Little Lungs

Hoist Me Up! [7 inch] (2008)

Brian Shultz

Little Lungs are a Brooklyn and New Brunswick-based combo playing upbeat, choppy and melodic indie-punk that sounds mighty impressive for only having released a demo so far (these tracks).

The songs on Hoist Me Up! fall comfortably within the Lemuria/Discount camp, offering female-fronted quarter-life desperation in the form of scrappy, usually uptempo songs bursting with perfect rawness and sincerity. Due to certain elements, though, I could see fans of the Measure (a female presence without a trace of forced feminity and overall spunk) or Bridge and Tunnel (sometimes noodly, sometimes mournful guitars) being into this, too.

My favorites on this are "Dreary," where there's an absolutely sick tempo change that provides the 7-inch's biggest moment of dynamism, and closer "The Big Six," where she sounds like she's on the verge of collapsing and the emotion hinges on aching despondency ("When is enough enough? / When is enough enough? / When are you going to quit it? / When will you give it up? / When is enough enough? / When is enough enough?").

The only weird thing about this 7" was that a bonus song is offered for free download with the record's purchase, but no digital download of the whole thing (mind you, this 7" was originally released as a six-song demo CD-R in August 2008 anyway). In any event, it's still a treat and you have to wonder what's in store next.

STREAM
Pet Cemetery
Dreary
Atlantic Bridge
Ten Sets of Jaws [bonus MP3]