The opening track, “Wind-Up,” on Pity Sex’s debut full-length is so perfectly executed it makes it hard for the rest of the album to follow suit. The Ann Arbor quartet unspools “Wind Up” as if its members had listened to naught but My Bloody Valentine, Superchunk, and Dinosaur Jr. as flannel-shirted kindergartners and then discovered No Age in middle school. The tune has an exuberant rock heart, with fuzzed-out, noodly guitar parts noodling just right, a rhythm section chugging along like a pressure cooker on high, and Brennan Greaves’ indifferent, deflated vocals wrapped in healing gauze, just in case he changes his mind. Fellow guitarist and vocalist Britty Drake’s singing is of the cough-syrupy, plaintive variety, where she sighs with regret (“Free”) and pines with desire (“Smoke Screen”). The two make a formidable pair on “Drown Me Out,” their vocals interlocking in a powerful, driving chorus laced with misery. There’s nothing new to these layered swirls of distorted guitar, but Pity Sex executes the sound with a healthy dose of youthful sincerity and a laudable shot of bravura.
More By Pity Sex
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- Title Fight
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