On the heels of a nonstop year of performances that landed them on Oh My Rockness’s list of New York City’s Hardest Working Bands of 2018, Desert Sharks are releasing their first full-length album. Baby’s Gold Death Stadium juxtaposes elements from iconic ‘90s bands Sleater-Kinney, L7, Veruca Salt, and Toadies with Desert Sharks’ own musical history. Named for DIY venues and small stages they’ve regularly played over the years, the album is an edgier, more organic effort from the Brooklyn-based foursome.

Baby’s Gold Death Stadium showcases their guitar-driven brand of grunge-garage punk as a perfect synthesis of their individual talents. Charged by guitarists Stefania Rovera and Sunny Veniero’s fiercely relentless compositions, the LP is grounded by formidable rhythms from drummer Rebecca Fruchter as well as the introspective songwriting style of bassist and lead singer Stephanie Gunther. Gunther mined her experiences with everything from anxiety to social archetypes for subject matter. “Sorceress” embraces personal power and challenges the dismissal of the aging woman, while “I Don’t Know How to Dress for the Apocalypse” reflects on the general anxiety of younger generations as they grapple with social and environmental concerns in a divisive political climate. “Dating?” is Gunther’s real-life plea to Veniero, who kept getting back together with a toxic ex—“You know she’s bad for you. / Don’t make the same mistake.”