The Regrettes cut Feel Your Feelings Fool!, their 2017 debut, just a few months after the band's formation, bashing it out in a few quick sessions. Maybe that's why Feel Your Feelings Fool! seems so urgent: it gallops forward at a breakneck pace, the music recorded not long after it was written. Energy alone can make for a good album but, fortunately for the Regrettes, they're led by Lydia Night, who has a way with a hook and a knack for song construction. Night relies on certain classic pop tropes -- girl group choruses pepper the album, she celebrates garagey riffs, and "Picture Perfect" slides into a Salt-N-Pepa tribute -- and this fondness for old-fashioned songwriting gives Feel Your Feelings Fool! a sturdy understructure upon which the Regrettes thread feminism, sneering angst, and ecstasy. All these intertwined emotions give the album an emotional punch that complements its musical rush, a confluence of nervy energy that could easily be interpreted as a reflection of the Regrettes' youth. Perhaps the quartet members are all in their teens but they're preternaturally gifted as musicians, so Feel Your Feelings Fool! offers the best of both worlds: craft that endures combined with boundless excitement. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
