Clorox Girls

J’aime Les Filles, the much-anticipated third full-length album from Portland, OR’s Clorox Girls, twitters with hectic pop-fuelled buzz saw styling. This album is punk rock perforated with ’60s sunshine and garage rock bluster. Engineered by Pat Kearns (Exploding Hearts), J’aime Les Filles delivers a much welcome dose of polarised pop punk that sounds as much like a surfboard soundtrack as it does street slick anthems. First formed in Oakland, CA in 2003, the Clorox Girls were housemates to crust punks in a warehouse and decided to create some pop-infused punk rock gusto to break up the monotony of what their roomies were getting off on. The result is a sound that brings to mind California crooning, the pleasant (dis)harmonies of the Damned and early `80s Los Angeles influences that tap into the likes of the Dickies. Clorox Girls also get flirty with French, delivering the delightful ’50s throwback "Le Banana Split” en Francais. "Flowers of Evil” treads slightly more on the grainy edge, tilting towards ragged tinges of nihilism, but it’s such a subtle inclination considering the bouncing, melodious path the rest of the song takes, and "Looking At You” plays out like the Clorox Girls’ answer to the Angels’ "My Boyfriend’s Back.” This is an album full of cross-references and cross wires, but it’s a mix up that’s in no need of fixing.