The Bends
If You Insist

Release Date: September 18, 2026

Record Label: Warner Records

 

Jason Landry, contributor
 

Do you remember when your favorite local bar band broke through to the mainstream? I’m certain the folks down at Louisiana State University do when it comes to the band The Bends. After releasing some music while in college and making waves playing shows throughout the Southeast, they are finally out with their debut album If You Insist and heading out on their first North American tour.

 

The Bends unload straight out of the gate with “Off My Chest”. This first track anthem blends dueling guitars that hits this crescendo when they break into the chorus. It equally feels like the grit of alt-rock meeting the swirls of shoegaze. Hayden Field’s vocals remind me a little of Caleb Followill from Kings of Leon, lending a strained, urgent soulfulness to the instrumentation.

 

A self-reflective analysis begs the listener to …look at the shape I’m in, on the song “Seasons Change”. It begins as this slow tempo acoustic ballad before ramping up into this wall of sound fronted by a shimmering guitar riff—The Pixies made a career out of this and inspired countless others.

 

The highlight of the album for me is the relationship-themed track, “Smoking in Bed”. I particularly love the lyric, …Everyone here knows your hand, when you got kings, you go all in. It gives you this all-or-nothing mindset. You might be committing fully to a relationship and feel safe, or is it the complete opposite—a bad habit. This unstoppable moment is kinda like a high-stakes late-night emotional game of poker. Every alternative radio station or playlist should be adding this track in their rotation; it’s that good.

 

Meanwhile, the chord structure and vocal delivery on “Hanging Around” carries this classic Weezer bounce, which isn’t a bad thing. Every band at one point or another tips their hats to those that have inspired them.

 

“Young Love” tells the tale of, you guessed it, a small town love story. I’m sure there’s someone out there that can relate to this—you almost fell for someone but you didn’t really know them and eventually pushed them away.  

 

There’s an Americana flair behind the ballad “Keeps Me Going”. It’s this timeless tale of missing a person when you’re away (or after a break up). You try and reach out and they don’t answer. You want them to know that you’re making changes to be a better person, maybe that’s the thing that will change their mind. The protagonist has but one thought that he’s ruminating over and over …I’ll write you a letter, or, should I write you a song.

 

Closing out the twelve tracks on the album is “Sticking To The Plan”. You imagine that perfect life where you thought you found the one and then they leave and all your dreams begin to crumble. This song chronicles just that. The lyrics on many of these songs sound so personal that you tend to internalize them and remember past moments in your own life when similar experiences happened to you.

 

The band, made up of Hayden Field (vocals, guitar), Ian Marmande (guitar), Jacob Rhodes (drums), and Chase Perkins (bass) showcases how consistency and the right set of songs can be a life-changing moment. Ultimately, If You Insist isn’t just a promising debut—it comes off more like their third or fourth album where they’ve been writing songs to clear their head. Life isn’t perfect, and neither are all relationships, but this album turns that messiness into something remarkable—a rare, fully realized statement of alt-rock authenticity.

 

 

Track List:

1. Off My Chest 

2. Loadout 

3. Seasons Change 

4. Dance Away

5. Lebowski 

6. Smoking in Bed 

7. Hanging Around 

8. Young Love

9. Whatever 

10. Keeps Me Going 

11. Last Forever 

• 12. Sticking To The Plan