Hard Candy’s “True Descenders” is a wittily executed conceptual puzzle. Magicicadas, the bugs spotlighted in the video, have a surprisingly long life cycle in which they live underground for 17 years (!), only to surface all at once for a short period during a summer’s month. They’re believed to be bearers of death and destruction — one can only cringe at the thought of thousands of bugs emerging from the soil… Magicicadas are also native to the southeastern United States, like the two-piece band itself, which hails from the “the bowels of deep southern Georgia.” And like the magicicadas, Hard Candy also resurfaced from a 17 year hiatus.

The LP, also titled “True Descenders,” dedicates itself to “lamenting false idols, urban decadence, and squandered legacies” — a gesture that’s embodied in the title-track’s lyrics:

Heaven sent then torn apart

Hell-bent to play the part

They’ll always fall for the written word

It takes a genius

To outwit convenience

Who’ll never fall for the written word

I’d never change my path

To score an autograph

Why, I’d never fall for the written word

It does not make much sense

To offer recompense

To those who’ll fall for the written word

It’s like detached apathy encrypted in the smooth, easy-listening disguise of pure, dragging, lo-fi garage-rock; equipped with hazy vocals, rolling riffs and subtle syncopation.

“…the band skillfully blend elements of new wave, classic rock, and power pop into a sound that has been best described as “Southern Glam.”

You can check out (and support) the full True Descenders LP here.