Over the weekend, a friend and I were discussing how if you inspect our record collections and listening habits long enough, certain trends start to emerge. (It's only natural, right? Everyone's got their preferences.) But as I started to list off some of my favorite records of 2015 (Waxahatchee's Ivy Tripp, Torres's Sprinter, Hop Along's Painted Shut, and Courtney Barnett's Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit, to name a few), a very clear predilection of mine appeared. Does the group have a female frontwoman? 'Cause apparently that's my damn catnip. Now, keeping in mind that's not all I listen to (just a personal inclination!), here's two recent PNW discoveries I'm really enjoying. Both fronted by some badass women, naturally.
Last Saturday, Wild Ones traveled up from Portland, Oregon, to open for the Helio Sequence. I've been listening to their catchy little pop songs ever since. The simple guitar riffs are buoyed by the smooth, melodic vocals of Danielle Sullivan. Her voice sounds like a refreshing blended beverage on the hottest of days, even when she's singing about lost love, youth, and innocence (the band's topics of choice). The tracks manage to be both danceable and calming at the same time. You'll sway in time to the beat and totally Zen out.
Wild Ones are releasing a new EP next month; Heatwave will be out on August 14 via Top Shelf Records. Hopefully, they'll swing through Seattle again sometime soon, but if you happen to be in Portland on Sunday, July 19, you can catch them at Project Pabst.
Another group I've been tracking since my move to Seattle is the Vancouver-based Knife Pleats. (I saw them open for the aforementioned Waxahatchee.) Lead singer Rose Melberg is a veteran of the indie-pop, DIY scene; you might remember her from such bands as Tiger Trap or the Softies, amongst other projects. She recruited Kaity McWhinney and Tracey Vath from Love Cuts, along with drummer Gregor Phillips, to form this new group. Knife Pleats invoke the same kind of feelings as Wild Ones, but their songs are looser and fuzzier than the latter. You'll bounce, as opposed to sway.
Two of their new tracks—"One Step Too Far" and "Terrible"—are available for a listen over on Exclaim. Both are off their debut album, Hat Bark Beach, which will be released on cassette and vinyl September 29 via Lost Sound Tapes, with a CD version forthcoming from Jigsaw Records.
