For fans of: Legit lyricists and The Silver Jews (David Berman can be quoted saying this about Ryan Davis "He's the best lyricist who's not a rapper going.")

What they're saying: From Zachary Lipez’s top 51 on Medium: “Wordy folk rock is a treacherous proposition. Maybe you’ll be Cracker or maybe you’ll just be the smartest asshole in the dorm. But State Champion is excellent. Imagine if no one at Drag City discovered heroin or John Fahey. If State Champion got their due, we’d never had to pretend Pinegrove had good lyrics in the first place.”

What we say: Send Flowers is a prime example of not hearing something until after you made your year end list and regretting the entire list because you just found something that deserves to be on it. -Kay

Further listening: This is the band’s fourth LP, so if its news to you you can do some back tracking. And the Silver Jews still sound good too.