Brigitte Calls Me Baby - The Future Is Our Way Out [Clear]

Retro romance meets post-punk nerve on The Future Is Our Way Out, the 2024 debut album from Chicago's Brigitte Calls Me Baby, pressed on clear vinyl.

Fronted by Wes Leavins, whose rich, dramatic croon recalls the great heartbreakers of decades past, the band arrived on ATO Records after their 2023 EP, This House Is Made of Corners. Recorded partly at Nashville's RCA Studio A with producer Dave Cobb, with a few songs produced by the band themselves, the album sharpened their vintage-meets-new-wave sound into something irresistible.

The title track "The Future Is Our Way Out" opens proceedings with chiming guitars and a sense of yearning. "Eddie My Love" and "Pink Palace" show off Leavins' gift for theatrical heartache, while "We Were Never Alive" keeps the melodrama dialed high.

It's a record about longing, nostalgia and the fear of standing still, delivered with jangling guitars, driving rhythms and choruses that feel ready for a sweaty club show. The band never winks at its influences; it simply believes in big feelings. Leavins sings every line as if the stakes could not be higher, and the band matches him with tight, propulsive playing.

As a debut, it's remarkably assured, and the clear vinyl suits its glossy, wide-eyed romanticism perfectly.