Singer-songwriter Tristen Gaspadarek has spent the past few years studying the DNA of the pop hook. The fruit of that labor is audible on Charlatans at the Garden Gate, her debut release. Though only 28, Tristen describes herself as a "pop traditionalist": She believes current pop songwriters spend too much time creating cool atmospheres and not enough time crafting straightforward, singable lines. When she moved to Nashville to start her professional career, Tristen undertook a sort of systematic study of hit songs from the '60s and early '70s. She focused on the melodies and shapes, the ways certain phrases become instantly memorable....
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