Existential anxiety shines through the new records of Beach Bunny, Tunnel Vision. “I think the world will act the same,” front-person Lili Trifilio highlights the highlight “Pixie Cut,” “Your disgust will make you change.” The fact that the world is getting worse is the fact that she quickly admits from the album’s opening track, but the band is rounded up by bassist Anthony Waccaro and drummer John Alvarado, which evokes a well-sticky hook and buoyant melody, leading the singer through the following self-abuse and enduring uncertainty. While the song is up Tunnel Vision It was easy to hear, but not easy to come. Lili Trifilio experienced writer block early on the album, and that was exactly the act of writing About Confined to her own head, which helps open the floodgates. Her lyrics were more abstract and introspective, but felt so approachable or urgent. Group – Today, the third year was announced Pool Party Festival In his hometown of Chicago, he then recorded an LP with longtime producer Sean O’Keefe in 2024, playing with the basic doctrine of pop-punk sound. “I give my brain a pixie cut/If that silences all the voices,” sings Trifilio. If you don’t shut up, at least they can sing together.
We caught up with Lili Trifirio from Beach Bunny. Tunnel VisionNew songs live, nostalgia, etc.
How has your day been up to now? It’s noon, right?
good. I actually woke up a bit. I held a Canadian show in Toronto yesterday, and now I’m in Detroit, but I had to wake up like 4:30 and cross the border and go through habits and stuff. So we did it and I was like, “I’m just going to sleep.”
The kids in the pool joined you on these dates, right?
Yes, they’re amazing.
When they released a self-titled album, I interviewed them and when I returned to remember when it was, I realized it came out on the same day Emotional creatures did.
oh really? I didn’t know that. [laughs] I’m going to raise it now. I hope they didn’t hold grumi there.
These shows must feel like a long time will come for those who will return to those records. I know that when it comes to recordings Tunnel VisionThe big goal was to allow these songs to be translated live. How has that approach been rewarded so far?
I think we were all a little nervous about playing a new song before they came out. But fortunately, Tunnel Vision It’s a rock record in many ways and is actually focused on guitar. This feels like a safe place for beach bunnies. So it was really amazing to be able to see the reception in advance and see people get excited. It’s been out for three or four days now, and people already know the words and things. This is really crazy. The beach bunny fans are amazing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1b8zg_m7yxw
When it comes to writing these new songs, there was a bit more downtime to look back at yourself and the state of the world Emotional creatures. How do you remember the time for singing? Tunnel Vision Have you started to flow from you?
That’s a great question. I think I felt like I was beginning to get my gap back in the second half of 2023. I think I need to give myself a break and stop putting a lot of pressure on writing music. At the end of 2024, at the end of 2024, I think we had to be in the studio and take a pretty big break from doing studio things to go on tour. And I think the summer was very busy. Meanwhile, I think being on the road had an impact on another handful of songs and was recorded in October. We chose the best of all these batches and merged them. Luckily, everything sounds cohesive.
I read that you had to write “dizziness” on the plane and focused on making sure it stayed in your mind before you had the opportunity to demonstrate it. Aside from the lyrics, do melodies tend to go back and forth for you, or is there a process of capturing or organizing them?
Generally, in the past, I had to sit in bed and really grasp the chords. But I think it’s a small spurt of inspiration by doing this the same as before. Is it recording something a bit in the voice notes, or is it writing down the lyrics that I’m coming back to? “Dizziness” was one of the first times when I felt it was truly natural and easy. In many ways, it felt easy and I think it was my first time Emotional creatures Writing that song felt easy. Once the “dizziness” was released in my brain, all the other songs in the small moments felt really easy to capture.
One thing that adds to the urgency of these songs for me is the kind of nervous trembling of your voice that feels more pronounced than previous albums. Was that something you were aware of while demoing or recording the song?
Honestly, it was probably a subconscious choice. When I was writing Emotional creaturesthe influences I was bringing out were many artists and songs, and now they are not actually rotated regularly. It was probably the same Tunnel Visionthe music I was listening to at the time had some interesting vocal techniques. You are inspired by many things and probably unconsciously copy the fragments. With this record I was also very inspired by the larger artists, as well as many friends in my life who had put out music.
Can I scream some of them?
Charlie Bliss from this band is so great, and I was listening to their old ones. My friend Hank Haven is making something more experimental. Rafaela, more people in the pop world. The Chicago band at Soccer Head has a higher pop punk angle. Everyone was bringing something different to the table, but I think I’m more embracing music. Tunnel Vision Writing process. Meanwhile, the second half of 2022, early 2023, and after that Emotional creatures – I was just on a big depression episode and I feel like I really didn’t listen much. I listened to it like a podcast.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isllmb1yxj4
I’m glad you mentioned Charlie Bliss. Latest Records. Some songs have a nostalgic feeling Tunnel Visionwhat hit me about “ignorance” is the way nostalgia makes you believe. You talk about the partiality of memory, but do you feel like you have a more clear perspective on that past now?
I think this record helped to move some of these emotions in many ways. But yes, certainly nostalgia has an impact on me and influences my writing, and I think there are many longings in the general era. Also, there was a problem five years ago, but ten years ago. Human history has not had the best time to become a functional person. Whether it’s personal or the world, there’s always things. I think it’s easy to romanticize the past until you actually think critically about “Well, what was my headspace when I was 19?” And if I think about it that way, I’m really grateful that I’m 28 years old and feel more confident in myself and have a better grasp of who I am than I did in the past.
Just as some of these songs are introspective, you can also contextualize your feelings in the world around you. In the second and final songs, “Violence” and “Surprise” you will find them turning their gazes outwards. What were you thinking about as you put them together and heading towards the end of the record?
I think in a looser way, certainly acoustically, we were also thinking about the tracks and how they flow through each other. But from a more thematic perspective, it was important for me to recognize that there was no one there, as the record focuses heavily on its relationship with itself and its mental health. If you feel anxious, want control, or indecisive, many of these things I sing on the record can be expanded to other things. Where does this anxiety and lack of control come from? And I think in many ways I’ve come to at least partial conclusions just by watching all my friends and loved ones around me struggle.
In 2019, he released the closing track “Cycles” under his own name as a single, but it will be a lot of the same themes that permeate this record. What did it mean to you to not only revisit it as a beach bunny, but also to place it along with these songs and finish the record?
I’m so grateful that the song wasn’t tied to a previous contract or anything. When I returned to 2019, I was just stating my mind and didn’t really care about public perception. It was actually one of the first songs to record on this album, but before it developed into an album. “I love this song. I have a full band so one day I can perform it live and give you what I really need.” The original is so demo-Y, so I’m sure the band is recording what led to other songs on the record. Because much of the beach bunny discography is a romance and farewell song “Me and Another Person.” “Cycle” says, “I could actually sing anything. I could sing about this quarterly life crisis I have, and how the world’s state is making me feel uneasy. [laughs]
And we can rely on uncertainty rather than trying to force an answer to this quarter-life crisis. But “Chasm” has this one line. “Being is the essence of what I will become.” How do you make yourself strive towards that ideal?
That’s a really good question. Over the past few years I have been leaning on the waves of meditation and mindfulness practices, but that doesn’t always work. But I think what records do and what I achieve in my personal life that I need to do more is to talk about it and rely on the community. I think we find that many of the worries people feel in their late 20s are very universal and approachable. If you can talk to someone who is experiencing the same thing as you, you may realize that you are not alone.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.
Beach Bunny Tunnel Vision It’s out now.
