Those Darlins Get Witty and Confessional on “Blur the Line”

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Those Darlins
Blur the Line
Oh Dang Wow

Blur the Line

Not to be confused with the video for Robin Thicke’s cheesy (if funky) hit “Blurred Lines,” Nashville’s Those Darlins pursue their own brand of sleazy provocation with the cover art for Blur the Line, but the similarities end there. Despite a lineup change that turned the quartet from a three-woman, one-man group into a half-and-half enterprise, the eclectic, women-centric approach that made their previous two outings so striking continues here.

Encompassing garage-rock, low-rent country, and girl-group pop, this bracing album can veer from snarky wit to awkward confessionals and back again at the drop of a hat. “What’s the fun in having fun/Unless your brain says no?” asks the languid “Can’t Think,” while “Oh God,” opens Blur the Line with the arresting confession, “I was a drunk girl in the shower/In yet another shit hotel,” proceeding to chronicle a memorably uncomfortable encounter. For all the psychodrama, however, Those Darlins’ fizzy twang ‘n’ crunch guarantees an exhilarating time throughout.

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