A lot of people say being a music journalist is about as useful in modern society as being a lamplighter and requires the talent and brainpower of a stick, but hey, did they ever see me do spectacular research like having to figure out what a Hydro Flask (“Hydro Flask is a brand of water bottle owned by Helen of Troy Limited. The brand became very popular during late 2019 and early 2020, particularly among millennials, members of Generation Z, and members of the “VSCO girl” subculture – Wikipedia“) is? Anyway, Wallice is a Hydro Flask-mentioning artist from Los Angeles, and her debut single Punching Bag is packed with everything you could ever want in an indie rock song. It’s scuffed-up and scrappy in a sweet sort of way, cuts its real sincerity with a little self-deprecation and has a star-spinning chorus you couldn’t get away from even if you tried. She says: “Punching Bag started with me seeing the address of an old friend pop up in my Google maps as a suggested destination, but we weren’t talking at the time so it just made me feel weird. There’s such a strange absence of someone who used to be such a big part of your life. I made it with the thought of the protagonist (me, cause I am the one singing) being so dramatic and manipulative to do anything to see this other person, but in a completely relatable and valid way. ‘Left my Hydroflask in the back of your car’ was a line that we thought was so silly and an obvious (perhaps pathetic) excuse to just see someone again.”