THE GARDEN’S NEW TRACK ‘UGLY’ IS PRETTY DAMN GOOD
Since breaking onto the scene in 2011, The Garden—composed of twins Fletcher and Wyatt Shears—has become known for their genre-defying music, so much so that they eventually created the term vada vada to describe the unconventionality of their sound. As such, it’s no surprise that their newly released single, “Ugly”, is a 180 turn in sound and style from the duo’s last release in 2024, Six Desperate Ballads.
“Ugly” comes in hot-and-fast, with an intro reminiscent of Fang’s 1985 “I Wanna Be on TV” and Suicidal Tendencies’ 1987 “Possessed to Skate”. The Garden revels in the classic Californian-punk sound, working to combine and revive the electricity of the East Bay and SoCal punk movements from their home base in Orange County. Despite the band’s primary instruments being bass and drums—played by Wyatt and Fletcher, respectively—“Ugly” shatters mirrors with an overdriven guitar, later featuring the typical accompanying sounds.
While the song’s instrumentals are melancholic, the lyrics are tinged with anger, focusing less about the physical perception of ugliness and more about a relationship with the public gone sour. When words start feeling less like communicating a message and instead start becoming distorted upon interpretation, there’s little left to do than take a step back and see the mess you’ve gotten yourself into. (Or, if you’re The Garden, you make a song about it.)
A previously unannounced music video followed the single a few hours after its release, posted on Vada Vada’s YouTubeand teased on the band’s Instagram. Despite the song’s change in sound, the music video retained surrealist elements (as typical in videos directed by Jaxon Whittington) seen in previous ‘Garden music videos. The twins, clad in denim and leather, walk through a desert city (a choice accentuated by the ‘galloping’ guitar), illuminated by neon lights and the sunset alike. No instruments are played, and the duo instead chooses to lip-sync to their lyrics. The video ends as the bright lights fade to black-and-white and the Shears brothers walk away, enveloped in darkness. Dark visuals leave the video teetering on the line of eerie and spectral, but as The Garden emphasizes unbridled creativity, why choose?
Despite their appearance, The Garden has evolved to become more than just court jesters. The duo has spent over a decade climbing their way to being post-punk revival royalty, following in the footsteps of their father, Steven Shears, of Penalty Kill and Shattered Faith fame. The band has succeeded in the best way possible, creating their own niche in the music industry while simultaneously building a posse to uphold the Vada Vada ethos.
The Thursday-morning drop occurred during the band’s European tour supporting Turnstile, accompanied with their own headlining shows. Grab tickets on Turnstile and The Garden's websites.