Collection review
Team Dresch Furthermore
- Released
- 2026
- Label
- Jealous Butcher Records
Team Dresch | Furthermore [Jealous Butcher Records]
Queercore / Post-Hardcore / Punk Rock | 2026
Team Dresch spent the 1990s insisting that queer lives deserved to be named at full volume. On their third studio album, Furthermore, that insistence comes with a responsibility to the people growing up now. Thirty years after "Captain My Captain", the Portland band's distorted guitars and insistent melodies remain central, but the writing has room for loss, endurance and the work of protecting one another. The twelve songs move through several different approaches to punk without giving up the band's directness.
"One Song" opens with a brisk drumbeat and guitar lines that broaden into a strong, melodic chorus. Kaia Wilson addresses the younger queer listener, including the isolated person she once was, without pretending that growing older resolves the need for community. The reference to Maurice Sendak's In the Night Kitchen places childhood imagination within a song about safety and belonging. The melody has an unusually generous reach, while the guitars retain enough distortion to make the chorus physically forceful.
"Growing Underground" begins with a prominent bass line and tense guitar figures. Its rhythm remains unsettled as the vocals confront hostility toward queer people, then the band pushes into a furious, faster final passage. That acceleration matters. The repeated assertion of queer existence gains intensity through the changing arrangement, while the lead guitar keeps a recognizable melodic contour even at the loudest points.
"Heard A Bang" follows with a compact, guitar-driven performance. Its lyrics draw on Alicia Cohen's poem "Tyger", and producer Greg Griffith adds lead guitar. At just under three minutes, the song sustains the opening sequence's intensity while introducing a distinct lyrical source. The contribution fits the record's emphasis on individual guitar parts working within thick ensemble passages.
The middle of Furthermore expands the music's emotional range. "Jamie" concentrates the band's rawer attack into hard riffs and a song about separation. "I've Really Become Some Thing" turns toward heavier, grunge-influenced guitar writing, with a darker vocal delivery and greater tension in the arrangement. "Still Your Room" is especially affecting because its shifting rhythms accompany an expression of continuing attachment. The song admits the pain of absence while leaving space for reassurance.
There is equally careful melodic writing elsewhere. "And Now Your Face" pairs interwoven guitar and vocal lines with direct affection. "I Won't Tell" uses a buoyant, sixties-inflected rock rhythm, with harmonies credited to Wolf Carr. These songs allow Jody Bleyle and Wilson's contrasting vocal approaches to register clearly. Marcéo Martinez and Melissa York both contribute drums across the album, and the shifts between taut momentum and heavier emphasis are essential to its variety.
Greg Griffith recorded and co-produced the album with the band, and John Goodmanson's mix gives the guitars considerable breadth. Occasionally that polish contains the rough edges that would make a louder passage feel genuinely unruly. The repeated weight of the distorted guitars can also blur distinctions between some of the shorter songs. Yet the unusual rhythmic turns, precise vocal melodies and willingness to slow down keep the record compelling well beyond its first three tracks.
"Last One At The Party" returns to forceful, tightly packed riffing before "Protectors" closes with a slower, fuzz-heavy arrangement and an explicit demand that people defend one another. The ending grounds the entire album's politics in an action that listeners can take. Furthermore extends Team Dresch's long commitment to queer self-determination through songs attentive to grief, affection and mutual care. Its most impressive quality is the band's ability to keep those concerns audible inside dense, energetic rock music.
Rating: [4/5]