Beach Slang We Were Babies & We Were Dirtbags Review

Beach Slang is known for a few things: heart on their sleeves lyrics, reckless rock music and obnoxiously long titles. So when it was announced in August that the band's newest release was not going to have a guitar on it, fans of the band were interested. What followed was a four song EP titled, We Were Babies & We Were Dirtbags. The EP had no new material. Rather, it had two songs from previous albums and two covers.

We Were Babies & We Were Dirtbags starts off with "Future Mixtape For Art Kids" from their 2016 release A Loud Bash Of Teenage Feelings. Hearing the words, "Play it loud/Play it fast/Play me something that will always last" translated well when played on piano; even though, it was a little odd that the imagery of the lyrics did not quite match the music. However, frontman James Alex has mastered the ability to translate his music to whatever he is doing.

My personal favorite song on the EP was the second track, "Bad Art & Weirdo Ideas." The song was originally released on Beach Slang's debut full length The Things We Do To Find People Like Us. The lyrics "Too fucked up to love/Too soft to hate" had a different feel to it when accompanied by strings and piano. The lyrics spoke to that inner loner kid we all have inside us just a little bit more.

The B side of the EP featured cover songs. The first one was a cover of a Replacements song titled, "Androgynous." The piano on this song feels like you are hearing it being played in a saloon. The song bounces along and almost makes you want to dance. A James Alex project is truly not complete without a nod to The Replacements.


We Were Babies & We Were Dirtbags ends with a cover of "Thirteen" by Big Star, another influence on the punk who never grew up. In a track by track breakdown down with Consequence of Sound, Alex said, "I never thought I’d touch a Big Star song, because, I mean, why try, you know? But, bravado can be an antagonizer, a pusher—it’s good to get shoved sometimes." 

"Thirteen" is a bitter sweet song that is not far off from the original acoustic ballad. Overall, this EP is best enjoyed by someone familiar with the band. It is half reimagined originals, half covers. If you absolutely adore Beach Slang, this is the release to add to your collection.