"That universe has always been make-believe, and I left it behind on top of a parking garage in Minneapolis..."

Noah and Jet's friendship started with an honest-to-god, physical CD: Jackson Pollock & The Big Sneeze's debut album, Oceancake. It's at one of their concerts that he first feels it-the pull of another world, one where he and Jet could be a couple. All it takes to cross over is a single kiss, but Noah hesitates, and the better, braver world escapes him.

Now stuck in this teen romance gone wrong, Noah Baxter's life unravels to the backdrop of a carefully curated playlist, and before the last track plays, he'll hit every wrong note, give up, paint some robots, steal a fish from the local Chinese restaurant, take a punch, and stage the performance of the century-all so someone else might have a shot at everything he passed up.

Brimming with fictional bands and musical gestures, THIS DISC HAS TWO SIDES reads like your favorite playlist with its resonant story of love, loss, and coming up for air. By the end, you'll be singing along with Oceancake's opening number:

I can't dance, can't dance, can't dance

Oh, I can't dance, can't dance, can't dance

Can't dance with my foot in my mouth