Newcastle’s Melanie Baker has backed up all her early promise with a debut album that is packing real heat. She’s taken slacker-adjacent bedroom-indie-pop and blasted it skywards via some crunchy grunge, indie-rock and riot grrrl sounds that have been filtered through a queer lens. There’s also a scuzzy, glam-inflected stomp at work on many of the songs here that call to mind everyone from Iggy Pop and Lou Reed to Du Blonde. This is a good thing. (Note: Baker is playing The Grove in Newcastle on 30 May). RM

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