Tired Lion - Dumb Days (2017)

Tired Lion possess a spark that lends Dumb Days a whirling dervish hyperactivity as guitars crack and fizz, with defiant tales of wayward youth, misadventure and melancholy sinking in during its reflective moments. Singer-guitarist Sophie Hopes is a Karen O-channelling talisman, lending their snotty punk (“Behave”), sugary grunge (“Camp”) and captivating almost-ballads (“I’ve Been Trying”) a deep, dangerous delicacy. With Violent Soho’s Luke Boerdam producing, there’s an ever-present Pixies-via-Pumpkins quiet-loud-crash dynamic that feels like the type of headlock that starts off as a joke... but can quickly turn into something not so playful.