If the welcoming news that Beverly Tender were set to return with a new album this fall wasn’t enough, they also came armed with an advance track, Theme From Beverly Tender to bowl us over and raise our already high expectations. The duo of Molly Hastings and Tristan Brooks began what we have now come to know as Beverly Tender while attending Wesleyan University. Since then the duo have released their debut EP, and set up camp in both Philadelphia and Raleigh, before settling in to the vibrant and burgeoning Providence music scene. With the new set, What Have You Done To My Water? Beverly Tender have teamed up regional indie taste makers, Disposable America for the follow up to 2015’s aforementioned self-released debut EP, Lord Mayor Makes 1,000 Speeches.

Throughout the new set Beverly Tender deliver an alluring collection of skewed guitar pop while combining elements of noise, twee, and slo-core. Often there’s a certain merit that gets awarded to albums that take time sink in, a grower if you will. But, once in  a while an album comes along and grabs you by the collar and you fall for it instantly. Such is the case with What Have You Done To My Water?, it’s immediate an infectious record from start to finish.Over the past few weeks  I have found myself revisiting this release often and each time I seem find  a new favorite song, which goes to the strength of this material. On tracks like Doggie Dog World and Whose Taxidermy Horse, Beverly Tender displays their uncanny ability to push their sound to the point of collapse only to pull back and find beauty in the decay, much to the credit of Hastings’ honest and endearing wordplay which floats atop her angular guitar lines and Brooks’ adept and propulsive percussion.  Although Beverly Tender occupy similar terrain as contemporaries such as Speedy Ortiz, Palehound as well as indie architects, Helium they manage to carve out their own space with delicate atmospherics, jagged distortion, coupled with earnest and wistful vocals. It’s on the opening track, Theme From Beverly Tender where Hastings asks the questions, Will I be like this my whole life? Will I regret this my whole life? Perhaps it’s some kind of an ode to the struggle of the human spirit or a moment of personal reflection, but either way it’s a beautiful and intricate rocks song that sets the tone for a remarkable album that delivers on the promise of the bands previous recordings. What Have You Done To My Water? Is filled with cathartic and relatable material distilled with a glorious clamor throughout its brisk 24 minutes.