Seattle should be proud, and I don’t mean of the Fleet Foxes. Tea Cozies have stepped into the light and deservedly so. In my humble opinion, they’ve brought their female-dominated girl pop to a new peak in their latest release, Hot Probs. This album rocks…in a really pretty way.

We could say the Breeders or even L7 had a major influence on this band, but I honestly think the Cozies deserve more credit than that. This album is more creative, more hooky, and way more dynamic than anything I’ve heard from a female-fronted band in a long time. Hot Probs is saturated with radiant harmonies and chimey, ringing guitars, with supercool keys scattered about (is that a Mellotron?) and enough changes to captivate the worst case of ADD. Many of the songs have the complimentary voices of both Brady Harvey and Jessi Reed. 

My favorite is “Like Luca Brasi,” an ultra-catchy, Pixies-ish sounding tune about drowning. It’s driving and poppy, with dramatic time signature changes that capture the tragedy of drowning in an upbeat, happy melody. I also like “The South Turned Him Sour,” a howling, urgent ditty punctuated by the cowbell and distorted guitar. What stands out to me about all the tracks on Hot Probs is the diversity. No two songs sound alike, yet it is totally obvious that Tea Cozies are responsible for all of them. It would be safe to bet that these gals have created exactly what they were aiming for. Hot Probs is very well written, performed and engineered. Like I said before, Seattle should be proud.