Music history is rich with rock bands fronted by dynamic duos. Looking to carry on this yin and yang tradition are singer Emily Armstrong and female guitarist Siouxsie Medley, who front Los Angeles’ Dead Sara — an electrifying four-piece rock band whose supercharged music is propelled by Medley’s exhilarating, monster guitar riffs and Armstrong’s powerful, wailing vocals. Dead Sara also includes bassist Chris Null and drummer Sean Friday, who funnel the ferocious spectacle of the band’s high-energy live performance into their self-titled debut album. The debut will be released on the band’s own label, Pocket Kid Records through Fontana Universal.

Produced by Noah Shain, the debut album is a versatile showcase for the band’s talent, veering effortlessly from melodic, soaring tunes such as “We Are What You Say” and “Whispers & Ashes.” To bruised, power ballads like “Dear Love” and “Face to Face,” that are combined with the fierce, blaring tracks as, “Timed Blues,” “Test My Patience,” and Dead Sara’s first infectious single “Weatherman”.

“That diversity is what’s honest and real to us,” Medley says. “We love classic rock, blues, folk, metal, punk, gospel, all of it, so we didn’t want to put restrictions on ourselves genre-wise. We just knew we wanted the music to sound really raw and primal, even a bit unsettling.”

Lyrically, many of Dead Sara’s songs are survival anthems informed by their struggle to stay true to their vision of being a powerful, uncompromising female-fronted rock band.

“It was difficult to deal with people’s ideas about what we should be doing,” Armstrong says. “I ended up shutting myself off from everyone and feeling really crushed. I didn’t really come out of it until some of my close friends and fans of the band expressed concern, saying ‘What the hell are you doing? You can’t give up.’”

Armstrong and Medley met as music-obsessed teenagers growing up in Los Angeles and have been playing together in one capacity or another ever since. The two musicians are a study in contrast onstage: Medley remains rooted in place — a solid, steady anchor for Armstrong’s almost unhinged performances. A skilled vocal stylist, Armstrong who can handle blues, soul, and folk-rock with equal aplomb, will unleash a guttural howl one minute and trill as pretty as a songbird the next.