Credits:

The Hidden Cameras

Bronto, the Hidden Cameras first album in nine years, is a wild deviation from its predecessor, though not an unexpected one. If anything, 2016s Home on Native Land was an overt and rather pleasing throwback to the projects earlier days, framing Joel Gibbs joyous queercore sound through lush folk-pop and countrified arrangements, assisted by a panel of mostly Canadian guests. The sleeker, club-inspired Bronto feels like a logical evolution for Gibb, a Toronto native who has called Berlin home since the early 2010s. Self-described as a meta-dance-pop album, Bronto not only pays homage to Berlin-as-muse (think David Bowie, Lou Reed, and Iggy Pop), but to the galvanizing influence of nightclubs as central hubs for liberation, resistance, and activism within the gay community. Instrumentally, its the Hidden Cameras least organic collection, built with crisp electronic beats and pulsing sequencers, over which Gibbs