Griffin Winton set out to make a rock album. And by God, he did it. Best All-Around Boy covers a vast spectrum of rock ’n’ roll from 70s grooves and guitar harmonies (“Another Cracker at the Crossroads”), slow-burn, slacker indie rock (“Grow Ur Own Boyfriend”), and ecstatic, white-knuckle dessert rock (“MAGA MILF”). Recorded over two days in the dead of winter in Nashville, Tennessee, the result is a raucous 8 song cycle that balances sophomoric, class-clown hi-jinks with a take-no-prisoners approach to rock.

Two things are front and center on Best All-Around Boy: the lyrics and the band. It feels like Winton is singing directly to the listener as he deconstructs modern masculinity in excruciating detail. In the tradition of songwriters like John Prine, Warren Zevon, and Father John Misty, Winton cuts his observations with humor.

“Balls Deep” conceals sincere pontifications on personal and social responsibility through jocular anecdotes and non sequiturs. “MAGA MILF” is a hilarious and brutal takedown of pop culture nationalism. “lotr,” meanwhile, is told from the point-of-view of a fuck-boy with no self-awareness. By balancing humor with startling insight, Winton is able to tackle political subjects like race, gender, and inequality without feeling preachy.

Once you get past the punchline, the next thing you’ll notice is the band absolutely crushing beneath (sometimes beside and sometimes on top of) the vocal. Winton assembled some of his oldest friends in Nashville to make Best All-Around Boy a reality.

Drummer Austin Drewry and bass player Hunter Mulkey alternate between highly combustible blues rock (“Cutthroat”), contagiously bouncy college rock (“(You Don’t Know) How to Have Fun!”), and ramshackle folk-rock (“Balls Deep”) with ease. As they do, Winton and guitarist Cole Clarke fill out the sound with everything from breezy phrases and soft textures evoking Wilco or Yo La Tango to fuzzy, skinned-cat guitar freak-outs reminiscent of Jack White and Dinosaur Jr.

No matter the sound or subject, Best All-Around Boy is infectiously fun. Over it’s brief run time, Winton and the band take listeners on a journey through emotional states and have a blast doing it—even when the emotions themselves may be unflattering or unpleasant. Above all, Best All-Around Boy is joyful. And in bleak times such as these, we’ve never needed joy more.