Girl Band recently released a dizzying batch of tracks called The Early Years, and while some listeners are still revelling in the EP's disorienting effects, others have been fiending for another hit.
The noise-rock outfit's new LP, Holding Hands with Jamie, continues the band's tradition of making each release more exquisitely grotesque than the last. Early Years featured a cover of Blawan's "Why They Hide Their Bodies Under My Garage," visualized by director Bob Gallagher as a mortician dancing with his gutted patient, and still, Holding Hands with Jamie achieves higher levels of morbid ecstasy.
This is Girl Band's most nerve-shattering composition to date, executed with the same frenetic energy as their live sets. The nine-track LP was recorded at Dublin's Bow Lane Studios in less than 48 hours, just two days after the unit returned from their inaugural American tour. With the lasting momentum from their onslaught of sets, the session marked the finale of their excursion. The resulting recordings are the rawest Girl Band tracks yet recorded.
The album opens with the oscillating frequencies of "Umbongo," an ominous build-up to Girl Band's imminent sonic assault. The mechanical "Baloo" stutters and screeches into "The Last Riddler," a merry and menacing post-punk chantey. "Texting an Alien" sedates the listener with subtle pestilence, only to be jolted awake by album highlight "Fucking Butter." The final track, "The Witch Doctor," recites the tongue-twisting sermon that brings the record to its apocalyptic end.
Just musical enough to swallow, and just raucous enough to rattle your bones, Girl Band's Holding Hands with Jamie represents all the harmful and healing qualities of noise. It won't be long until you're hooked.
(Rough Trade)The noise-rock outfit's new LP, Holding Hands with Jamie, continues the band's tradition of making each release more exquisitely grotesque than the last. Early Years featured a cover of Blawan's "Why They Hide Their Bodies Under My Garage," visualized by director Bob Gallagher as a mortician dancing with his gutted patient, and still, Holding Hands with Jamie achieves higher levels of morbid ecstasy.
This is Girl Band's most nerve-shattering composition to date, executed with the same frenetic energy as their live sets. The nine-track LP was recorded at Dublin's Bow Lane Studios in less than 48 hours, just two days after the unit returned from their inaugural American tour. With the lasting momentum from their onslaught of sets, the session marked the finale of their excursion. The resulting recordings are the rawest Girl Band tracks yet recorded.
The album opens with the oscillating frequencies of "Umbongo," an ominous build-up to Girl Band's imminent sonic assault. The mechanical "Baloo" stutters and screeches into "The Last Riddler," a merry and menacing post-punk chantey. "Texting an Alien" sedates the listener with subtle pestilence, only to be jolted awake by album highlight "Fucking Butter." The final track, "The Witch Doctor," recites the tongue-twisting sermon that brings the record to its apocalyptic end.
Just musical enough to swallow, and just raucous enough to rattle your bones, Girl Band's Holding Hands with Jamie represents all the harmful and healing qualities of noise. It won't be long until you're hooked.