Click to listen to Tristen's "Baby Drugs" and "Heart and Hope To Die"

When Tristen Gaspadarek belts "show me how your daddy and your mama made you" on the twangy rocker "Heart And Hope To Die," it takes a second for the come-on to register. Her addictive debut is full of such moments: catchy refrains with multiple meanings, ear-tugging melodies with hidden hooks. She flaunts a philosophy major's palette amidst echoes of vintage rockabilly and girl group pop: Gods battle, queens bid their rule, girlfriends enable druggy lovers. The romantic metaphor "Tadpole" pivots on the psychodramatic line "hate me oh boy." It suggests two things: dangerous girlfriend material, and an artist worth watching.

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“Ambling Alp”

The "Ambling Alp" was the nickname of the six-and-a-half-foot-tall Primo Carnera. Though the song is named after the Italian-born 1930s heavyweight champion, Yeasayer are actually paying tribute to boxing legend Joe Louis with this first-person psychedelic dance-rock tune. “I was always interested in writing a song that had boxing mythology in it,” Yeasayer’s Chris Keating said. “It’s pretty fascinating: There were so many amazing characters, and it was so closely entwined with 20th century history.” Yeaseyer also invokes German champ Max Schmeling and hints at the historical significance placed on the historic bouts between the Nazi-era boxer and the African-American Louis.