Chicago quintet Varsity - singer-songwriter/keyboardist Stephanie Smith, guitarists Dylan Weschler and Patrick Stanton, bassist Spencer Smith and drummer Jake Stolz - once described their brand of raw-edged-yet-blissful indie pop as being “too cute for the punks, to raw for the bubble-gummers”. That concise description of their aesthetic still holds true as they prepare to release their sophomore album Parallel Person (April 27, 2018) via Babe City Records, three years after their dropping their self-titled debut album. They have been releasing one-off singles such as “Still Apart” and “Settle Down” in between albums, and are also looking forward to a showcase at SXSW 2018.
Lead single “Must Be Nice” does not match the timelessly infectious melancholy of their best-known song "So Sad, So Sad", but it provides a wry take on the emotional challenges of young adulthood. As lead singer Stephanie Smith explained to NPR, the title is a double entendre, relating both to “the world's most condescending phrase” and the imperative for women to be polite and likeable at all times (“I must be nice in order to be liked/noticed/not be considered a b****”).
The sunny and upbeat repetitiveness of the song’s chorus (‘And I want you/ And I need you/ Can I see you/ And I'm being there’ is thus punctuated by a hint of anxiety. Smith knowingly sings ‘I know I can't/ Cry in front of them/ But if I could/ It'd go something like’, but never lets us know exactly what she would reveal if gendered norms did not apply. There’s a sense of urgency underpinning the surface of cheerfulness, pointing towards the concealed agonies of living in a time of mass uncertainty: ‘We both careen/ From heaven to hell/ A bitter pill/ To give to yourself’.
