When I heard “Youth” by the Gothenburg duo Pale Honey, I knew I had found the antidote to all the inescapable, icy Swedish synth-pop. I’ve got plenty of love for the likes of Tove Lo, but there’s something about girls doing full-on rock ‘n’ roll right now that’s way more appealing than electro-pop. Composed solely of Tuva Lodmark on guitar and vocals and Nelly Daltrey on drums, these girls hammer another nail into the coffin of the myth that women can’t perform rock ‘n’ roll in the same way men can. Let’s bury that corpse once and for all, shall we? Because “Youth” comes in like a slow-moving storm; first, it’s just a drizzle, a solitary little synth line, then drums and Tuva’s low, slow vocals. But when her guitar explodes into the frenzied, nervy bolt of the chorus, she keeps her voice subdued, creating this sense of tension and control that adds an intimate, feminine layer to the song. Pale Honey put out the three-song Fiction EP last year, but will release their self-titled debut album on 5/4. Pale Honey are one of those bands I knew on first listen I was going to fall in love with. Check out “Youth” below, and if you’re craving more, listen to their EP standout “Fish.”

“Youth” is out as a single on 3/2 and Pale Honey is out 5/4 via Bolero Records.