Tancred - Out of the Garden (2016)

Out of the Garden is a mission statement that underscores the “power” in power-pop and is punctuated by lyrics as razor-sharp as the hooks. Written over a two-year period during a break from touring, the album’s emphasis on re-defining feminine expectations was shaped by primary songwriter Jess Abbott’s experiences living in Minneapolis and working at a liquor store in a rough part of town. Abbott’s fearlessness to discuss personal topics is referenced in the album’s title, an allusion to exiting Eden and leaving behind all the restrictive cultural norms engrained in the Biblical “paradise”: tradition, purity, holiness, binary gender, heterosexuality, and the idea that anything is forbidden (especially for women).