It’s been four years since Girl Band put out their debut album Holding Hands with Jamie, and if the single “Shoulderblades” is any clue as to how huge the second album is going to be then it’s safe to say it’s… going to be a doozy.
Girl Band has this thing about them — some kind of energy that you can’t harvest from any other band, at least not anything I’ve ever heard. I’ve spent these four years trying to think of a song that’s comparable to the likes of “Paul” and have come up dry until just now. They’re dark and heavy, but absolutely electric down to an atomic level. I don’t think that any other combination of creative minds would be able to come up with this mixture of screeching punk vocals, dizzyingly fluid basslines, walls of sound from a fender and a lineup of distortion pedals, and drums that are almost understated in the control and intent with which they boom and drive everything into the stratosphere. They’ve pretty much reinvented how to use their instruments, foregoing melody for a pure feeling of calculated chaos.
The video featuring dancer Oona Doherty does the same thing. It reaches great extremes through the minutia in the conscious energy of her movements and the quickly shifting emotions she wears on her face and in her body. The song, as the lyrics go, “acts like a tease” in the buildup and release — but by the end, in a pool of blood, you’re satisfied in a very primal way.
Watch the video now and look out for the new LP The Talkies out via Rough Trade September 27th. Follow them on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter; listen on Spotify.