BeautifulDirtyLoveSick

A year or so ago, I fell in love with the combination of southern-fried gruff haze and gorgeous British noise-wash, essentially introduced to me via Atlanta band All The Saints. This year, my new scruffy, fuzzy-around-the-edges, shake-and-bake in a haze of prettiness ("prettyscruff"?) band is Bear In Heaven, who take All The Saints highs to an entirely new ledge and then jump off the cliff entirely.

Their recently-released Beast Rest Forth Mouth album runs song into song and joyously familiar synth buildup into plummeting claustrophobic guitar assault. Think a John Hughes film trapped in crashing car, or M83 with dirtier fingernails, and you about have it.

Bear In Heaven: "Lovesick Teenagers"

On "Lovesick Teenagers", there's a look back to the highschool notebooks and stammering that Hughes would've been proud to remember, but the cover's been ripped and the ink's smudging as the drugs slowly take over. This lovesick teenager is heartbreak-stoned and nostalgic, but not without the smallest bit of hope behind those bleary, red eyes.