Vapor” has another more bittersweet vibe, similar to “Strawberry Blonde” and “Slacker.” It is another slower one, and I think its basis around Chloe’s struggle with the real world is what ties it with the previous song. This song speaks to a lot of Chloe’s fans that cannot find somewhere comfortable in the ordinary world. It connects with the idea of escape that people like this grasp onto. 

“What If It Doesn’t End Well” is my favorite song on the album. It starts so beautifully, and it reflects anxiety similar to what I feel so often. The guitar part is addicting. The emotional impact this song has on me is so so so strong; I don’t know how to describe it. It is simple, but the feeling of discomfort in something that should be okay is something I can really connect with. When the song hits the drop that makes the music more hardcore and angry, it is another moment that just hits me so hard. The exasperation shown is a feeling that I adore because it is so familiar to me. The power behind this song never ceases to impress me. Bringing it back to being more relaxed before the song finishes is also just such an amazing choice. I cannot get enough of it. 

Overall, the album has so many songs that are amazing. The coherence of the music as one body of work is also just brilliant, which I didn’t quite realize until listening to it for this writing piece. It takes you through so many emotions, and it does it all within one more overarching feeling that you get when you hear music of this sort. I couldn’t be more pleased that I have this album to listen to. It is a great thing to help ground me when I feel frantic, and it is also just a place to feel safe for me now. It is something I know well, and therefore something I love deeply.