In my review of the Arctic Monkeys’ AM, I mentioned that it was brought to my attention by a student. Mom Jeans is another artist that I learned about thanks to him. Browsing online, it looks like their debut album, Best Buds was a cult hit. I picked my first Mom Jeans record randomly, so I stumbled upon Puppy Love.

While Puppy Love hasn’t gained anywhere near as much attention as Best Buds, it is so undeniably an incredible Midwestern album (although the band seems to be from California). Something about the emo angst juxtaposed with upbeat folky sounds and vocals screams “Midwest” to me. It wouldn’t be a major surprise if they had–somehow–come out of Bloomington (Indiana), Galesburg, or Peoria.

While the track titles on the album (“jon bong jovi”, “now THIS is podracing”) make the band members seem as if they are terminally online, nothing about this points to digital slop. On the contrary, the sound here is thoroughly analog, and even leans into punk (or post-punk) at times: the background vocals in “season 9 ep 2-3” are influenced by punk, and guitar rhythms in the same track could have been produced by Green Day.

The vocal sound is striking, too: the album could have been released in 2008-11. They are heavily reminiscent of the “classic emo” moment, and I haven’t heard much like that in more than a decade.

If you’re interested in emo revivalist sounds, Mom Jeans’ Puppy Jeans is a great album to spend some time with.