Catastrophe Keeps Us Together (2006)

Emo is supposed to be for the girls, not by them. But Rainer Maria's Caithlin De Marrais has disproved that maxim for years. Hookier and less tortured than her band's defining Look Now Look Again, Catastrophe Keeps Us Together skirts the subgenre, often echoing early R.E.M. with better articulation. Guitarist Kyle Fischer's vocal volleys are missed. But in the unforgiving trenches of De Marrais' love songs, the solitude just makes her sound tougher.