Girls Names -
The New Life (2013)
I recently discovered this Belfast band my local indie station. Over the past week I've listened to their debut mini-LP and follow up LP,
Dead to Me, and now their brand new LP released this week. I first described their sound as a more up-tempo and surfy
Crystal Stilts, essentially combining noise pop, post-punk, shoegaze, jangle pop, garage rock revival, and surf rock. Surf?! Yeah, it works pretty well with the jangly pop. While on Spotify, I previewed the title track for the new album (below) and was really impressed, even more so than with anything from the other two releases. Having now heard the album twice, it's clear they've dropped the surf aspect of their sound and I get a slightly more bleak, post-punk vibe out of it though still jangly.
The Smiths and
The Cure come through more than on the previous releases. Their sound also makes me think of
Violens, who are also heavily influenced by 80s jangle pop and post-punk. So as you can gather it's not the most original sound, but it's a very solid album.