Hop Along

• Painted Shut [Saddle Creek, 2015] A-
• Bark Your Head Off, Dog [Saddle Creek, 2018] ***

Consumer Guide Reviews:

Painted Shut [Saddle Creek, 2015]
Musically, several if not many notches above the new generation of look-sis-no-lessons grrrls. Frances Quinlan sings, writes, plays, and makes it be, her brother Mark Quinlan bangs the drums steadily, there's a dedicated bassist, and Philly guitarist-producer Joe Reinhart is a force. Not virtuosos but not newbies either, they recall Pavement both ways, with the crucial distinction that Quinlan's lyrics hint at the concrete situations and emotions shrewd 90s ironists eschewed and arty millennial obscurantists look down on. Quite a singer, Quinlan--tiptoeing along the edge of her range, she often leaps or tumbles into the unknown. And every time she does, there's a chance your heart will jump with her. A-

Bark Your Head Off, Dog [Saddle Creek, 2018]
Where the raspy, associative Frances Quinlan of Painted Shut crackled with limitless becoming, this clearer and more coherent one is hemmed in by all she's learned ("Look of Love," "Prior Things") ***