Release Date: March 10, 2023
Genre: Indie Rock, Indie Pop, Folk
Label: Pheromone Recordings / Cadence Music Tommy Lefroy is an international musical duo which is based out of the United Kingdom, comprising Canadian singer-songwriter Tessa Mouzourakis and American singer-songwriter Wynter Bethel. Following the success of their debut EP, Flight Risk (2021), they have readied and released their latest offering and sophomore EP, Rivals. The brand-spanking new effort features six walloping tracks that were much anticipated among listeners and the likes and is a perfect follow-up to their debut EP. The duo's new EP was almost entirely self-produced, besides the opening track, "Dog Eat Dog," which was co-produced by Andy Seltzer, known for his works with Del Water Gap, Niko Rubio, and Chelsea Cutler. The title of the group's new EP is a satirical take on how society tends to pit women against each other and how much they believe how foolish that perception really is. Lyrically, Rivals is a powerhouse that pulls from what the EP's title represents. The EP's opening number, "Dog Eat Dog," is about relentlessness and how external pressures and expectations put on you can make you defensive and keep you from going after what you really want. "The Mess" is a song about feeling messy and not being put together when women are thought they shouldn't be showing that side of them, but the band has always felt messy themselves. Whereas "Worst Case Kid" is a much heavier, darker track that details dysphoric thoughts as a type of unhealthy love interest. "Worst Case Kid" is about how catastrophizing despite better judgement is much like returning to someone you know is bad for you.
Musically, Rivals is unmatched, raw, and a genre-bending piece of work from the duo of singer-songwriters. All six songs stand out among themselves and exude their own personality to the listener. No matter if it's "Dog Eat Dog" with its soft, gritty indie rock atmosphere and with its gentle but powerful fuzzy electric guitars, the subtleness of an acapella that shines on "The Mess," which features Samia and Dylan Fraiser. Or if it's the full-blown acoustic numbers that are "Jericho Beach" and "Recency Bias," or finally, if it's the straight rock number "Worst Case Kid," both Tessa and Wynter flawlessly compose the perfect combination of indie rock, pop, and folk with these six robust tracks that are unapologetic and unrestrained as the duo could physically make them possible.