By – Kristi Houk

Recommended if you like: Angel Olsen, Waxahatchee, Wednesday

Has anyone ever made you a mixtape? Or vice-versa? 

Can you remember popping it in the tape deck or cd player in your 1988 Mazda 323 hatchback late in the afternoon just before sunset hoping to discover some hidden meaning in a song?  For my money, mixtapes are the ultimate love letter or hate letter depending on the situation.
On Worriers new album, Warm Blanket, it’s a bit of both.  The album finds singer/songwriter Lauren Denitzio in a playful, albeit contemplative mood and speaking of mixtapes, there’s a track called “Power Pop Mixtape” that name checks all the greats: “REM in their heyday”, Joe Jackson, The Undertones and Nick Lowe.  

The production is sparse, reminiscent of that low-fi sound of the late 90’s “Never Quite Kicks In” is reminiscent of The Magnetic Fields, with the lazy synth, the deadpan vocal delivery, and wisecracks: “Your scale only goes from too cool to sad guy. What must that be like to only ever turn up to five?”

Ouch. 

Vocally, Denitzio is in a polyamorous relationship with Delores O’Riordan (The Cranberries), Sinead O’Connor, and Eric Bachmann (Archers of Loaf/Crooked Fingers).  “Pollen in the Air,” a nostalgic take on young love is the perfect, low-key spring anthem:  

“This could be a cool disaster—
we didn’t care.
Laying in the dirt and grass mess,
in the leaves, a makeshift mattress,
we were never good at this but
we’re getting there.
Make believe this moment
we could be anywhere.”

Every song on Warm Blanket is a poem— an exercise in precision. There’s no fat here. The main ingredient of any poem is tension and the album appears to wrestle with opposing forces, emotions and which track to kick off the mixtape. 

My only edit is that it isn’t long enough…  

Stand Out Tracks: “Warm Blanket,” “Pollen in the Air.” “Never Quite Kicks In”