Bodega have spoken to NME about their new “proper rock” album ‘All Inside Aquarium’, their quest to be “a band that is without limitations”, and the experience of recording outside New York for the first time.
The NYC outfit release their fourth full-length effort today (Friday October 9), following on from 2024’s ‘Our Brand Could Be Yr Life’. Produced in Leeds, the collection features recent singles ‘Weather Me’, ‘Pick Up The Check’ and ‘Literary World’. Speaking to NME, frontman Ben Hozie described the latter as “one of the most didactic songs in our repertoire”.
The record’s melodic title track serves as Bodega’s “attempt at an existential anthem”, with the group proudly shunning the persistent ‘post-punk’ tag in their current chapter. “I never thought of us as a post-punk band,” Hozie said. “I just thought of us as a conceptual rock band.”
Check out NME‘s full interview with the vocalist and guitarist below, where he also discusses why “our world doesn’t recognise the value of the artist”, the global success of fellow New Yorkers Geese (and those ‘psyop’ allegations), the Ed Sheeran–Macklemore saga, what to expect from Bodega’s upcoming tour, and more.
NME: Hi, Ben. You’ve said the record is a love letter to your teenage self – how do those years make their way onto the songs?
Ben Hozie: “The first rock music I really fell in love with was ’90s alternative rock, especially Jane’s Addiction. I wanted to make music that would make me feel the magic conjured by Jane’s and other bands from their era, when punk ideology was exploding into a more psychedelic and spiritual type of sound world. On this LP, we decided to make proper rock without the ‘indie’ modifier and do things that are out of vogue in the current landscape, such as coupling open-hearted lyrics with technical guitar solos.”
In your words, ‘Literary World’ isn’t an argument for “apolitical art”…
“The 21st century has seen an explosion in political consciousness where most seem to be deeply informed on global injustice and the increasing wealth gap between ‘elites’ and everybody else. Despite this political explosion, abetted by tech, there are few solutions. Drowning in the sea of personal branding and neoliberalism, it is hard to imagine a world where things could be different.
“This is where poets are needed. Our world doesn’t recognise the value of the artist. How many times have you heard your musician or writer friends denigrate themselves as being ‘selfish’? Through their language and gestures, they are opening up new ways of conceiving Being and are thus directly creating the world of tomorrow. The same is true of critics. The real critic doesn’t merely quantify the value of the best cultural products (ie. ‘Two thumbs up’), but directs attention towards the future they have in heart and mind.
“We consciously chose to avoid didactic social critique songs on this record; we wanted to explore a more psychological type of writing. However, theory never quite gets at what you really want, and ‘Literary World’ is perhaps one of the most didactic songs in our repertoire.”
How else are you tackling the big themes and world issues on the album?
“Each song presents its own specific problems and solutions. ‘Combustible’ and ‘Backbeaten’ are portraits of bitter rock and roll lifers who know not where to put all of their yearning energy. ‘Weather Me’ is about a mind scrambled by information overload. ‘Astro Night Ride’ and ‘Olivia’ are about death and lessons learned from beyond. ‘Pick Up The Check’ is about learning how to think your own thoughts, which is perhaps the hardest thing to achieve and perhaps the goal of life.”
