Album Review: Soccer Mommy – “Clean”

On Clean, her first official album as Soccer Mommy, Clean, singer-songwriter Sophie Allison crafts a succinct record about romantic insecurity and a personal reckoning with bad habits and instincts to overcome. Several songs—in particular, the second track “Cool”—evoke the light-grunge, DIY…

Album Review: Mommy Long Legs – “Try Your Best”

After a few years of releasing short EPs, Seattle punk band Mommy Long Legs finally unleashes a full-length album. Of course, with the album coming in just under 30 minutes, it’s not that separable from the EPs that came before…

Album Review: Snail Mail – “Lush”

Lindsey Jordan’s first studio album as Snail Mail, Lush, solidifies her place in the indie-rock landscape, with songs that are confident in their perspective and delivery. Despite her young age and one official EP under her belt, Jordan’s songs here…

Album Review: Natalie Prass – “The Future and the Past”

Towards the end of Natalie Prass’s second full-length album The Future and the Past, she sings a heartfelt ode to the late, great Karen Carpenter. That song “Far From You,” and its subject, is slightly out of step with the…

Album Review: Jenny Hval – “The Long Sleep”

Norwegian singer-songwriter Jenny Hval’s first solo release since 2016, The Long Sleep, is a short but powerful example of her talents. Similar to the full-length Blood Bitch, there does seem to be a central concept, or unifying mood, on The Long…

Album Review: Courtney Barnett – “Tell Me How You Really Feel”

Courtney Barnett’s Tell Me How You Really Feel, hotly anticipated after the success of her last solo release in 2015, takes some of that heat, compacts it and turns it inward before sending it out in a flurry of blistering…

Album Review: La Luz – “Floating Features”

Now on their third full-length release, La Luz sees no reason to stray from a successful formula. Floating Features does not wander far from their previous works, as it successfully evokes their stated influences of ‘60s artists like Link Wray,…