Setting the bar low (and leaping) — TheWorst drops trashy, exhilarating 'Jane Doe Embryo'

It’s no slight to the three musicians of Portland rock band TheWorst, each totally capable and believably spirited with decades-long CVs making independent music, but we live in an era where stripped-down, mid-tempo fuzzed-out grungepunk holds very little purchase. (The name they’ve chosen suggests they understand this.) In 2017, it's a musical style as poached-in-history as Sinatra standards were when these musicians were young. Honestly, this makes their debut even more interesting.

Whatever kind of music you profess to enjoy, the reason to check in on this raw, sonically charged band is nearly entirely Brooke Binion, the singer, songwriter, and guitarist behind TheWorst's ninesong, 29-minute debut album Jane Doe Embryo. Odds are she'll recall the fierce frontpersons of your own high school CD towers or college dorm posters, but Binion is no copycat. She pours her heart out through this album of trashy, uncomplicated rock songs. It's a rickety old vehicle, but she sure as hell knows how to drive it.