THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Like A Motorcycle are a full-frontal attack with a soundtrack. Like A Motorcycle are three bombastic queers and one very patient man. Like A Motorcycle deal in emotional themes held tightly behind a shield of snotty petulance. Like A Motorcycle could beat you up but would rather fix you dinner. Like A Motorcycle are Canada’s sweethearts. Like A Motorcycle are the friends you never asked for.
Since their 2016 debut High Hopes, the Halifax bandmembers have been through the wringer but always seems to crawl back for more. Their sophomore album Dead Broke (2020) fist fought with the more egregious struggles of being a rock band and individuals grappling with power abuse in the industry, conquering some major substance issues, and battles with mental health while barely scraping by. The album was released in October 2020; despite growing the band’s audience substantially, the album was never properly toured.
Locked during the pandemic and forced to confront the nuances of interpersonal relationships and mental health, LAM made significant changes both as a team and as individuals. These changes saw the restructuring of the band as well as the band’s fundamental values — truth and vulnerability — which made way for further sonic exploration a more raw and honest collection of songs.
Reunited with producer Howard Redekopp (Mother Mother, Tegan and Sara) in January 2023, the band entered the studio to record their third LP Pretty Pleased, and emerged with an 11-song rollercoaster that shows undeniable growth. Less of a petulant middle finger than its predecessors, Pretty Please serves as a giant rhetorical “Why?” It’s an album created while rubbing sobering eyes and looking around at a hellscape ruled by late-stage capitalism. It’s a hand extended to those brave enough to be soft in a brutally hard world and a nod to everyone committed to not looking away while our knees collectively buckle.
Sonically, the band embark on a ride through their diverse musical backgrounds, while continuing to build on the loud and at-times dissonant qualities for which the four are known. Somatically, the goal was capturing an anxiety, an anguish, to “want to cry your eyes out but also kick everything over.” They are too exhausted to continue to hide the pill in the hotdog and shroud every emotional admission in humour and metaphor — and as a result, Pretty Pleased is their most emotionally raw and honest collection of songs to date.”
