HOSPITAL BRACELET

South Loop Summer COUNTER INTUITIVE

For an album with track names like “Feral Rat Anthem” and “Sober Haha Jk Unless”, the debut from the new-wave emo jammers in Hospital Bracelet is unpredictably tight, earnest and impassioned. There’s an enticingly grimy, lo-fi bite to the production at large and the strummy, overdriven leads that carry the faster and heavier-hitting cuts along; but every performance feels calculated and committed, noodly fingerpicked rhythm lines and emphatically strained vocal runs driving cuts that elicit as much emotion as they do energy. The album ebbs and flows between raw, battered emo slow-burners and bold, bombastic punk anthems perfectly tailored for singalongs; if far too short, South Loop Summer is an unequivocally razor-sharp and riveting listen.