Last year, Bloomington, Indiana-based musicians Amy Oelsner and Erin Tobey first teamed up under the name Brenda’s Friend for their debut tape, Under The Shrub. The duo’s follow-up, House Down, sees them even more comfortably playing off each other’s unique songwriting sensibilities: the title track and “Who Who” show off their pricklier side; “Sponge” and “Pas De Deux” make use of sliding guitars to create something worth settling down into; the pair of tracks that close out the tape see them doing more with less. The six tracks here bristle with anger and frustration and empathy, and the whole thing is well worth a listen. Here’s a quote the two wrote about the release, which you can hear below via The Le Sigh:

We find ourselves standing outside of a room, music is playing inside but the building starts to fall down around us so we run out into the yard. Water everywhere, in our hair, in the air. Find a way for limbs to spin and wings to swim. Up in the clouds we see the past played out behind us. The sky spits us out and we fall to the ground. Back in the yard, the water dried up and the garden grew full. Green city, winter’s ending, spring beginning. Spread eagle in the sand, flowers grow through the rubble.

House Down is out 5/27 via Winspear Records. Pre-order it here.