Jaguar Love, 'Take Me to the Sea' (Matador)

Refining the bratty squeal without losing the punky squirm.

Johnny Whitney has made an art of singing like a deliriously deaf 12-year-old, but the debut of his new trio with Blood Brothers bandmate/guitarist Cody Votolato and ex–Pretty Girls Make Graves guitarist Jay Clark (now on drums) plays like a preteen daydream. With the Brothers' brutal bass and cubist hardcore squall swapped for sunny guitar strums and a steady beat, Whitney can be downright tuneful. But even his most exuberant, adolescent imitations of everyone from Cyndi Lauper ("My Organ Sounds Like...") to the Mars Volta ("Vagabond Ballroom") bear Whitney's trademark broken cry.

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