Pretty Bitter

Pretty Bitter takes synth pop as its starting point and then wanders well beyond it. The Washington, D.C. band, built around the partnership of Mel Bleker and Miri Tyler, folds grunge, indie folk, shoegaze and pop punk into its songs, with distorted guitars, prominent basslines and layered vocals. Bleker's lyrics are candid, drawing on mental health, queer identity and family, and the result feels both bruised and buoyant.

The group grew out of Nah., a project whose 2015 to 2019 run produced the record Patchwork, and built a local following by sharing bills with The Ophelias and Sunflower Bean. Their album Hinges was sketched as remote demos during the pandemic, with Bleker rewriting lyrics while isolated, and it came out on Blössom Records in June 2022, launched with a record release show at Comet Ping Pong. The 2024 split EP Take Me Out, shared with Flowerbomb and produced by Evan Weiss and Simon Small, was named Best Sonic Pairing by the Washington City Paper. Pleaser, released via Tiny Engines on 25 July 2025, runs to ten tracks and about 35 minutes, and its singles included Thrill Eater and Outer Heaven Dude Ranch.