Brigitte Calls Me Baby: The Future Is Our Way Out (clear vinyl) [ATO]

Why you'll love it

This pressing comes on clear vinyl. The Chicago band's debut pairs Wes Leavins' crooner vocals with new wave synths and post-punk guitar, and "Impressively Average" went Top 10 at Triple A radio.

This edition

Clear vinyl
Stereo mix

About the album

The band name comes from a real correspondence: as a teenager, singer Wes Leavins swapped letters with the French actress Brigitte Bardot. That taste for old-school glamour runs right through the music, which pairs a voice straight out of the 1950s with the jangle and drive of early-2000s indie rock.

Leavins moved from Texas to Chicago to play Elvis in Million Dollar Quartet, then lent his voice to pre-production on Baz Luhrmann's Elvis biopic. He met Dave Cobb on that set, and parts of this album were recorded at RCA Studio A in Nashville and Cobb's studio in Savannah, along with sessions in Chicago. "Impressively Average" is the breakout, "Pink Palace" and "Fine Dining" shimmer with synths, "Eddie My Love" leans into the doo-wop, and "I Wanna Die In The Suburbs" puts post-punk urgency under a big chorus.

Before this album, Jack Fluegel, Devin Wessels, Jeremy Benshish and Leavins had opened for Inhaler and Muse, and SPIN summed up their style as upbeat new wave synths with jangly post-punk guitar. Not a bad run for a band named after a pen pal.

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