The big story about Girls is how singer/songwriter Christopher Owens grew up as part of a cult. This fascinating back story may explain some of the more enthusiastic reviews of the album. It transforms his lyrics from “clumsy” to “raw” and gives his off key vocals more gravitas than it possibly deserve.
The album was recorded by Owens and musician/producer Chet Jr White with the help of some drummers and little else. I like the lo-fi amateurish feel, it works on the more spirited songs on the album. Opener ‘Lust For Life’ is a classic mix of upbeat pop sounds with downbeat vocals. And ‘Laura’ continues in the same vein, sounding very much like a 90s English indie act, no influence of the Santa Cruz setting in evidence.
The slower songs work less well, making the cardinal sin of being pretty dull. ‘Ghost Mouth’ and ‘God Damned’ pass without incident before the early surf-fuzz pastiche ‘Big Bad Motherfucker’ comes along. The kind of song that Yo La Tengo do so much better. ‘Hellhole Ratrace’ is 7 tedious minutes that I’ll never get back, and the album improves little from there on in.
‘Summertime’ is one of the better songs of the second half, injecting some much needed energy into the proceedings and on ‘Lauren Marie’ he almost succeeds in producing a decent Beach Boys song. This purple patch ends with the My Bloody Valentine fuzz and squall of ‘Morning Light’ before coming crashing to the ground again.
Closer ‘Darling’ is possibly the worst of the bunch, listless rockabilly – not a genre that is going to win many fans.
Overall, despite failing on many counts, it is a debut that shows promise. Owens is clearly capable of writing a good song, and the lyrics are interesting as well as I’ll definitely be looking out for album number 2, but I doubt I’ll be returning to this one very often.
6/10
by Dorian Rogers, Sept 2009
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