Colleen Green - Cool (Cloudy Smoke Vinyl) - VINYL LP

Limited black, red and white platter vinyl LP pressing.

Colleen Green has always been cool, but on 2015's I Want To Grow Up, she didn't necessarily feel it. Too young to be free of insecurities but old enough to be sick of them running her life, Green was experiencing an existential crisis. Five years and a new album later, we find her parsing out what it means to be grown-up-and realizing that it's actually pretty cool.Opener InchSomeone ElseInch is a paean to power in which Green let's a lover know that double standards can go both ways. A groovy bass loop and zig-zagging guitar lines underscore her realization that happiness is in her own hands, and the vibe is set. Next up is the witty, catchy InchI Wanna Be A Dog,Inch where Green celebrates the simplicity of a canine life and questions why she's still overcomplicating her own. Dark and slinky InchHighwayInch uses ruthless driving as a metaphor for a lifestyle that no longer interests her.Burnt out on bad feelings and ready to have fun with melodies and beats, Green enlisted producer Gordon Raphael (The Strokes) to take her songs to higher ground while keeping her lo-fi aesthetic intact. Raphael was already a fan, having caught a show in L.A. and finding himself Inchstruck by how confident and powerful she looked, even though she was the only one onstage.Inch He agreed to take the gig, and together with drummer Brendan Eder and hip hop producer Aqua over a few weeks in Los Angeles, Cool was created. The album's themes come together on the anthemic InchIt's Nice to Be Nice,Inch Green's reminder to herself that you get what you give, so it's important to try and be the best person you can-a hard-won but essential lesson in the emotional maturity that defines Cool.

Hardly Art is celebrating the 10th anniversary of Colleen Green's acclaimed album, I Want to Grow Up, which was initially released on February 24th, 2015. This new pressing of the album is on limited-edition clear pink vinyl. I Want to Grow Up was recorded at Sputnik Sound in Nashville, TN and was Green's first album professionally recorded in a studio. It features Jake Orrall of JEFF The Brotherhood on guitar and Diarrhea Planet's Casey Weissbuch on drums. The album received accolades from publications such as Pitchfork, Stereogum, Rolling Stone, LA Times and The New York Times, whose Ben Ratliff wrote InchAround her songs, there is a basic air of competence, toughness, self-reliance - she's organized her sound, has identified her neuroses and doesn't need your help.InchInch her songs have an aggressively dreamy sound, one that toes the line of sincerity. As seriously as she addresses adulthood, one can't help but wonder if she isn't winking a little bit too.Inch- LA TimesInchIf this perfect pop-punk sugar rush had been released in 1995, it would have been on MTV nonstop.Inch- Rolling Stone Inch armed with a lo-fi approach to songwriting reminiscent of Waxahatchee and early Liz Phair, Green digs into what it means to be an adult (or not).Inch- BUST