One of the subplots in Ten Things I Hate About You is how Julia Stiles’ character Kat is all edgy and listens to “angry girl music of the indie rock persuasion.” Then she goes to a Letters to Cleo concert, and it’s like, huh? Not that Letters To Cleo weren’t cool, but as Heath Ledger says, they’re no Raincoats.

The Icicles from Grand Rapids, Michigan could’ve totally been on the soundtrack to that movie. They’re poppy and fun with just enough of a girl power punch. I wanted to check out their new album, Arrivals and Departures, because the publicist compared them to All Girl Summer Fun Band, one of my favorites. Well, I guess you could call The Icicles a mostly-girl winter fun band (their drummer’s a dude), but they don’t have much of AGSFB’s punk rock snark. And that’s okay. The music is straight-up sweet, and after a few listens I found myself singing along. It’s hard to dislike an album with a song about sung from the perspective of an indoor cat who just wants to go outside (”Gedge’s Song”)—not to mention the cute knee socks on the cover. Smack in the middle is “Snowbird,” a track all about yearning for summer. That’s definitely appropriate this time of year. But frosty weather has its merits, too.