It is oddly satisfying, gleefully tapping your foot while listening to Alex Sweeton's latest album, Perfectly Broken. Oddly satisfying because, chances are, the song you are tapping along to is not at all happy, but, rather, some story you’ve lived, won’t readily admit and really, really hope no one ever finds out about. By balancing catchy melodies with dark instrumentation, Sweeton and producer Sammy Merendino (of Cyndi Lauper's band) successfully negotiate the murky, oxymoronic waters of combining very dark lyrics with music that still fit easily into the category of pop. "It was important to us that we honor the lyrics I'd written while setting out to make the pop album we wanted to make. I love pop music and I also love songs that rip your heart out. Why separate them?” Sweeton says. “It’s the paradox of life: you’re up, you’re down, you’re up and down at the same time. That’s reality.” Reminiscent of Shawn Colvin, Liz Phair and the Pierces, Sweeton is at once vulnerable yet ballsy. She makes no apologies for living a less than perfect life. In fact, by the end of the album, you’ll be convinced that ‘less than perfect’ is the only way to go. As the song, Don't Know muses, "I am open... I am different... I am perfectly broken and that's the way I want to be." Dark, messy, delicate, brash and bold. Perfectly Broken is the way we'd all be if we could. Sweeton makes it feel every bit possible.