Today’s indie rock landscape makes it difficult to stand out. There’s simply too many acts putting out good to great guitar music for an artist to expect to be heard above the din. If you want to push past the Cloud Nothings and Car Seat Headrest‘s taking up all the air, you either have to have a great story or be undeniably talented. Jay Som, the solo project of Melina Duterte, has both.
And it’s evident on her latest single “1 Billion Dogs” — a song whose title promises an unbelievable amount of joy that its hook delivers. “Dogs” is a hard-charging track that genuflects before altar of Pavement and other ’90s alt-rock slacker demigods. But what pushes the track beyond mere idol worship is that the song is all Duterte’s effort. She played almost every instrument on her upcoming album Everybody Works, but there’s no way to tell on a massive song like “Dogs.” Give it a listen or five and check out the full tracklist for Works below:
1. “Lipstick Stains”
2. “The Bus Song”
3. “Remain”
4. “1 Billion Dogs”
5. “One More Time, Please”
6. “Baybee”
7. “(BedHead)”
8. “Take It”
9. “Everybody Works”
10. “For Light”
Everybody Works — Duterte’s debut full-length album — is out March 10 via Polyvinyl/Double Denim. Pre-order it here.
