Forget Forget, Derive Derive

With half of the band still in high school (and the other half just barely out of it), the Ackleys should sound much greener than they do. But on their infectious EP Forget Forget, Derive Derive, the Birmingham crew plays indie pop with the raw restlessness of a bunch of punk kids just starting out and the poised confidence of a rock group together for years. Katie Crutchfield is a compelling frontwoman; her rich delivery is the perfect combination of sweetness and sass, and her sentiments of youthful defiance and fleeting love come across much more matured than someone still years from being able to legally drink. There's just something inherently likable about the Ackleys that only grows more apparent with each spin of these five tracks. Maybe it's how you can't help but bop along to the rollicking angst of "Blank Mind Between the Traffic Lights"; or how a song like "Andy, Our Loss" can have such a feisty bite without ever sacrificing its sun-touched rhythms; or the way the keyboards twerp lightly underneath it all. Whatever it is, if the Ackleys are already playing songs as memorable as these (recorded in their friend's basement, no less) when most of their peers are still content to imitate whoever's selling the most records that month, it's scary to think how undeniable they'll be in a few short years.