Lily McQueen

Add Date: July 4

Artist: Lily McQueen

Album: Electric Love

Label: Concierge

Genre: Alt-pop, electropop

Comments: Recent WLUR favorites Nite Jewel and TOPS make music that's heavily influenced by the sounds of decades past, but Lily McQueen goes all in on the retro craze. The Brooklyn-based artist unabashedly pays homage -- and then some -- to '80s pop throughout her debut record, Electric Love. "[W]ith each song, I would imagine them fading in at the end of a John Hughes film," McQueen told Ladygunn. "So movie soundtracks and big '80s anthems were a huge inspiration." (That goes all the way through to music videos for album singles "You're Not Ready for My Love" -- directed by McQueen's college friend and former musical collaborator Lola Kirke -- and the especially Hughesian "Chasing Your Love".) Yet while Electric Love may play like a tribute album, it's still extremely well done and even more extremely catchy -- the perfect sound for summertime, whether that's in 1987 or 2017.

Recommended Tracks: 2, 9, 1, 3

DNP: none