Bodega tell us about new album ‘All Inside Aquarium’: “We decided to make proper rock without the ‘indie’ modifier”

Bodega have spoken to NME about their new “proper rock” album ‘All Inside Aquarium’, their quest to be “a band that is without limitations”, and the experience of recording outside New York for the first time.

The NYC outfit release their fourth full-length effort today (Friday October 9), following on from 2024’s ‘Our Brand Could Be Yr Life’ .

Produced in Leeds, the collection features recent singles ‘Weather Me’, ‘Pick Up The Check’ and ‘Literary World’.

Speaking to NME , frontman Ben Hozie described the latter as “one of the most didactic songs in our repertoire”.

READ MORE: Bodega are the bolshy art-punks bringing sexy back The record’s melodic title track serves as Bodega’s “attempt at an existential anthem”, with the group proudly shunning the persistent ‘post-punk’ tag in their current chapter.

“I never thought of us as a post-punk band,” Hozie said.

“I just thought of us as a conceptual rock band.” Check out NME ‘s full interview with the vocalist and guitarist below, where he also discusses why “our world doesn’t recognise the value of the artist”, the global success of fellow New Yorkers Geese (and those ‘p syop’ allegations ), the Ed Sheeran – Macklemore saga, what to expect from Bodega’s upcoming tour, and more.

NME : Hi, Ben.

You’ve said the record is a love letter to your teenage self – how do those years make their way onto the songs? Ben Hozie: “The first rock music I really fell in love with was ’90s alternative rock, especially Jane’s Addiction .

I wanted to make music that would make me feel the magic conjured by Jane’s and other bands from their era, when punk ideology was exploding into a more psychedelic and spiritual type of sound world.

On this LP, we decided to make proper rock without the ‘indie’ modifier and do things that are out of vogue in the current landscape, such as coupling open-hearted lyrics with technical guitar solos.” Bodega.

Credit: Pooneh Ghana In your words, ‘Literary World’ isn’t an argument for “apolitical art”… “The 21st century has seen an explosion in political consciousness where most seem to be deeply informed on global injustice and the increasing wealth gap between ‘elites’ and everybody else.

Despite this political explosion, abetted by tech, there are few solutions.

Drowning in the sea of personal branding and neoliberalism, it is hard to imagine a world where things could be different.