The lazily titled debut from Girls is dropped just in time to make you wish it was the beginning of June again (minus all the rain NYC got this year). Or perhaps you are from a place where summer-like weather is abundant year-round and you can enjoy Album in its proper context. The duo that make up Girls, Christopher Owens, singer/songwriter and Chet “JR” White, producer, hail from the hippie haven that is San Francisco, so any music they create is bound to conjure up memories of that one summer that you were really into The Grateful Dead. Oh, that was just me?
Many blogs have given Album the way-too-casually-tossed around stamp of “one of the best of 2009.” I’m not sold on that statement (I never am) but I realize the beauty of Girls is the simple songwriting technique paired with all the lo-fi grittiness the indie world has come to love. Additionally, Girls is one of the few musical outfits whose background story enhances the music for me. Owens was born into the Children of God cult where he received his first musical training busking on the streets for money. Surprisingly, the most beautiful and heartbreaking songs on Album do not recount the nightmare that must have been Owens‘s childhood. They are the product of a more brutal tragedy: heartbreak. “Hellhole Retrace” has a dreary yet hypnotic sound that lives up to its depressing title (and also happens to have the same verse melody as “Ghostmouth”) while the sunnier sounding “Lust For Life” and “Laura” have faster tempos and more playful vocals but still contain lyrics about unrequited love that are so simply true anyone with half a heart can’t help but sympathize.
All in all, Album is something you will listen to over and over again (I dare you to not get “Lust For Life” stuck in your head after only one listen) and its California-style aesthetic might be just what you need to stay warm this winter.
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