Hop Along

Hop Along is an indie band from Philadelphia led by singer-songwriter Frances Quinlan, whose quirky off-beat songs are often wrapped into a more indie pop friendly packaging. Up front and center in their sound is Quinlan's slightly raspy and scratchy vocals that carry a lot of the load. Their singing style bears not so subtle hints of emo influences underneath. The rest of the band does a great job at keeping the arrangements lively and inspired with their choices that never quite take the center stage but make themselves heard through a nice guitar lead here, a shift in the rhythms there. This happened more often early in their career when their records had more of a DIY attitude and bigger indie rock footprint compared to the relatively more mainstream approach they developed later.