Girls And Boys

2nd Grade — 2026

“2nd Grade have their power pop formula locked in, and Girls And Boys delivers twenty compact songs full of clever wordplay, irresistible guitar hooks, and plenty of personality.”

By now, Philadelphia’s 2nd Grade have their power pop style locked in, and Girls And Boys proves they can still find new ways to make it exciting. Their first record for Lame-O is out now on physical formats, with the digital release following on December 4. The concept is right there in the tracklist: ten “Girls” songs followed by ten “Boys” songs, none of them breaking three minutes. Catherine Dwyer now sings half of them and co-produced the album with Peter Gill, giving the band a welcome new balance, while the framework gives these short songs a shared identity without sacrificing their individual charm. What I really like is how far Gill’s lyrics run with that setup, as cheerful hooks carry surreal lines like “It was Negroni Week / And World War IV was in full flower” and a songwriter who wants to throw a chair through a window like Oliver Reed. Looking across their excellent catalog, its style sits just below the polished heights of Easy Listening and a step above the lo-fi approach on Scheduled Explosions, which still puts 2nd Grade in power pop’s top tier during a strong year for the genre.