Gentleman

The mood board for the TikTok alt-pop phenom’s second album stretches to all corners of the 21st-century indie landscape. Towa Bird presents a unique hybrid of two seemingly incongruent archetypes: She’s both a classic-rock-schooled guitar slinger and a TikTok-boosted pop phenom who’s shared stages with the likes of Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo. On her second album Gentleman, those two sensibilities converge into sharp, hooky tunes that exude an effervescent vibe and dance-floor-facing momentum even as they’re untangling the knotty subjects of gender dynamics and queer desire. Bird’s mood board stretches to all corners of the 21st-century indie landscape, be it wiry Bloc Party-style rockers (the title track “Gentleman”), post-Paramore pop-punk (“Dirty Habit”), Tegan and Sara-esque alt-pop anthems (“Don’t Wanna Hear About It”), Wet Leg kicks (“Gap in Your Teeth”) or jagged-grooved disco (“All Gone”, which lures in guest Kathleen Hanna for some authentic Le Tigre flavour). And yet Bird has not forgotten her bedroom-guitar-hero roots: With “Dog” and “69 BPM”, she slowly guides a pair of moody comedown ballads toward fretboard fireworks worthy of a Laser Floyd planetarium show.