37 Houses is a band I’ve seen around for a while, but it was only recently that something clicked. I heard one of their latest singles and immediately knew I had to feature it on the podcast. I followed up with their label and was given a sneak peek at the album, and every track carries that same lure, a siren-like quality that feels almost prophetic. But we’ll get into that later.

The album opens with "Shadow Puppets" and my first thought, yes, you know how it is with me and my comparisons, was Weezer. It’s very much driven by guitars and drums, with the vocals sitting low in the mix for much of the track. About two-thirds of the way in, though, it suddenly throws heat, shifting into something far more upbeat and manic.

The next track, "Helium", has a real sense of sass and swagger to it, and it immediately pulls me back to the ‘90s. But before I even get into the music, I have to give a shoutout to the image used for the single release cover. In a word: stunning. In fact, all of the imagery I’ve seen accompanying both the album and its singles has been incredible. Erin, the band’s lead singer, looks absolutely gorgeous, and I wouldn’t be surprised if those photos eventually take pride of place on her walls at home. The song itself opens with a smoldering guitar intro, and the vocals pick up perfectly where it leaves off. As I alluded to earlier, paired with the imagery, there’s something undeniably seductive about the performance, temptress, siren, the whole thing, and surely my boat would absolutely be smashed to pieces.

"Strangers" is their most recent single and again the imagery that accompanies the single is breathtaking, but would surely be all for nought if the music wasn't able to live up to it and it truly does. It's a fast past track that has a wonderful bright guitar riff running through the core.

Slipping into the backfoot comes "Unloveable", one of the more acoustic-driven tracks on the album. It’s a reflective and emotionally honest piece, with bright acoustic guitars that belie the candid lyrics beneath them. The vocals are delivered with a gentle beauty throughout, though at times they rise into something closer to a cry for forgiveness.

Continuing the album’s gentler pace is "Event Horizon". I have to admit, while I enjoyed the main vocal performance, I found the harmonies a little off-putting. I’m not entirely sure whether it’s the harmonies themselves or simply the number of elements competing at once, but together they create a strange side effect, a darker edge that may well be intentional. To my ears, though, it all feels just a little too much.

Another of the album’s more laid-back tracks, "Misery" opens with a wonderfully atmospheric guitar that sets an almost dreamlike tone. While I really loved the music, I wasn’t entirely convinced by the vocals, which at first felt a little out of place against the instrumentation. The additional accompaniment that comes in later helps pull things together somewhat, though I’m still not sure the track fully works for me on its own. That said, there’s a bigger picture here, something we’ll touch on later.

Recently featured on the podcast, "Honesty Is Everything" is the track that made me sit up and pay attention to the band again. It’s a wonderfully bright and energetic song that flies out of the gate, grabs hold, and doesn’t let go until the very end. There’s also something about the vocals that kept reminding me of Debbie Harry, they have a sense of irreverence and delivered with a sense of attitude, which is is in itself quite sexy.

Mmm… "Eye for an Eye" is something of a curio for me, and I’m struggling to quite find the right words for it. It’s not bad in any sense, far from it, but it feels distinctly different from everything else the album has presented so far.

Another of the album’s more stripped-back moments, "Only a Smile Remains" is a very piano-centric track, with the vocals weaving in and around the melody. I really enjoyed it, though I came away almost wishing it had been pared back even further, with a simpler piano arrangement that would have allowed the vocals to truly soar, although they truly do despite it, towards the end of the track.

"Lost for Words" returns to a more rock influenced sound. Again that 90's sound is all so self evident. The track is very much downbeat and feels like it's leading up to some kind of conclusion.

As you'd expect, "Love Song" is a declaration of love. This is another of the more acoustic tracks and is just spot on with heartfelt words, accompanied by guitars that for some reason feel like summer and sunshine. It has a feel of coming out of the other side of something, with optimism and resolution.

While every track so far has featured Erin on lead vocals, "If You See My Baby" gives guitarist Jeremy a chance to take centre stage. It’s another whimsical sounding, acoustic-led piece, and one that carries a very different energy to what came before it.

For me, "Love Song" would probably have made the more natural conclusion to the album. That said, "If You See My Baby" has the feel of one of those wonderful hidden tracks that used to appear a few minutes after an album supposedly ended. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I didn’t like the song, it’s more the vibe it gives off. Otherwise, I think it may have been better placed earlier in the running order, were it not for the overriding theme that threads its way throughout the album.

I purposefully chose to leave the backstory to the album until the end, as I wanted to consider each song on its own terms rather than as part of a wider narrative. Erin and guitarist Jeremy are a married couple, and this album was written over 18 months as they navigated the complexities of learning to be, and not to be, polyamorous within a developing marriage. The songs were written as events unfolded, capturing the raw emotion of deeply personal moments.

In that sense, the album functions almost as a concept record, documenting a complex relationship as it evolves through music. With that in mind, I think the review reflects those individual elements, but the final rating brings everything together into something that feels greater than the sum of its parts. Ultimately, this is a truly wonderful album for me, one I’ll continue to return to, and one that will likely reveal more as the work continues to grow with me.