Nü Religion: Hyena

LA duo THEY. grew up loving Nirvana, and channel their unflinching darkness throughout their debut. The influence is obvious on “What You Want,” with its misanthropic acoustic guitar, but subtler on “Silence”, where rapper Drew Love interrogates honesty and sex. Elsewhere, Dante Jones forges beguilingly shadowy productions to soundtrack Love’s take on police brutality (“Say When”), racial stereotypes (“Motley Crew”), and an unexpected—but successful—refashioning of the Dawson’s Creek theme into a tortured ballad on “Dante’s Creek”.