Ivory Daggers sound like they just stepped out a time machine, from a world where female-fronted power-pop bands like That Dog were active and popular, a world we call the '90s. They're not from Portland, or even Portlandia, but from New York. They released their self-titled debut last year.

The album starts out strongly, with a nice one-two punch of "Emote" and "M.I.A." The former is an uptempo rager, while the addition of a piano to the latter adds some musical diversity to the song's stomp. "The Next Day" starts with a shouted "1-2-3-4!" that doesn't really lead to the expected increase in volume or intensity, but that aside, it's a catchy pop-rock song.

In the middle is where the album might start to lose you. "Video Game Boys," an ode to the singer's love of dudes who play video games, is cringe-worthy. And the next track, "That's My Boy," about the singer's comic book nerd boyfriend–she has a type, I guess–isn't much better. A little more chuckle-worthy, but a definite skip.

Thankfully, things pick back up after that, closing out the record with a trio of straight-up pop songs which really let the vocals and harmonizing shine.

Overall, aside from a few points, this is a solid, promising debut. Fans of current bands like the Sugar Stems would do well to check this out.

You can stream the album on their Bandcamp page.