Today, Michael Younker (Gymshorts, Triathalon), announces his debut EP Sweet Things with the devastatingly impulsive yet intentional(ly snappy and a little silly) “Bad News.” With the single and EP, Younker yanks the lo-fi origins of garage rock / big riffin’ into clarity – as if we’re able to put on the glasses (as opposed to the rom-com camp of shedding them; the EP and the creator would appreciate the irony in the opposite of tradition), and finally see in hi fidelity. Listen to “Bad News” here and presave Sweet Things here.

Younker’s voice sits somewhere between Christina Halladay’s brutally charismatic full throttle feeling and the bratty, sassy, tossing-aside cadence of Broncho’s Ryan Lindsey, landing him somewhere near Wavves or Cyndi Lauper on “She Bop.” The forthcoming album has varied influences, including the omni-present Ramones, Violent Femmes, Billy Childish that you’d expect. But, the unashamed big rock motifs on The Donnas Spend The Night haunt “Sweet Thing” like friendly ghosts laughing with you. The hard hat hairdo Honda helmets from the Devo commercials incite a lighthearted cynicism on how insane it is to consume the way we do, reflected in the simplicity in the lyrics of “Bad News” – “C’mon, give it a go / You can’t make this up / C’mon, give it a go / And I won’t give it up.”

Of “Bad News,” Younker says, “Bad News is a tune about the queasy feeling of uncertain love. The in-between space. Affections and relations feel spot-on… and yet a sinking feeling you’ll be dropped tomorrow. It’s a song of exasperation, the brain’s obsession with certainty and doubt, and just kinda being a brat about it all…’She loves me, she loves me not…whatever, what can I do?’”

Of art and life in general, he says, “There’s something I find very brave about humor…it’s a thin line and I always admire artists/anyone who uses it well.”

Aside from making music, Michael Younker is Detroit-born, New York-based production designer and cat dad. He’ll play a home turf EP release show in New York this summer – stay plugged in for more details on that soon. Perhaps deceptively un-self-conscious, the forthcoming debut Sweet Things and today’s “Bad News” are as complete and bratty as any other piece of his portfolio; greased up and polished grime.