Surfing Strange
If you're looking for a guided tour of the eternal-turning-23 blues, you can't do better than the second Swearin' album. These indie kids spend the LP driving on the turnpike, listening to the crunch of the black ice, wondering when they're going to give up running from whatever they're running from. Allison Crutchfield and Kyle Gilbride trade girl-boy vocals, as the band goes for a pop-punk crunch that recalls Superchunk or Bleach-era Nirvana. Crutchfield, whose twin sister, Katie, is in the excellent band Waxahatchee, sings like she's left some blood on the tracks behind her, venting about "grudges unrequited," doomed crushes, broken relationships – all the things that keep a young woman alive.