Kevin Bronson on January 8th, 2019

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Atlanta punk trio the Coathangers return March 8 with their sixth album, “The Devil You Know.” Like its predecessor, 2016’s “Nosebleed Weekend,” it was made at Valentine Recording Studios in Laurel Canyon with producer Nic Jodoin. And like its predecessor, the album harnesses the trio’s previously more-unhinged intensity.

Led by the the ticklish guitar and vocals of Julia Kugel, the first single “Bimbo” bops along merrily before hammering home its point in the chorus. It’s not as primal as early Coathangers, and probably one of the poppiest tunes in their catalog, but the swing from sweet to strident gets the job done. “I don’t care what our previous image was. That’s not us now,” Kugel says to those who might miss the Coathangers’ lovingly discordant past. “I feel like this is an introduction to what we are now.”

Kugel and bandmates Meredith Franco and Stephanie Luke return to Southern California for dates in February.

“The Devil You Know” will be out via Suicide Squeeze Records.

||| Stream: “Bimbo”

||| Also: Watch the video for the song here

||| Live: The Coathangers play Marty’s on Newport in Tustin on Feb. 20 (tickets); the Teragram Ballroom on Feb. 21 (tickets); and Alex’s Bar in Long Beach on Feb. 22 (tickets).