BE YOUR OWN PET

It only took Be Your Own Pet a year and a half to follow up their debut album with Get Awkward, but during that time the band grew from teenagers to adults, and it shows in their music. Get Awkward is still plenty mischievous, but the mischief is more honed, with a wicked mean streak to boot. Instead of singing about bicycles, vacations, and adventures, Jemina Pearl and crew tackle subjects like boredom and paranoia on "Creepy Crawl" and self-loathing on "The Beast Within," but they sound pretty excited to be so jaded. The hyperactive venom of Be Your Own Pet's "Let's Get Sandy (Big Problem)" gets more focus on "Bitches Leave," a snotty, snarly punk rant which sounds a little like the Donnas on an especially pissed-off day. Fortunately, though, Get Awkward isn't too mature for its own good: "Heart Throb" captures the jubilant, stomach-aching power of a crush, as Pearl makes eyes at a guy she likes while her boyfriend is right beside her; "What's Your Damage" nails that obsessive state where love, hate, and pain are all the same thing. The band's vivid way with storytelling takes on a filmic flair with "The Kelly Affair," a clever update of Valley of the Dolls' go-go, pill-popping melodrama, and "Zombie Graveyard Party," where Pearl yells "Party in the graveyard tonight!" with all the gusto of a B-movie scream queen. Get Awkward's more structured songs shine the spotlight even more brightly on Pearl's vocal antics and lyrics, to the point that the other bandmembers feel like her henchmen as she rails against weak boys and jealous girls on "You're a Waste." Thrashy, repetitive tracks like "Twisted Nerve" and "Bummer Time" leave her and the rest of the band flailing without making much of an impact, and nothing has the weird, wild sweetness of Be Your Own Pet's "Adventure" or "Wildcat!" Still, the best songs have enough energy and creativity to keep the album from being an Awkward sophomore slump. Heather Phares.

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