iSound

Growing up is a bitch; it is just that simple. It’s a heartbreaking mix of bullies, break-ups, and braces. Finding your voice in that mess of hormones is a daunting task that irks many of us through our adult life. Yet somehow in the thick of it all, Baltimore duo and avid shoplifters Metal Hearts have musically found a way to reassemble and redefine those woes into a record that is as refined as it is raw. Eighteen-year-old Anar Badalov and Nineteen-year-old Flora Wolpert-Checknoff began making music together in January 2004. Says Wolpert-Checknoff, “"We met through my sexy Greek best friend. Anar was dating her that month, and I had dated her in Kindergarden.” So the time spent leading up to the band’s self-released debut Escapists was as much about contest as it was creation. However, within the context of competition came eventual artistic understanding—so much so that the enemies-turned-collaborators continued to write songs via email during their first year of campus life...