Album Review: Proud Parents – Self Titled

Proud Parents are a garage pop band from Madison, WI, the hometown of Dirtnap Records, and they are a band that have the honour of being the first local band that the label has signed in it’s eighteen year existence. Proud Parents was originally formed around a nucleus of Claire Nelson-Lifson and Tyler Fassnacht (Fire Heads), the addition of Heather Sawyer (The Hussy) and Maggie Denman to their ranks has seen the band have expand to a quartet and Proud Parents are now set to release their self titled debut album on the 22nd June 2018.

Proud Parents debut full length would be perfectly at home amongst a playlist of the the obscure and overlooked garage bands that were a huge influence on the first wave of punk, they have delivered an impressive thirteen track full length of ragged garage punk with a distinctly poppy sensibility. The album features two to three minute songs that possess an irresistible and infectious fuzzy garage kick, the sixties feel of the album only adds to it’s charm with it’s vocal harmonies and treble laced lead guitar that sits on top of fuzzy sixties pop tunes. 

To say this is album is retro in it’s delivery is an understatement, but this isn’t a bad things as Proud Parents have delivered an album that has the authentic feel of the poppier side of the garage that, aside from the tracks Happy and the closing slow version of the album’s title track, is an upbeat blast from the past. In short this is a perfect album to tune in and drop out to, and it’s one that should be essential listening for fans of garage outfits such as The Detroit Cobras, Fuzzy Vox and The Two Tens.

Proud Parents can be ordered via Dirtnap Records here and Bandcamp here