Dear Boy – Celebrator [LP]

I feel everything… It’s better than nothing.” That lyric says it all. Los Angeles indie rock outfit Dear Boy returns with their most exuberant, unguarded, and vital work to date: Celebrator. After the atmospheric ache of their debut album Forever Sometimes, the band – Ben Grey (vocals/guitar), Keith Cooper (drums), Austin Hayman (lead guitar/vocals), and Lucy Lawrence (bass/vocals) – needed to find their joy again. And they did. What started as a casual reconnection quickly morphed into a creative wildfire. They weren’t trying to make the best record of their career. They were just having fun. The result is Celebrator – a loud, euphoric, emotionally agile collection of songs that feel like a long-lost mixtape from the future. It’s Southern California guitar pop colliding with Britpop shimmer and ’90s alternative fuzz. Echo Park meets Siamese Dream. Catherine Wheel kissing Pinkerton. There’s joy in every distortion pedal and confetti in every chorus.