The Regrettes – How Do You Love?

Sincerely, and not at all

The Regrettes’ How Do You Love? will tickle your heart with chilling telltales of how it feels to be in love, specifically in the intro monologue track “Are You In Love?.” The starting seconds of “I Dare You” pulsate with kinetic energy, sounding like The Strokes’ “Someday” hit single that primed indie rock for a whole decade. 

With a revived riot grrrl sound, The Regrettes have fairly mastered what it means to be a modern co-ed pop-punk group in a divided social climate. Since its formation in 2015 by frontwoman and vocalist Lydia Night, the band evolved and was rounded out by new members: Genessa Gariano on lead guitar, Drew Thomsen on acoustic drums, and Brooke Dickson on electric bass. Within two years of their debut album Feel Your Feelings Fool!, The Regrettes doctored their 2019 release How Do You Love? as a dissertation on love, with a sincere and bold tone.

It’s no wonder that Night wrote the majority of the lyrics for How Do You Love? because each track models her personal experiences with falling in and out of love. How Do You Love? takes up the emotional space of 15 tracks counting down almost 45 minutes of brutal honesty. Oscillating between your headphones, your mind shakes from the rock reverb of “California Friends.” Mentions of hand-holding and jittery feelings mimic the chase of a consuming crush. The band has no interest in playing within basic boundaries, as “Coloring Book” frills each octave with rising tensions like the unpredictability of intimacy.

 Literary and cinematic references in “Pumpkin” turn a simple love story into a relatable and non-pretentious understanding of romantic immediacy, yet the following track “Dead Wrong” takes a swift turn as Night begins to recount the blind vision of love. How Do You Love?’s B-side ricochets with the same vibrating energy of the preceding tracks, but the momentum is maintained by a novel sense of awareness.

“More than a Month” is killer with its beach punk melodies. Each track has an edge to it — as if impossible to critique from a creative standpoint. The Regrettes know originality and meet each standing note with a gentle grasp that is equally as rhythmically violent. “More than a Month” is but a perfect example of this: righteously praising punk with finger-tingling shouting, but pausing for a breath’s tenderness.

Lyrical accusations in “Here You Go” rage with repetition and purpose, but the adlib pop melody changes flippantly as emotions seamlessly do. A sense of urgency is instilled in “The Game” as Night’s lyrics spit careless honesty with comedic timing. The album asks its audience – simply and candidly – to revel in the heartwarming and heartbreaking nature of love. So listen, and tell them… How Do You Love?