***SUGGESTED FRIENDS are an indie rock quartet with a firm grounding in queer identity, fusing DIY punk roots with the interweaving guitars of '90s indie and a sometimes tongue-in-cheek take on the performative masculinity of '80s rock. There’s a tenderness to their songwriting, with lyrics reflecting on cultural malaise, trauma recovery and the banal absurdity of everyday life. Personal politics can come with an incisively dry sense of humour too. Turtle Taxi is their second album and demonstrates just how far they’ve come from the raw, scuzzy sounds of their DIY debut; unrepentant in letting the pop hooks loose. The choruses are big, harmonies frequent, and guitar solos abound—this is a lush, textured leap forward. Suggested Friends are more confident, acknowledging emotional pain and exploring how this affective space elides with a more expansive sense of injustice in the world.
LP $17.75
11/29/2019