Nashville quintet Wild Cub more than killed it at Seattle’s Capitol Hill Block Party. After months of listening to tracks of theirs on the radio (thank you, KEXP), the band has now officially impressed us just as much live as they have recorded — if not more so.

Returning recently from Brooklyn, frontman Keegan Dewitt was searching for a group in Nashville with whom he could truly blend. In Wild Cub he found it. The group formed in 2011, during which time they were touring under Dewitt’s name and didn’t officially adopt the Wild Cub name until early 2012 — the same year they left New York’s CMJ Music marathon as one of the “2012 Acts to Watch.” In their debut year, they released “Youth” in both the US and the UK to winning applause from press and audience alike; it seems difficult, in fact, to find a dissenting voice who will speak ill of these guys and this album.

When listening to the band’s debut album, Youth, it would be all too easy to just put “Thunder Clatter” on repeat for a very long time and dance around until you fell asleep. While this would certainly be very fun and very enjoyable, it would be doing a serious disservice to Youth and to Wild Cub as a whole. This band has way more to offer than simply their admittedly fun single.

The full-band fun comes out on almost every song of the album, although does particularly thrives on the aforementioned “Thunder Clatter” and on “Colour” (they’re cool enough to spell it the British way). That’s what makes Wild Cub so wildly distinguishable – their unabashed acceptance of the fact that they’re just having fun. With their driving and thriving beats, there’s just not that much to hate. This might spell a recipe for a great live show and a shortcoming on their recorded stuff, but they manage to bring that lively energy likewise throughout the album.

Since Youth was released, Wild Cub has been touring all over the country and now they’re back at it. The group’s set at Capitol Hill Block Party kicked off their summer tour, but won’t be their last summer festival; for Chicago folks, get ready for Wild Cub at Lollapalooza on August 3.

Youth is available for download on their Bandcamp page and you can (and should) check out when the band is coming to your city on their official website.