Yesterday, Sublime dropped their latest single, “Ensenada,” a teaser track for their upcoming album. The song marks the latest addition to the ever-growing catalog of Sublime-style revivals and the first in nearly a year to get any positive press.
In 2024, when it was announced that Rome Ramirez would be stepping away from the band so original members Bud Gaugh and Eric Wilson could unite with original frontman Bradley Nowell’s son Jakob, fans were ecstatic. Their first single, “Feel Like That,” was warmly received; it sounded as though we would be getting the Sublime reunion that we wanted from this new lineup. Then came their first album, Look at All the Love We Found, a series of covers of Sublime classics, which flopped. The record had too many cooks stirring the pot; almost every song has a different collaborator, whether that be an individual or an entire band, working on it. That comes out to about thirty different acts on this one album, each putting their own spin on their respective song, which led to some weird choices, like an acoustic cover of “Don’t Push.” After that, most fans declared the project a loss and stopped paying attention to the group, content to let this venture fade away. “Ensenada” has changed that, putting the band on an upswing that could launch Sublime back to their ‘90s glory.
So, what is it that makes “Ensenada” so great? Well, it sounds like Bradley wrote it. That may sound obvious, but it’s a very important distinction. Jakob has gotten flack since reforming Sublime because his performance seems disingenuous compared to his father’s. The matter of the fact is that Sublime is not the cheery summer band it’s usually taken for. Casual listeners can tune into catalog staples like “Santeria” or “What I Got” and miss this point, as their hits are generally more consumable than their deep cuts. When you don’t get past their cover of “Scarlet Begonias,” it can be hard to imagine that the rest of their catalog is filled with songs about drug addiction, street violence, and sexual indiscretion. Bradley Nowell did, after all, suffer from a crippling heroin addiction, which would ultimately lead to his tragic death. That addiction was a direct influence on most of their work; without it, Sublime just doesn’t have its edge. Their catalog documents the pleading of a man struggling to get by as something ate him away from the inside and the underground world that that led him through. Jakob’s tracks, on the other hand, have been…lesser. They come off as soulless ska-punk that sounds fine when they’re playing but fails to stick to the brain in any meaningful way. “Ensenada” has that bite that we have been so dearly missing; it’s a return to the music of Bradley’s Sublime. It doesn't hurt that Jakob’s vocals sound exactly like his father's here either.
Will this be the turning point for Jakob’s Sublime? God, I sure hope so. I don’t know if I have it in me to grit my teeth through another lackluster album, picking through it for a single decent track like a tourist picking the worm out of his mezcal. We’re just going to have to wait until this new album comes out, something we still have exceedingly few details about. In the meantime, we have “Ensenada” to tide us over and stoke dreams of a full-length album of such caliber.
