Girlpool is Cleo Tucker and Harmony Tividad, a duo who take a mix of White Stripes circa “We’re Gonna Be Friends” add the instrumental sound of the late lamented Y Pants and the bottle but not power of Haim and the faded summer (though not the sound) of a Best Coast.
By which I mean they sound bluesy and depressed in a kiddie parker kinda way. Like the screams that punctuate “Jane”. “Jane” is a real good song, but “Slutmouth” is a masterpiece of strange distractedness, a singsong a Simone de Beauvoir which sees nihilism in the lowered expectations of going to school.
Harmony told “Rookie” (here) “My dad’s a musician, and he was always showing me his music. It quickly became pretty evident that music was the only thing that really mattered to me.” I think we all know that feeling but we can’t all bring it forth the way Girlpool can on “American Beauty”, a blues benched sex song with a catchy little hook, “feeling fine”. I wonder what Jerry Garcia would have to say!
The duo are so good at small scale catchy licks, “Blah Blah Blah”, the opening track, a bad boyfriend rant somewhere between sarcasm, satire and sutures, is completely addictive and song after song works. It is small scale except for the hooks which are pretty damn big and never stop to catch a breath, they just keep on hitting you.
Pass on Haim, pass on Best Coast, but leave yourself open to this terrific L.A. band, a weird proto feminism about railing at diminished romantic and other expectations.
