New Music: Girls

Love Love love this record!!  I seriously can't get enough.  I'm new to the Girls fan club, but after this record I might become president.  Father, Son, Holy Ghost is addictive.  It's 60's rock.  It's 70's rock.  It's not really 80's or 90's rock.  It's just awesome.  The record could be described as being all over the place...in a good way.  Some of the songs are very AM radio, others lean toward prog rock/metal and some are shoegazy romps.   You'd think with all of that, the record would be incongruent.  But, it's not.  It blends together and wraps you in a musical burrito of yumminess.

The common theme of this record is love.  And, Girls have done a great job of spooling together a record that gets ya right where it hurts.  Whether you are falling in or out of love, there is something for everyone.  The album opens with the very upbeat "Honey Bunny" and rolls into one of my favorite songs "Alex" with it's simple lo-fi melodies and lazy vocals.  It's really simple: "Alex has blue eyes. Well, who cares?  Well, I do."  It has this summer fun quality about the song that you can just picture a sunny day in the park.  "Die" is an homage to 70's metal, almost sounding like Muse, but not as produced.  "Saying I Love You" is a really sweet love song that feels like something I would've heard in the back of my Mom's VW Bug driving to Florida in the 70's.  "My Ma" is reminiscent of Cat Power's "The Greatest" or something by The Promise Ring and is sleepy and sweet.  While the name of "Vomit" is not something that is flattering, it's probably the most complex song on the record.  I can't help but think Pink Floyd when I hear it, but then it hits the crescendo with janky guitars and takes a My Morning Jacket turn, with Christopher Owens ranting "Come into my heart" over and over as this wailing female vocal comes in just as the emotion washes over you.  I have a feeling that this is the song to hear live.  My next favorite song is "Love Like a River" which also features that same Gospel choir as the perfect backdrop to another song that gives me chills.  The heartbreaking "Forgiveness" is the opus of the record at almost eight minutes and it's quite the tugger of heartstrings:

"Nothing's gonna get any better
If you don't have a little hope
If you don't a little love
In your soul

Nothing's gonna get any better
If you're drowning in your fear
If you've got nothing but sorrow
In your soul

And you'll have to forgive me brother
And you'll have to forgive me sister
And I'll have to forgive you if we're ever gonna move on

No one's gonna find any answers
If you're looking in the dark
When you're looking for the reason
To give up

No one's gonna find any answers
If you're just trying to hide
From the things you know inside
Are the truth"

Father, Son, Holy Ghost is not a record to be missed and is one of my favorites for this year so far.  You can stream it below for a limited time: