Remember when indie-rock could be fun and catchy, not just sad and artistic? Melbourne’s Alex Lahey revives that spirit on her great debut, I Love You Like a Brother.
A title such as that sounds more like a letting-someone-down than an upbeat anthem, but Lahey is talking about her actual sibling on the great titular track. It is the second part of the excellent one-two opener with “Every Day’s The Weekend”, the kind of upbeat alt-rock that had a boom in the early nineties and the early part of this century/millennium, and really needs to be more of a presence today. There’s another strong bopper in “I Haven’t Been Taking Care of Myself” and pressing catch to “Awkward Exchange”.
Lahey also has some sadder songs, that are largely nice but don’t hit as well, though even there, closer “There’s No Money” stands out as strong. Hopefully there’s more of Alex Lahey, and more sounding like Alex Lahey, on the horizon.
