More signs the light is at the end of the tunnel for the pandemic comes in the form of “Barbara Ann,” the sprightly, confident, but also wistful lead-off track from LA indie rock artist Rosie Tucker. 

Beginning tentatively with crystalline guitar arpeggios over a bed of soft static and guitar line noise, the track quickly blooms into a melodic brew of pleasingly crunchy rhythm guitars, sweetly endearing alto lead vocals, and breezy but half-jaded “oohs” and “ahhs,” joined later by a subtly humming, retro monosynth line. 

It’s a proper “75 and sunny” highway driving track, but its energetic sound puts a polished sheen to an simultaneously earnest and jaded lyric, with the narrator addressing the titular Barbara Ann with lines like “the life you chose that sent you reeling/How did it go? How was it,” while also reassuring Barbara by mentioning that “with a Louisville Slugger/Under your side of the bed/No one’s gonna hurt you now.” It’s a delicate balancing act, mixing hurt with hope, but Rosie Tucker pulls it off nimbly. Gabe Hernandez

RIYL: Soccer Mommy, Phoebe Bridgers, Alvvays

BONUS: Check out the lyric video for “Barbara Ann” on YouTube below (courtesy Rosie Tucker)