Wolf Girl are a band who wear their hearts on their sleeves

Two years on from their beloved first record We Tried, foursome have honed in on and refined their catchy slacker pop-rock sound with their latest effort in Every Now & Then, full of infectious guitar riffs that sound like they are straight out of an original soundtrack of a ’90s high school teen film.

Every Now & Then is a record that explores anxieties big and small, covering themes that range from sexual liberation and gender identification and being so highly strung out that a piece of toast for dinner will just have to do.

“I think I need a change / I think I’ll rearrange my room” lead vocalist, guitarist and occasional bassist Healey on the album’s opening track “Moody”. The album opens with addictive lo-fi with a distinctly pop sheen before segueing into a dreamier, ’60s vibe with the aptly titled second track “Dream Partner”. Peppered with witty lyricisms delivered so dryly – “Don’t want to get to thirty without learning to drive / Don’t want to look back having felt barely alive” – Every Now & Then is a remedy for the jaded and the stressed out, but alleviated with clever one-liners where Healey makes you feel as if they are on your side and you are on theirs.

Each of the nine songs don’t exceed past the three-minute mark and they are all jam-packed lo-fi pop/punk offerings, and for all their ability belong within the sonic canon of having sound-tracked the likes of Clueless or 10 Things I Hate About You, the songs’ derivative nature isn’t hard to pinpoint – “Moody” recalls bands such as The Muffs – but Wolf Girl are a band who wear their heart on their sleeve.