This Denver Band Just Released the Perfect Album for Fall

During these dark and dreary days, you shouldn’t feel guilty about staying inside and brooding with a comfort show or some melancholy music. And if you’re in need of something a little fresh with all this abscission going on, then check out the new album by Broken Record, Routine, which dropped on October 14.

The Denver emo-indie outfit — which comprises guitarist-vocalist Lauren Beecher, bassist Corey Fruin, drummer Nicholas Danes and guitarist Larson Ross — has made the perfect soundtrack for the spooky season. The latest ten tracks are tinged with the emotive reverb that Broken Record has perfected since 2018, but the follow-up to 2023 record Nothing Moves Me, is a surprisingly energized power-pop piece, more ticked-off than depressive.

“We leaned a little bit more into the power-pop thing…more the ’90s-alternative type of situation,” says Beecher. “But I also think we got faster and increased our sense of urgency a little bit.”

As the primary wordsmith, Beecher peels back the layers of Routine, revealing that her professional life informed her passion. “I think every album is ultimately a time capsule in the lyricist’s life,” she says. “One of the big themes here is basically living life and trying to cope and work on self-improvement in the experience of late-stage capitalism.

“I think my situation during the album really allowed me to dig into that,” Beecher continues, adding she went from freelancing back to a full-time 9-to-5 recently. “I was going through all the feelings and experiences that come along with that. When you do have a full-time job, it’s like, ‘Well, I got money. I have stability, but I have so much less flexibility to just go do what I want.’ I think that dichotomy brought a lot of inspiration to the songs, directly or indirectly. That stuff is all a strong theme. Then, just regular life stuff happening concurrently.”

The ever-engrossing nature of the grind, hustle, rat race, battle of life — whatever you want to call it — is inescapable, and everyone can relate to that quicksand feeling of being stuck in an endless catch-22. “We’re all in it,” she quips.

“No Vacation,” “Drag” and “A Smell Step” speak deeply to that effect, sharing tales of burnout, FOMO and beach-front daydreams.

“It was harder to make time, but I’ve always found pockets,” Beecher, who also runs Power Goth with her husband, Fruin, says of writing Routine. “When I was not working full-time, it was easier to have an idea hit and just chase, whereas with a full-time gig, you have to be more deliberate.

“So I was going down a songwriting rabbit hole, as most songwriters do, and I was already thinking about being a little bit more simple, but in a thoughtful way and trying to not worry as much about like, ‘Oh, have we already done something like this? Oh, does this sound too much like something else or is it unique enough?’” she continues. “It is very important to me that we have our own sound. I just want to make sure we’re being true to ourselves as writers and not being too derivative. I think it’s very easy to get too caught up in that.”

But in the case of a song like “What Always Happens,” Beecher just had to trust the muse.

“Every once in a while, as a songwriter, you get really lucky and a song just falls out, and that was one of those,” she says. “That was actually the first song for the album that we worked on as a band. It’s a lot more ballad-like and definitely leans into a certain style we haven’t done before. That is one that I’m really proud of.”

Then there’s “Do It Yourself,” which is “a little angrier and faster and yell-y than a lot of our other stuff,” according to Beecher.

“That was a cool style to lean into, too,” she adds.

Another difference that gives Routine its unique, longing-for-better-days sound is the recent addition of guitarist Ross, who’s previously played with Beecher in local alternative act Flesh Tape. Broken Record and Flesh Tape put out a split last year, which is also worth checking out.

After filling in on a short Midwest tour, Ross joined Broken Record in a more official capacity prior to putting together the third album, and his effects-enriched playing only added to Broken Record’s crunchy chorales.

“He’s really good at bringing a noisy element, but he’s also full of melody,” Beecher says. “He’s a really well-rounded guitar player and musician.”

Broken Record is getting ready to head down to Gainesville, Florida, to play the Fest at the end of the month for the third time. Once back, a hometown release show is planned for Saturday, November 15, at Skylark Lounge, with local bands Precocious Neophyte and Safekeeper. After that, is still being ironed out.

“We’re just trying to do the best we can by it,” Beecher concludes, “and do everything as thoughtfully and thoroughly as possible.”

Routine is available on streaming services everywhere.