Sleeping in a Dress is the fourth full-length album from long-running Baltimore-based band PLRLS. And while I'm loathe to reach into my bag of cliches in just the second sentence of a review, I believe the phrase "breath of fresh air" sums up this record nicely. The world needs more music like this. This band combines creativity, quirkiness, a spirit of fun, and infectious hooks in a way that's classically new wave-ish yet genuinely contemporary. I hear elements of post-punk, power pop, punk rock, and indie rock all coming together as if the music gods had deemed it. The challenge of being inspired by later '70s/early '80s new wave yet creating music that sounds like 2026 is a formidable one, yet PLRLS pull off that very thing in impressive fashion. Each of the ten songs on Sleeping in a Dress is completely different from the others, yet there's clearly a vibe that ties it all together. If you like earworm pop songs that are kind of weird but also super endearing and sure to make you want to dance like a maniac, this album and band are for you. These folks sound like they had so much fun in both writing and recording this material. And the quality of the songs is maintained all the way to the final track. Very often, the term "post-punk" brings to mind dreary, emotionally-detached music. Well, PLRLS are the opposite of that. The moment I knew this album was special was when I tried to play it in the background while I was working and quickly found myself too distracted to work. Some music just refuses to live in the background. New wave is alive and well!
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