Girls followup album to “Album,” “Father, Son, Holy Ghost,” will be released on September 9th, but here’s a preliminary look at the album in 140 or fewer characters.
1. Honey Bunny – Beach Boys style opener, that slows into an old country ballad, about the fact that girls don’t like him.
2. Alex- Hints of 80s vocals with 90s radio pop rock. Musically happy, lyrically lovelorn, and very much in the vein of “Album” (prev album)
3. Die – Girls have turned into a heavier Oasis with a Blue Oyster Cult feel, surging into The Stooges crossed with Metallica. And I like it
4. Saying I Love You – Back to the Beach Boys, with a breakup/cheating song. Details unclear, but Owens seems sad: “You made me blue.” Hmmm
5. My Ma – Lots of reverb, Band of Horses style vocals, and oozing slide guitar let this one flow quite nicely.
6. Vomit – We’ve all heard and fallen in love with this depressingly awesome song that ends up as Great Gig In The Sky. Listen. Now.
7. Just A Song – This song confuses me, but not necessarily in a bad way. Apparently love is just a song. Who knew?
8. Magic – Good groove with a bit of a Beatles sound.
9. Forgiveness – Slow soothing songs seem to be the direction Girls are heading in. “No one’s gonna find any answers.” Pretty sweet song.
10. Love Like A River – Old school country rock song. Probably one of the simplest but best songs on the whole album.
11. Jamie Marie – One vocalist. Two guitars. Raw recording with brutally honest lyrics. “I miss the way life was when you were my girl.”
Closing thoughts: The album is a bit all over the place, with their Beach Boys stylings of “Album” still shining through on a bunch of tracks, interspersed with their new psychedelic sound a-la Pink Floyd. But the album truly shines during the last few songs, where they dig deep musically and come up with some beautiful country style rock songs, bringing a very Wilco theme to the album’s close, without copying or sounding derivative. Hopefully these last track are indicative of where there sound is going.
