Sugaregg Explained

Sugaregg
Type:studio
Artist:Bully
Cover:Bully Sugaregg.jpg
Border:yes
Recorded:2019
Label:Sub Pop
Prev Title:Losing
Prev Year:2017
Next Title:Lucky for You
Next Year:2023

Sugaregg is the third studio album by American rock act Bully. It was released on August 21, 2020, by Sub Pop.[1] Following two albums that were recorded by Bully as a band, Sugaregg is the first Bully album to be recorded as a solo project of frontwoman Alicia Bognanno. She co-produced Sugaregg with John Congleton and Graham Walsh, making it the first Bully album not to be solely produced by Bognanno.

Background and recording

Following the release of Bully's second album Losing (2017), bassist Reece Lazarus and guitarist Clayton Parker departed the band, leaving lead vocalist and guitarist Alicia Bognanno as its sole remaining member.[2] [3] Bognanno opted to continue recording solo material under the Bully name.[3] After having self-produced Bully's first two albums Feels Like (2015) and Losing, Bognanno decided to seek outside assistance in producing Sugaregg, as she felt that the quality of the music would be compromised if she continued to handle both songwriting and engineering duties by herself.[2] She enlisted John Congleton to co-produce the album with her, while Graham Walsh of the band Holy Fuck provided additional production.[4] [5]

Bognanno said in June 2019 that Sugaregg would be produced "in a completely different way, on completely different terms... a lot has changed and I feel a lot better in every aspect of my life than I have in a long time."[6] That summer, she recorded the bulk of the album in two weeks at Pachyderm Studios in Cannon Falls, Minnesota, accompanied by Congleton and backing musicians Zachary Dawes and Wesley Mitchell.[4] [7] Bognanno then worked on additional material for the record over the next five months, which she recorded at Palace Sound in Toronto, assisted by Walsh.[4]

The songs on Sugaregg were written by Bognanno "on and off" over a period of around three years.[8] She derived the album's title from an episode of the WNYC radio program Radiolab that profiled a man who preserved an egg-shaped mold of sugar, a keepsake from his childhood, for several decades.[8]

Critical reception

Upon its release, Sugaregg was generally well received by music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 77, based on 13 reviews.

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.[9]

Charts

Chart (2020)!scope="col"
Peak
position
UK Independent Album Breakers (OCC)[10] 14

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Hussey . Allison . Bully Announce New Album, Share New Song 'Where to Start': Listen . . August 26, 2020 . June 11, 2020.
  2. Web site: Leivers . Dannii . Bully on weathering a rough patch to make killer new album 'SUGAREGG': 'Things really plummeted for a while' . . May 26, 2021 . August 19, 2020.
  3. Web site: Zoladz . Lindsay . Bully's Alicia Bognanno Is Revealing Herself, One Rock Song at a Time . . May 27, 2021 . August 18, 2020.
  4. Web site: Bully to release SUGAREGG on August 21st worldwide through Sub Pop, shares official video for lead single 'Where to Start' . . May 26, 2021 . June 11, 2020.
  5. Web site: Siregar . Cady . Bully's Alicia Bognanno is allowing herself to fully enjoy the creative process . . May 27, 2021 . August 13, 2020.
  6. Web site: Bruce . Kyra . Clark . Ty . 'I'm so honored. How touching. F— you.' . TulsaPeople . May 27, 2021 . June 19, 2019.
  7. Web site: Hughes . Mia . In Conversation: Bully . . May 27, 2019 . September 9, 2020.
  8. Kaplan . Ilana . How Alicia Bognanno found peace, let go, and made a new Bully album . . May 27, 2021 . August 21, 2020.
  9. Sugaregg . . . Sub Pop . 2020 . SP1363 . liner notes.
  10. Web site: Official Independent Album Breakers Chart Top 20 . . May 26, 2021.