The warm, vintage sounds on Boston-based quartet You Can Be A Wesley's debut full-length were recorded straight to two-inch tape last summer by Jeremy Mendicino of fellow Beantown locals (and Hardly Art signees) Pretty And Nice. Finally set for a vinyl-only self-release on July 20, Heard Like Us presents the ideal feel-good summertime soundtrack.

Though poppy hooks, whimsical imagery, handclaps and tambourines shimmer throughout, the record is not overly sweet. It features Joanna Newsome-esque vocals and memorable sing-along choruses while also presenting clear rock 'n' roll sensibilities. Straightforward, repetitive guitar riffs, Pixies-inspired bass lines and aggressive drum beats see-saw perfectly against the lighter, lovable notes, all of which are wrapped up in a surfy analog haze.

The eight-song collection opens with "6/8 Tengo," a vocal-free minute and forty-eight seconds of hazy guitars mixing with airy cymbals, and continues with the high-energy “Stuck In a Battle,” with its group-chant opening and clear, articulate lyrics.

"Kiddie Pool" offers endearing bits of nostalgia as frontwoman Saara Untracht-Oakner sings, "Kiddie pool with a popsicle/Fell off and you laughed and it made me cry." In "Wildlife," her enchanting vocals shift between dreamy verses and sporadic "ooh"s and "aah"s before she urgently wonders, "Why'd you have to mess things up? Why'd you have to mess things up?" The album's best moment is its lead single, "Creatures," which is equal parts early Jenny Lewis (via its vocals) and early Kim Deal (with its bass lines).

You Can Be A Wesley's habits of changing tempo and building crescendos keep the entire record danceable—whether the listener is swaying their body to its slower numbers or bopping their head to the guitar-heavy, up-tempo tracks. Energy builds slowly into surprising explosions of guitar and huge refrains, making each track on the album catchy, infectious and bound to be stuck in your head all summer.

Tracklist For Heard Like Us :

01. 6/8 Tengo
02. Stuck In A Battle
03. Kiddie Pool
04. Wildlife
05. Creatures
06. Make Up Your God
07. Fourth Walls
08. Rearrange The Sea

www.myspace.com/youcanbeawesley

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