Sometimes you have to move backwards to move forwards. Just ask art-punk cultural commentators BODEGA, whose new album sees them carve a new future from fuzz-soaked, consumerism-skewering shards of their past. “It’s something we’ve been wanting to do for years,” guitarist and singer Ben Hozie explains about 'remaking' Our Brand Could Be Your Life – a collection of catchy indie-rock ruminations on the slow-creep of corporate-think into youth culture, first recorded in 2015. Then known as BODEGA BAY (whose lineup also included percussionist + singer Nikki Belfiglio), the Brooklyn group recorded the songs as an aggressively lo-fi double album that was rarely heard outside of NYC.
Now, BODEGA – completed by lead guitarist Dan Ryan, bassist Adam See and drummer Adam Shumski – have reinterpreted Our Brand Could Be Yr Life for 2024 (produced by Ben and mixed + engineered by Adam Sachs). “We thought of it like a director remaking one of their old films, like when Hitchcock remade the Man Who Knew Too Much, or when Yasujirō Ozu re-did The Story of Floating Weeds,” says Hozie, who it’s never a surprise to hear talking about music through a cinematic lens. In addition to his work in BODEGA, moonlights as a celebrated indie filmmaker (PVT Chat, his 2020 drama about online sex work, won rave reviews).
