Next Thing is the 51st release from New York songwriter Greta Kline, the 21st under the Frankie Cosmos moniker, and her second recorded in a studio with a full band. To my ears, Next Thing is where Frankie Cosmos changes from Kline’s bedroom project to a full-fledged band. While 2014’s Zentropy felt like Kline backed up by some talented friends, Next Thing is filled with well-worked, subtly complex two-minute masterpieces of ‘50s bubblegum-inspired, Slumberland-esque power-pop. On the surface, Kline’s lyrics are quintessentially, almost stereotypically twee—adventures, friends, break-ups, enjoyable snack foods—but after a few listens, her lyrics unfold and open into something remarkable. They’re inspiring and humorous, playfully on-the-nose and surprisingly sneaky. At their best, her songs create much-needed anthems for the formerly painfully shy. Next Thing’s highlight, “Embody,” is her most distilled mantra (“Someday in bravery/I’ll embody/All the grace and lightness”) for those of us still involved in the lifelong process of coming out of our shells. JOSHUA JAMES AMBERSON