Bad Bad Hats – “Psychic Reader” (Stereogum Premiere)
There’s a line in the title track off of Bad Bad Hats’ forthcoming debut album that bows down to Brian Wilson: “When I look at you I get a good vibration/ Stay online until I hit your station.” Bad Bad Hats hail from Minneapolis, and they’re in no way derivative of the Beach Boys’ music, but the love-struck optimism of “Psychic Reader” harkens back to some of Wilson’s preferred buoyant romanticism. This isn’t desperate love; it’s willfully confessional adoration. “I was meant for you said the psychic reader,” lead singer Kerry Alexander notes in syllabic pauses. Bad Bad Hats released their debut EP, It Hurts, back in 2013 on their hometown label Afternoon Records, who will also put out Psychic Reader this July. Listen to the first single “Shame,” and check out “Psychic Reader” below.
Psychic Reader is out 7/17 via Afternoon Records.