Spirit!

Known for their concise hooks and punchy blend of sounds like pop-punk, angular indie rock, post-punk, emo pop, and more, HUNNY doubles down on pop-punk (with emo and post-punk chipping in) on their third album, SPIRIT! Its a 15-track set that skateboards by in 31 minutes. SPIRIT! was recorded almost entirely in singer Jason Yargers Los Angeles home studio, and is presented as essentially a solo LP born from voice memos and phone notes of Yargers over the prior couple years. Having said that, the albums drums were provided by HUNNYs Joey Anderson (who recorded them elsewhere), and it was co-produced by Yarger and another original member, Kevin Grimmett, who also co-wrote half the songs. It kicks off with the chanted cheer "Weve got spirit, yes we do…" before diving into the doldrums of another weekend spent alone on "title track." The musically upbeat tune goes on to use "spirit" cynically. The songs conflicted tone sets the stage for an album that, while reliably catchy and energetic, reveals its persistent angst in song titles like "tired of u," "spam calls," and "POV ur dead and im checking my hair in ur sunglasses," a funky faux-disco track that revives the openers cheerleading device. The singer is more openly exasperated on "tired of u," a pop-punk entry with clattery drums and a bleepy, melodic keyboard motif, and hes more openly depressed on the post-punk-seasoned "i can see my house from here" ("a swimming pool half full of tears"). These slight stylistic deviations and shifts from confrontational to resigned help keep listeners on their toes, but not as much as the albums persistent ranting quality does with support from infectious hooks, distortion-fueled riffs, and everyday reliability. ~ Marcy Donelson