Miesha & the Spanks – Singles EP

Alberta: Top 10 of 2021

by Christine Leonard

Anyone would’ve called this 7-song ringer an LP, but that’s just an appetizer for the relentless Miesha. Dauntless “Mixed Blood Girl,” mother to twin boys, and fearless champion of rocking out with your feminist flag out, she’s been on a tear for years and Singles is the culmination of hard work and stoking the flames of her post-punk fury. Unshakable and confident, meticulously crafted and catchy as all hell — each of the tracks on this homage to modern rebellion leaps from the turntable with a super-sonic energy that’s as irrepressible as it is satisfying. 

Bo Burnham’s transcendent comedy special isn’t the only great piece of COVID-adjacent art titled Inside released this year. The indie-rock quintet’s latest opens and closes with the sounds of the 7pm clanging pots and pans that once heralded the essential workers, and many of the tracks find them grappling with introspective thoughts while trapped in a room – being stuck inside one’s own head being an even worse fate than the physical boundaries.