The LA-based powerpop project’s triumphant debut is a celebration of low-stakes creativity in the slacker-skater tradition
From Los AngelesRecommended if you like the Lemonheads, Sugar, the MuffsUp next Secret to Spare released 18 September
Maybe it’s to do with getting older, maybe it’s to do with the broad-spectrum grimness of it all, but the thrill of low-stakes creativity, of making something for the joy of making it rather than in the hope of making it, feels particularly vital at the moment. And, if the sun-bleached cool of Jawdropped’s music is anything to go by, starting a powerpop project in your 30s will light up this pleasure centre like a dive bar pinball machine.
The US quartet are all on their second, third or fourth go-around with this band thing, having spent years skating through LA’s DIY scenes before forming in 2024. Their chemistry and compositional smarts became immediately apparent on the following year’s Just Fantasy EP, where co-vocalists Kyra Morling and Roman Zangari tumbled into slacker harmony over blown-out distortion and plaid-swaddled acoustic guitars.
Leaning into the idea of small wins on your own terms, their debut album Secret to Spare offers a collection of stories about keeping your head above water, its luminous hooks casting the plate-spinning of day jobs, house shows and routine disappointments in a triumphant light. The Line has the righteous jangle of peak Lemonheads on a string, while Monday’s snaking melodies are amped up by gnarly power chord scuzz in the Bob Mould tradition. The single Split Lip hits bittersweet paydirt with a lilting chorus that doubles as another dose of reality: “Sign us all to a major label / It doesn’t always work out.” It doesn’t. But perhaps that’s OK. Huw Baines
Shygirl – AlyseHere’s a stunning new side to the south Londoner: imagine Bat for Lashes’ crystal-ball balladry dragged feet-first into a cybergoth club and blown up to the scope of Madonna’s William Orbit era. A thrill!
Fontaines DC – Marianne“I can help you disappear,” Grian Chatten offers in a dangerously alluring chorus and a song full of cinematic gloom that more than fulfils the Irish heroes’ promise of absolution.
Wild Pink – Still Coming DownIf, apparently like many of alt rock’s leading lights right now, you can’t hear Jason Molina’s influence enough, you won’t complain at hearing another gorgeously grizzled slab of Americana in his image.
Actress – WithendingThe beautifully intricate synth refrain at the heart of this track undulates as beguilingly as kelp in the ocean deep, dragged deeper by insistent kick drum and haunted by vocal sprites.
Heavens to Betsy – Ain’t Never Goin’ Back“I ain’t never goin’ back,” a teenaged Corin Tucker – future of Sleater-Kinney – sings in this unearthed Modern Lovers-ish demo from the newly reunited riot grrrl legends, slinging an arrow into the future.
Lover1k – On My OwnSome might call it trash, but anyone addicted to the genre of club music best described as “withering woman sounds deathly unimpressed by you over crude beats” … it’s your lucky day.
Teenage Fanclub – There Was You
Fear not, trash-haters, we’re back on solid ground with Norman Blake and this gently baroque, beautifully wistful tribute to those people that always offer a port in a storm (much like the Fannies always do).
