“Did you kill anyone before we met? When you were young? Maybe I have.” These words may sound dark to some but for Lindsey Baker aka Guts Club they are typical for her debut album The Arm Wrestling Tournament. While she might be mistaken at first for another bedroom confessional on the path of Daniel Johnston she swaps his optimism for something more chilling akin to Leonard Cohen. When she sings there’s a pained sorrow in the back of her throat like an unhealed wound that gives the songs a real honesty. Her brutal earnestness makes the songs, many of which are vengeful fantasies from tying someone in a trunk to drowning them all the more intriguing. Even when she shows a selfless romanticism in “Intestines” she can’t help but add lines like “and if you ever leave me I’ll hang myself from that tall tower”. When she eventually lets down her guard later on in “Down in Daytona” it becomes the centerpiece to the album. Recounting how her dad (who was an arm wrestler) protecting her in childhood delivers one of her best lines “I wish my dad could beat everyone’s ass every year on Halloween”. Guts Club has this eerie intimacy like you’re eavesdropping on someone playing guitar but we should just be grateful she left the door open for us.