Hop Along’s Painted Shut is a prickly, unfettered masterpiece. Building off the charms of their 2012 debut, the Philadelphia band has crafted a thrilling, back-breaking rollercoaster of a record. It’s an album with a sense of history, one of people moving through life and trying to follow their ambitions and do their best, but consistently being let down by society and by themselves. It’s a beautiful, brutally honest, sometimes ugly record, and it’s one of the best releases of the year so far. I wrote a whole lot more about the album when I interviewed the band earlier this month so go read that while you listen to the whole thing below.

Painted Shut is out 5/4 via Saddle Creek.