Pretty Baby – Layaway Plot LP (Various Labels)

In the underground scene, we often see artists hide behind personas or elaborate high-concept frameworks as a defensive maneuver, a way to process the world without getting too close to the flame. But eventually, the weight of reality becomes too heavy for a character to carry alone. For Pretty Baby, an outfit emerging from the Charlotte, North Carolina indie scene, this transition has been a total tectonic shift. Their debut full-length, Layaway Plot, showcases a sound of a band finally standing in the light, offering a collection of songs being pushed through a fine mesh sieve of grief. What started back in 2016 as a solo conceptual project for Rusty Colton has evolved into a unified quartet. The original Pretty Baby persona was a clever, sardonic lens through which to view love and ego. However, as Colton brought in friends and collaborators to flesh out these ideas, the character-driven irony began to dissolve, replaced by a much more emotive necessity. By the time the current lineup of Colton, Lenny Muckle, Vince D’Ambrosio, and Ryan Halberg solidified in 2024, the mask was long gone, leaving behind a vulnerable, angry, and deeply realized sound. When you dive into Layaway Plot, the first thing that strikes you is the sheer depth of the sonic architecture. It’s a carefully constructed environment that draws from a very specific, intellectual lineage of underground music. You can hear the ghosts of turn-of-the-century Dischord records, the raw, bleeding-heart energy of the Richmond punk scene, and the experimental textures of the Olympia, Washington sound. It’s a sophisticated blend that pays homage to the progenitors of post-hardcore while resisting the easy traps of nostalgia.

The guitars levitate between simplistic, almost minimalist moments and complex, angular maneuvers in the blink of an eye. This interplay shapes a perfect, powerful, and often hypnotic backdrop. One moment, the melodies are illuminating and inviting, and the next, they erupt into a dissonant wall of sound. Colton’s delivery is hypnotic, pulling the listener into the fray with a desperate, throaty, sincere quality. There is a whirlwind energy enclosed, where the passion and power of the delivery are built upon incredibly catchy and memorable orchestrations. It’s a physical expulsion of emotion, balancing a sense of defeat with a stubborn hope. The rhythm section provides a heavy foundation. The bass guitar is implemented with great thought. It sits beneath the lush guitar layers but remains vividly audible, offering clarity, depth, and muscular heaviness. It grounds the more chaotic elements of the record, making sure that even when the band is experimenting with unsettling, frenetic feedback, the core of the song remains the same. The drumming performance is absolutely outstanding. The dynamic, energetic beats are full of clever breaks, fills, and percussive acrobatics. They provide the energetic pulse that keeps the entire record in line, driving the rate forward while allowing the more atmospheric, melancholic sections to breathe when the walls of sound” finally crash. Thematically, Layaway Plot is a heavy record, but it avoids becoming a purely nihilistic experience. It is an album realized through the lens of grief, and that weight is felt in every note. The band explores a complex emotional spectrum; at times, they sound vulnerable and exposed, while at others, they are biting, sardonic, and righteously angry.

There is a sense of being defeated by the world, yet the record never stays in that place for too long. There is an underlying current of resilience, a sense that even in the dust of a crashed wall of sound, there is something worth rebuilding. This emotional honesty is what makes the record so relatable. It isn’t a polished, idealized version of pain, but a raw, messy, and ultimately hopeful documentation of what it means to move through loss and find your footing on the other side. Pretty Baby has delivered an exceptional debut that proves they are a band entirely at home in any environment. Layaway Plot is a record that will appeal to a wide swath of the underground, finding fans among those who appreciate the rawness of noise rock, the complexity of post-punk, and the emotion of indie-influenced post-hardcore. They created one of the most thrilling debuts of the year. Pretty Baby have successfully synthesized their disparate influences into a unique sound. This is an absolute must-listen for anyone who appreciates music that isn’t afraid to be vulnerable while remaining incredibly loud and powerful. Do not sleep on this one, because Layaway Plot is a masterpiece of modern independent music.