Four years after releasing his full-length debut album Pelago, Ryan Hurd has returned with Midwest Rock & Roll, which also marks his first release as a signee to Big Machine Records. The Chicago-born singer-songwriter co-wrote each of the LP’s dozen tracks, many of which draw influence from his Illinois upbringing. Midwest Rock & Roll opens with its title track, a gritty celebration of youthful love and blossoming adulthood in a place that’s “so damn freezing all year” you have to “make out in cars.” Sonically, that tune recalls the “dirt emo” leanings of Hurd’s contemporary Ruston Kelly, and many other tracks on the record dip into the same kind of rough-hewn melancholy, like the antisocial-but-romantic “This Party Sucks” and “All Night Long Days,” a slick, poppy rock song à la Kip Moore or Eric Church. Other standouts include “Funerals,” an especially raw moment in which Hurd admits that some losses make him angry while some make him sad, and closing track “The Last Song I’ll Ever Write,” a cautiously optimistic wish for lasting love. Co-writers on Midwest Rock & Roll include Randy Montana and Joey Hyde. Hurd co-produced the LP with Aaron Sterling.