Bug Teeth releases tear-jerking debut album ‘Micrographia’
The dreamy new album beautifully connects famous novels with sombre memories.
Photo: Hannah Woollam
Leeds-based artist Bug Teeth released their highly anticipated debut album, Micrographia, on November 21st via State 51. The album, largely written by the band’s founding member and lead singer, PJ Johnson, gives an ethereal sound to the dark experiences of death and grieving.
The first of the album’s ten tracks is Tapeworm. Slow and dreamy, Tapeworm acts as an introduction to the album’s story: Johnson’s loss of their mother and their process of grief: “Would you give it up? / You loved your life / When it happened / And when you died / I gave it up.” The track is followed by Ammonite, which is comparatively more lively than the album’s opener, featuring a bridge that jumps around, ending abruptly, then beginning again. Johnson’s lyrics during this track — “Skin like amber / Shelved like glass’ / You’re never around” — are hard-hitting, especially when combined with the abrasive guitar at the song’s end.
The album’s third track, Topiary, places the previously introduced electric guitar at its centre from the very beginning. Johnson uses the song’s title unexpectedly, at the end of the chorus, singing “And by leafy ways / I’ll forget you.” Topiary is followed by the album’s previous single, Thin Circle, which is dark and hypnotising. With its minimal lyrics and addition of violin, Thin Circle is an unexpected and haunting highlight of the album, connecting all of the album’s previous tracks to bring an end to its first half.
Crunch Went the Snow is the album’s midpoint, slowing down everything we’ve heard so far, as well as Johnson’s memories, as if looking at each individual moment through a snowflake as it falls to the ground. With lyrics like “The snow made sound / A sign of the season,” Johnson evokes a meditative state in themselves and others, encouraging them to slow down and pay attention to both the music and the moments around them.
The track is followed by Merricat, taking the name from the famous horror novel by Shirley Jackson. Merricat uses heavy drum beats to progress through the song’s lyrics, which, in contrast, remain slower, with the lines “Wait for me” and “All the time I paced.”
Warp & Weft II, the lead single off the album, looks back on old memories, perfectly melding Johnson’s smooth-flowing voice with one of the album’s softest tracks. Here Johnson strings together small moments: “Us together/ An image repaired / Replaced.” Johnson’s long stretches of instrumentation and tendency to repeat small sections of lyrics throughout the album give a rare and comforting charm, as if going back through memories again and again.
My Stupid Tree-Frog Daughter acts as a conversation between mother and child. At seven minutes long and equal parts melancholy and heartfelt, the track continues to move seamlessly between old moments and new reflections.
Collections begins the album’s winding-down. A six-minute ballad about the jarring realisations of death and grief, Johnson sings “Hair peppered with grey / Not enough yet for a sea / Not enough to notice” in a heartbreaking monotone voice, reaching for the emotions of every listener.
Collections is followed by the album’s final track, Landscaping. Landscaping connects every aspect of the album — lyrics, music, themes — together into one perfect circle. They leave us with some of the album’s most emotional and haunting lyrics: “And all at once / We cut it out / Tried to live around / What happened.”
Micrographia takes Johnson’s experiences and morphs them into a cocoon of myriad feelings. Warm and distant, questions and realisations, all combined into one story, connected throughout by stunning instrumentals and vocals that pierce straight through.
Micrographia is out now.