After having the chance to work with hitmakers like , , and , the songwriting team of and finally took the advice they'd received repeatedly in industry dealings: they launched their own pop project because their songs were a bit too "different" for other artists. They formed in 2019, released a homespun single (the off-center "GOOD MORNING BLUES"), and soon were able to better devote time to it with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. Early songs landed them a record deal with , which presents 's full-length debut, , an eclectic mix of anthemic alt-pop, hooky dance-rock, and anxiety. The album opens with siren-like effects and an urgent, bass-heavy groove before enters with regretful lyrics about taking a break from a relationship on "BLOOM." While its chant-along, wordless chorus of oh-ohs is fit for the masses, touches like ghostly background vocals, HVAC-like noise, dark, post-punky synth timbres, and swooping wooshes of sound keep even the catchier sections off-balance. Next up, the driving "BLAH BLAH BLAH" similarly guides a lilting, stressed-out verse into a locked-in, cranked-up chorus. Much like a concert, while all the songs here are sonically bright and busy, they're not necessarily all dance-oriented: the group slow things down for songs like "17," the semi-acoustic "HEAVYWEIGHT," and the skittering and clanking "SOUR LIKE LEMONADE," which nevertheless ends in a rousing swirl of harmonic shimmer. The overall impression of , however, is bold and even brash (the speaker-rattling "HUSH"), and well before the end, the advice they'd received seems less like a backhanded compliment and more like encouragement, especially when one takes into account 's nuanced and arena-ready vocals. The album closes with a "SIGH," which provides a final earworm to cap off a brief but auspicious debut. ~ Marcy Donelson