Last Summer

At the time of their first album, singer/songwriters Aja Blue and Jen Black (Black and Blue, so they're called the Bruises, geddit?) were a primarily acoustic folk-rock duo from Peoria, IL. Following the release of Last Summer, the duo moved to California and reinvented themselves as a rather forgettable pop-punk act, which is a particular shame because the stripped-down, nervy Last Summer is a solidly enjoyable album with much to recommend it. The ten concise, well-constructed songs on Last Summer flow well together as a whole, but there's enough variation between the winsome close harmonies and sunshiny "ba-ba-ba" vocal hooks of the title track (which sounds like the best song the twee pop duo the Softies never wrote), the hypnotic nervous tension of "The Door Song," and the power-poppy rush of the jangly "Catch Me Now" to keep listeners engaged throughout. Echoes of everyone from Juliana Hatfield's early indie band the Blake Babies to dreamy folk-pop siren Erin McKeown can be found on Last Summer, but the album is also direct and tuneful enough to appeal to fans of the more mainstream likes of Michelle Branch or even Sheryl Crow. Last Summer is an extremely promising album which the Bruises' later work didn't measure up to.