When Jess Scott and Diane Anastasio left Brilliant Colors three years ago to start anew with Flesh World, they took a piece of their time with the noise-pop purveyors at Slumberland Records with them. The San Francisco band's roots are showing on "Just to Tear Me Down", a wistful single off their next record, The Wild Animals in My Life. -=-=-=-

While the arrangement feels taut and severe, the tender vocals soften the edge. Glassy textures bring out the song’s brooding melody with heart-breaking subtlety, like Savages covering Black Tambourine. "Just to Tear Me Down" may seem declawed compared to Flesh World’s searing fuzz-punk debut, but it is not without residual angst. Within a Manchester post-punk scaffolding, the lyrics wrestle with a stale illusion: "I could hang myself out to dry/ From the storm of this fantasy/ Either way you cut my faith/ Tear me up just to tear me down."