The other day I heard about this sweet new buzz band called Girls. Apparently the lead singer used to be in Children in God, but isn't anymore, cos he didn't agree with their ideals. Can respect that. Anyway, this guy, Christopher Owens in fact, wrote, recorded, and released what is in my opinion the best album of 2009, and I'm going to say why.
Thinking about what makes this band likeable. I know it's sometimes irrelevant and nothing to do with the music, but this band have an incredible back story. First of all, lead singer Owens was born into the Children of God cult, which is pretty huge. This is one of the most controversial religious cults/sects with about as much controversy surrounding it as Michael Barrymore's patio, but let's not let this detract us from the music. Don't really want to play the 'back story' card.
Think this band is mainly likeable because, simply, the songs are brilliant. Owens knows how not to over complicate songs, and makes relatively simple chord structures sound completely original. He also has a way round a vocal melody, and the lyrics are some of the most beautiful I've heard in a long time.
"I don't want to cry my whole life through/I want to do some laughing to" sings Owens in Hellhole Ratrace. It's simple, but that's why this album works, and why I think this is the greatest album from the past year.
It's completely honest, heart on the line, and effortless. Owens claimed in a recent interview that these were the first songs he had ever written, yet it sounds like he's been doing it for years. Some of these songs sound like well established classics. 'Headache' wouldn't sound out of place on a classic Smiths record, 'Hellhole Ratrace' a classic far in its own right.
And that's probably why I like this album this much. Girls have made a classic record from the off, whether they did it intentionally or not. It's an album that wouldn't sound out of place stood next to a Beach Boys record or something more modern, it has a timeless feel about it. I sometimes feel some bands try too hard to hit a zeitgeist, but Girls have done something that is completely their own sound and, in the end, it works. It's what all good albums are. It just sounds completely and utterly natural. It sounds like a band who are from San Francisco. It makes you want to find out more about the people involved. It just works, far beyond whether it should or not.
Whether the general public will actually buy it is another matter.
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