Listen: TEEN – “Tied Up And Tied Down”

If “Not For Long” was Exhibit A that Brooklyn sisterly four-piece TEEN’s debut album, The Way And The Color, is going to be a blinder, then follow up single “Tied Up And Tied Down” is surely Exhibit B.

It’s a cheeky song title in a couple ways. Surely, Teeny Lieberson intended the paradox that, though up and down are opposites, tied up and tied down both imply constraint. To that point, the title is ironic in that TEEN never seem to appear constrained with what they do musically.

Just like their previous single, “Tied Up And Tied Down” features a fairly subdued, almost sleepy, Lieberson vocal but this time around the music – at least half of it – contradicts it. Lieberson is backed by a double-time snare beat and a slew of synths that both pulse along with the beat and wave and waft in the air, providing a passive pull to the drum beat’s propulsive push. It’s this push and pull that keeps things interesting by giving the song some teeth at the same time that it tempers its bite.

The Way And The Color is out 22 April on Carpark Records.