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Since first arriving on the Bay Area music scene four years ago, Pllush have amassed a dedicated following with the release of a pair of EPs (2015's Pine and 2016's Please) and a split with Father/Daughter label mates Remember Sports. 2018 sees the quartet release their debut full-length album, Stranger to the Pain, comprised of twelve songs recorded and mixed by Grace Coleman at Different Fur Studios in San Francisco, CA and mixed by Carl Saff in Chicago, IL. Whereas on earlier releases, singer/guitarist Karli Helm merely teased her vocal abilities, here she fully embraces her natural pop-tinged mastery, sounding far more like a contemporary of Kate Bush and Alicia Keys, pushing the boundaries of the Rock and Roll genre while layering dizzying harmonies over an instrumental track that Built to Spill would kick themselves for not thinking of first. Meanwhile, Eva Treadway provides a perfect foil with an effortlessly cool approach to laying her sometimes light-hearted and frequently heartbreaking lyrics over her more driving style of guitar playing, as indebted to Slanted and Enchanted era Pavement as it is to the best work of The Donnas. Stranger to the Pain is the kind of record that reintroduces a band whose previous catalog stands assuredly on it's own as a new and fresh face- and like a conversation with an old friend, once it's over, you will want to restart.