The Springfield, Illinois power pop outfit Local Drags returns to the scene with their catchy new album "Cool If We Split?' Following the darker undertones of 2024's "City In A Room", songwriter Lanny Durbin made the decision to lean harder in the pop side of power pop, because the world is dark enough. The result is the sharpest, purest Local Drags record to date. While the subject matter remains familiarly heavy (depression, aging, isolation) the instrumentation balances the scales. Big hooks, bouncy rhythms, more and more and louder and louder guitars. Can't hear the world if the amps are in the red.