Standout Track: “Brat”—the second single preceding the release of its upcoming debut LP, Perfect Lavender—finds D.C.’s mysterious electro-pop outfit Furniteur nurturing their more dance floor-friendly sound. Clocking in just above five minutes, “Brat” relies heavily on a thumping rhythm set by arpeggiated synth bass and shifting, booming drums—the latter expertly played by Jonny Jester. Atop this infectious groove, sawtooth synths shoot across like aural chemtrails, while Brittany Sims’ disaffected vocals sit somewhere between Debbie Harry and “Bad and Boujee.”

Musical Motivation: Empowerment through fiction. “It’s really about playing into the role of someone who truly gives no fucks,” Sims says. “A brat, to me, is someone who always gets her way… so I think that’s partly what the song is about.” She takes the narrative a step further, comparing her transformation to the “Brat” character to another classic American story of creating your own narrative. “This is such a cheesy example, but I see it sort of like the bad-ass Sandy from the end of Grease.” Like the new Sandy Olsson, with her cigarette, high heels, and faux-apathetic demeanor, Sims is empowered by the distance between her fiction and reality. “I’m really uncomfortable performing and doing all that, so it’s sort of like playing an act,” Sims confesses.

Dynamic Disco: While Furniteur’s sound skews more toward their woozy, downtempo dream pop (as heard on another Perfect Lavender single, “Redundant Buzz”), “Brat” allowed the band to explore sounds that Sims describes as disco. “We definitely were inspired by ’70s-styles—like Donna Summer or like Blondie,” she says “…and we wanted to add that kind of tougher bitchiness from disco or from punk.” “Brat” has allowed the band to indulge their more aggressive, higher-energy sound and expand their live performance. “These dancier explorations have influenced our performance for sure,” she explains. “When we have performed ‘Brat’ live, it brought a little more energy to Furniteur, and that’s definitely something we want to pursue.”