Few débuts come as accomplished or compelling as Talker’s Collateral Damage, the adopted Los Angelena channelling Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie-era Alanis Morissette, were said record coated in a sooty Seattle tarnish, and doing so to dramatic impact. Because musically, it’s driving, incisive stuff, while lyrically, Celeste Tauchar details a resolute desire to stop helping someone who won’t help themself, and is fast-approaching the point of “self-implo[sion].” “Every time I patch you up, I’m the one that’s getting caught,” she’ll reiterate as if to reinforce a point that simply won’t resonate otherwise, while elsewhere, a sense of exasperation (if, finally, resolution) is palpable. “Afraid that anything could happen/ Can’t win, no matter my reaction/ ’Cause you just wanna feel in control/ Something you could hold over me,” she’ll concretely lament, her voice stacked with both maturity and comprehensible resentment. But, a real statement of intent, Collateral Damage just goes to show what great things can come of egregious situations, and bodes particularly auspiciously for Talker’s future.

Talker’s SoundCloud.