Smith Westerns: Dye It Blonde

Mischievously baby-faced Chicago teenagers chewing out carefree rhythms on barbed-wire bubblegum, Smith Westerns battered a collection of glam-rock earworms with no-fi production and barely contained youthful arrogance on 2009's self-titled debut. For Dye It Blonde, the group moves up to the big leagues without losing the comely insouciance that’s bound to make Smith Westerns 2011’s sexiest teen idols of 1973. Sounding like the Bay City Rollers as produced by George Harrison, Dye It Blonde blows kisses at all the little girls, promising dreams fulfilled and nights danced away on clouds of billowy pianos, shiny guitars, and breathy vocals. Pouty lead singer Cullen Omori is cute in an appropriately non-sexual way, and when he sings shy come-ons like “weekends are never fun, unless you’re around here, too,” you can practically hear the panties-wetting screams chasing his voice into the ether.