After about a half century of rock & roll’s quintessential formula being bashed out again and again, it’s amazing that there’s always somebody able to breathe new life into that simple handful of chords and beats. What I’m talking about are not the seismic shifts that seem to happen every decade (but not this one thus far), but rather the amazing reoccurrence of some new kids picking up guitars and wringing an exciting racket out of them. In rock, youth is never wasted on the young.

Enter Tweens, the Cincy three-piece who just released their self-titled full-length debut on Frenchkiss Records. The band’s only been around for a bat of an eye, but has already toured with both the Breeders and Black Lips. As such, the timing couldn’t be better for their first record; as evidenced in the grooves, the dichotomy of experience and tenderfoot energy makes for a bristling listen without some of the typical newbie foibles. The album bursts from the gate with “Bored in This City,” a booming lashing against adolescent ennui following in the tradition of “Pretty Vacant,” “Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue,” et. al. Singer Bridget Battle’s yowl has more sweetness to it than those predecessors, though, and you can fathom the yearning when she screams that her town is eating her alive or when she’s asking her paramour to show less kindness (“Be Mean”). As the band name might indicate, that sweetness is accentuated by a pop element at work here, but so too is there a Midwest grittiness. In that regard, kudos to producer Eli Janney, who kept the record rough around the edges and even allowed it to sound blownout at times.  On “Want U,” a noisy ballad of sorts, Battle’s voice is similarly left raw and allowed to crackle with emotion, and the song is all the better for it. As a whole, this is a record that careens with enough recklessness to let you know there’s something behind it and also that there’s still plenty of life to be found in rock’s basic tenants, if only you know where to find it. Surely, these kids know where it’s at.