Dear Seattle - Toy (2025) Hi-Res

These melodic punk anthems brim with emotional honesty. TOY first seems like the sort of record which charts the turning of a new leaf. What it really unpacks is the messy bit before that; the uncertainty and new discoveries we come up against between a closed door and an open one waiting for us further down the road. New South Wales outfit Dear Seattle trudge through a sticky mud of heavy emotions, breakups and endings, to new plains of lust and love, and a readiness to metamorphosise into something better.

Opening with Nothing’s Stopping Me Now, you're fed an energised prologue that opens the narrative on growth, a sentiment that bleeds into second track, Promise. Vocalist Brae Fisher holds a mirror up to his own mistakes here, reflecting on a lost relationship to his own errors.

Themes that leak into each other are continuous throughout TOY, meaning it wavers between being uniformed, and a little too repetitive with its lyrics and overall sound in this way. The band could most definitely stretch themselves a little further afield in this manner, which they prove in the tracks that do bring something slightly different - be it with structure or subject matter.

Cut My Hair is a standout for this reason, continuing the narrative of hurting and changing, but breaking away from the romantic stories already shared. It introduces a darker alt. pop vibe (almost in the same lane as Teenage Wrist) as it rips apart the superficial nature of modern friendships and the self-loathing fuelled by them.

By the time they reach closing duo Idc and Reckless Pessimistic, it feels like the open wounds they started with have been patched up. Dear Seattle start their next story from here, in recognition of imperfection and the kindle of a new romance. TOY is a listen which doubles up a body of lighthearted bops and a springboard for change; it shows how we truly grow when being most honest with ourselves.