Former New Orleans native now living in Brooklyn, 24-year-old Blair delivers her debut full-length Die Young on January 26 (Autumn Tone), an impressive collection of alt-country and jagged indie-pop that hovers somewhere between the bristling force of early Liz Phair and the melodic tw-angst of Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis. Recorded in the sultry summer steam of the Crescent City with producer Keith Ferguson, Die Young has the blurred fuzz of distorted guitar pickups and small, overheated amps, Blair's girlish voice bobbing above the fray with an unexpectedly vulnerable quality. Like her heroes The Replacements, she manages to find the sweet spot of frayed and shaggy edginess and hook-laden melodic tenderness.

"A record of violence and daydreaming" says her label of Die Young and with song titles such as "Murder", "Kamikaze" and "Rampage" you might think that this is primarily an exercise in blunt, caustic blood letting. And, in a more cerebral, mostly lyrical sense, it is. But below the surface on tracks such as "Hearts", with its gleaming, roll-down-the-windows splendor, a delicate balance of grace and power is found. Recommended.

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Blair - "Hearts" (from the album Die Young)