Kevin Bronson on May 9th, 2018

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Maddi Hawkes — just call her Mad Hawkes when it comes to her music — is a product of the South Bay and well-ingrained in the lifestyle: surfing, Mexican food and drinking 40s on the beach at sunset. But she’s also a twentysomething trying to negotiate the perils of early adulthood, and her debut EP, “Undone,” tackles that with nary a trace of the clichéd laid-back attitude. Her pop music, which she dubs “babe rock” and models after bold babes such as Karen O and Amy Winehouse,” is equal parts agile vocals, caffeinated production and stark honesty.

“I am still in the midst of the ‘loose gravel’ stage of my life,” Hawkes says. “Loose gravel implies losing your footing, trying desperately to get it back but knowing in the end you’re going down and it’s going to hurt. You will be dirty and bloody and you will probably have to throw away some ruined clothes, but you will get up, your wounds will heal and you will go find some new clean clothes. Clean clothes represent a fresh start and new clothes represent a new outlook. And this process continues and continues and con-freaking-tinues until one day it stops. I hope.”

Her EP is out Friday via Parts & Labor Records, where Hawkes was an intern. While working there, she was mentored by label chief and producer Jimmy Messer (who has worked with the likes of AWOLNATION, Kygo and Neon Trees, among others). He advocated for nothing less than lyrical veracity in her songwriting, and you need only dissect her single “Fantasy” — kind of Hawkes’ personal fault-finding mission — to know that the advice stuck.

||| Stream: “Undone”

||| Live: Mad Hawkes opens for Rows tonight at Resident. Tickets. She also plays Thursday at Saint Rocke along with M. Rivers and the Habits. Tickets.