Customer Reviews

Album [Vinyl]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I heard about this band on Pitchfork a few weeks ago. The site was heaping buckets of praise on the young band's debut album, (the appropriately and simply titled 'Album'), and, even though I don't usually agree with PF's 'glowing' reviews, they're always worth -at least- checking out. Now, I'll be the first to admit that upon hearing the first 30 seconds or so of 'Lust For Life', I was a tad put-off by singer/songwriter Christopher Owens' nasally delivery, to the point of stopping the song and saying "That's that!" in regards to Girls. It wasn't until a good friend of mine, with an uncanny ear for great music called me last week to ask if i'd heard this band, which he'd been listening too, non-stop for weeks. My friend then preceded to embark on this half hour, suplerfluous-filled rant, which inevitably persuaded me to go back and give Girls another chance. Boy am I glad I did! If I'd just listened to a little more of 'Lust For Life' I would've realized that Owens so-called 'nasally delivery' was the perfect tongue-in-cheek sarcasm needed to give the bittersweet little lament of a track it's "OOMPH!". In fact, it's pretty much this formula for the entire album: take a rather somber subject matter, add an upbeat, indomitable delivery, and you have Girls. That may sound a bit repetetive, but I neglected to mention Owens' gifted vocal range. His voice can inflect hints of Elvis Costello, Morrisey, and even early-Beatles era John Lennon, (just take a gander at the no-fi gem 'God Damned' if you don't believe me). Nor have I mentioned JR White's skills as a producer/arranger. Each song on the album has it's own unique sound, almost as if it were produced by multiple people. It's that combined skill that keeps 'Album' sounding fresh track-after-track. I would usually take time to point out key tracks, but this album is loaded with them. My only qualm is the last song, "Darling". While not a bad song, I kinda expected an album of this magnitude to go out on a stronger note. Though, when almost every song before it an IMMEDIATE CLASSIC, it's hard to hold that against them, right? So, to make a long story short: Girls' "Album" is the BEST ALBUM of 2009. It's an album that you will always come back to. It's an album you can listen to when you're sad or happy; it's an album you can listen to while huddled around a fire with people you love, or driving to work on a rainy Monday morning. It's an album that will love you for who you are. Thanks Girls.

I can't believe there aren't more reviews for this. "Album" is enjoyable from beginning to end and the order of the songs lend themselves to the continuity of the disc. Every person will hear different influences here.. I hear Jesus & Mary Chain, 50's rock n' roll, 60's sunshine pop, 70's mellow rock, shoegaze, and current indie rock. The group never sounds like they are trying to sound a certain way... it just seems to flow naturally. I agree with E. Mcmenamin's review in that this COULD have been the summer album of the year if only it wasn't released in September.

San Francisco debut of gorgeously addictive, sublime relationship angst pop, couched in
stunning summery melodies. Lo-fi, indie psychedelic pop twang with a druggy, ethereal feel that
sucks you in like the good time you just can't turn down. Allusions to Beach Boys, Phil Spector,
Jesus & Mary Chain, Stratford 4, Beaujolais, Spiritualized.

On this album, Girls are able to merge a multitude of genres yet orchestrate them so that it all flows cohesively. The band shows a great ability to make some fantastic indie pop as heard on "Laura" but also phenomenal ballads like "Hellhole Ratrace"

This is a question you should certainly ask yourself with any album, even Album. Should you buy that one stand out track or buy the whole album and see if the band has anything else you'd like as well?

The answer to this question is never easy. You really only ever know after you've listened to all the other songs, and while the little preview bits certainly do help, they really help more to skew your opinion. If you don't like the first one you listen to, it reinforces the idea that you should just buy the stand out track and tell the other tracks to sod off.

Well I did buy the whole album, and was I glad I did?

Sort of.

I mean, I got Hellhole Ratrace, which I think is awesome, and a couple of other tracks I like (`Laura', `Ghostmouth', `Lauren Marie'). Even if they're part of the "My life sucks let us sing about it" sort of genre I still like them just fine. They even remind me of some of the older Pulp songs (Freaks; 'They Suffocate At Night') but a little more atmospheric, if that's even possible.

But, personally, I like to think if you buy an album and you find even one song you like, the purchase was worth it. If you just buy lots of single songs, you're left with either liking or disliking your entire purchase. I'll be sticking with purchase ambiguity, it makes me feel semi-better about technically buying songs I don't like.

But yeah, overall the album was good.

The debut album, "Album," by Girls contains three essential songs that amplify the entire piece. "Lust for Life," "Laura," and "Hellhole Ratrace" are spectacular songs that are polished, yet emotionally raw. There are some other decent highs on the album, but these tracks are definitely cream of the crop. I can definitely hear some Elvis Costello influence in Girls.

"Album" is instantly catchy jangle-psychedelia. Reverb and tremolo drenched guitars, wavery downtrodden lyrics and a mix of both up-tempo and down-tempo tracks -- it would have been the perfect summer record on both sunny and rainy days.

This was my favorite album last year and I find myself putting into many mixes for friends. Their sound is retro surf pop, yet sounds fresh and new. There are other bands attempting to blend surf pop, Spector wall of sound, but none are doing it as well or with as much of their own voice as Girls. They are in a league of their own and I think they are getting better with age. Great album the entire way through which sets a very distinct mood. Both fun and heartbreackingly honest. Give it a listen. If you get a chance to see them live..do it!

Indie-band Girls, consisting of 2 guys now based in San Francisco, has pretty much come out of nowhere (for me anyway) with this album, their debut. Musically they are hard to pinpoint but think of it as their verson of California sunshine pop with a twist--or two (acoustic Beck meets the Beach Boys).

"Album" (12 tracks; 44 min.) starts off with a teasingly short but brilliant "Lust For Life" (no, not a cover of the Iggy Pop tune), followed by a luscious ode to "Laura" and a dreamy "Ghost Mouth", wow, what a way to start off the album. "Hellhole Ratrace", which concludes the first half the album, is the most revelatory track on the album: a 7 min. epic, acoustic tune, sad but beautiful. Wow, I rate the first half of the album 4.5 stars. The second half kicks off with the promising "Headache", which is followed by the last true highlight of the album, "Summertime" (and the title of the song says it all). "Lauren Marie" brings a wall of underlying guitar-reverb to a gentle tune, quite good. But towards the end the album starts to falter a bit and loses direction. I rate the second half of the album 3.5 stars.

In all, "Album" is an excellent debut, and I can't wait to hear more from these guys. Meanwhile, I hope to catch them in concert sometime (are you reading this, Coachella organizers?). Finally, if you wonder where you can hear these guys, check out WOXY (BAM! The Future of Rock and Roll), the internet-only station that brings the best indie-music in the country, bar none (and where I found out about Girls).

I don't know, I just don't get the popularity surrounding this record. It just seems like a generic band to me. One of the guys can sing pretty well, but the other is too whiny for my personal taste, and despite plenty of really cool moments, the music does nothing to stand out. And lyrically, it's overly earnest, like the songwriting takes itself far too seriously, aiming for bar-band Kerouac or something, when the writers are not up to the challenge of moving past cliches dripping in sincerity.

I like the musical vibe around it, and I've got no problem with sincerity, but it all seems so hip -- just see the videos for these songs, with arty, good-looking hipsters running around in interesting places wearing trendy clothes -- that the earnestness of it comes across as off-putting to me.

There are plenty of cool moments on this album, don't get me wrong, but I feel that the Drums' _Summertime!_ EP does a much better job of capturing the same vibe -- California, late 50s/early 60s, earnestness, youth, golden summer, etc., albeit from a slightly more European/C86 sound.

To me, the Girls are trying to channel 50s rock, but they leave out the keys ingredients: rocking (not a whole lot you can really dance to here), sex (these songs are about relationships, but they're maudlin teenager lyrics instead of sex-crazed teenager lyrics), and a sense of humor (again, the protagonists of these songs take their plights so damn seriously). Just one man's opinion, though, and maybe if you're young and into being hip and have hip friends who do interesting, fun-loving, carefree things and like to talk about their hip relationships, then I can totally see why you'd really like _Album_. But for me, as someone who lives in California, this just seems like an iPod-commercial version of California. Cool backstory that the main dude in this band has, though, so maybe that understandably adds to Girls' popularity.