Since she blew up with “Olympus”, her 2022 debut single, Blondshell has built a catalogue of ’90s-leaning rock with confessional lyricism, chronicling fraught relationships, complex family dynamics and the many pitfalls of life in your twenties. Now 29, the singer-songwriter born Sabrina Teitelbaum is trying to navigate a cruel world with a soft touch. On her third album, Violins—produced by long-time collaborator Yves Rothman—Teitelbaum draws from influences like Gang of Four, Teenage Fanclub and Television as she wonders how the world could simultaneously contain so much violence and beauty. Here, she trades the drama of romantic troubles to explore knottier themes like difficult friendships: On “Heart Has to Work So Hard”, she works through a toxic friendship and ends up at forgiveness. And on the cathartic title track, “Violins”, she balances images of brutality and tenderness, finding comfort in small gestures like resting your head on someone’s shoulder. Slippery metaphors, swelling guitars and disarming vulnerability abound.