Did you ever have That Hilarious Friend (you know the one—off color jokes at inappropriate moments, lampshade-on-head drunk antics, their life equals a four alarm Technicolor dumpster fire, etc.), only to find that one day they were all growed up, fully formed, with actual Things To Say? Chastity Belt, the Seattle all-girl quartet whose previous work was marked by songs about sex and partying (“Pussy Weed Beer”) when it wasn’t attempting an obnoxious inside caper of epic proportions (“Giant Vagina”), followed up on the punk-lite promise of its debut with a sophomore release that immediately vaulted the band into Voices Worth Hearing territory. Sophisticated and sultry (the title track, “Joke”), in possession of a fierce brand of interpersonal politics that mostly went missing on the debut (the sex-positive “Cool Slut,” the majestic “Drone,” which offhandedly skewers mansplainers everywhere: “He was just another man tryin’ to teach me something”), and featuring the kind of non-flash—but melodically brilliant and sonically stripped-down—guitar playing that grabs me every time, Time To Go Home shows a band in full command of its powers. This time around, they mean it, man. —Corey duBrowa
