Vivian Girls have been universally hyped on the back of their blend of “50s surf rock, 60s girl groups, 70s punk, 80s noise-pop and 90s lo-fi” (courtesy official Inertia bio). They certainly live up to these descriptions, and their self-titled debut garnered high positions on many of the globe’s more fashionable music blogs ‘best of 2008′ lists. So how are they sounding in late 2009?
The trio are still very much relying on spiky guitars and cymbal clatter to underpin their hit and run pop songs. Sometimes the references previously mentioned are worn overtly – ‘Tension’s drum intro could almost be a sample of The Ronettes with the following wall of sound definitely aiming for Spector-esque grandeur. Mostly, though, the band slam through a buzzed up run of bubblegum-pop laced with gravel. ‘The End, ‘When I’m Gone’, ‘Out For The Sun’…the tracks run through with backbeat pace and tinny guitar strumming. It’s definitely contagious and the massed momentum across the 13 tracks has a head spinning effect.
To my ears, though, there is something of a problem. I remember reading (and I apologise because I can’t remember who wrote this and who to credit for it) that you should ask if you enjoy something because you enjoy it, or because it reminds you of something you enjoy. And listening to Everything Goes Wrong, that is the nagging thought that I can’t get out of my head. Giving away my age and my antipodean bias (the sounds of which I’m willing to concede probably didn’t make their way to Brooklyn en masse), I can’t help but think of all the late 80s/early 90s bands I loved which sound remarkably similar to 2009′s Vivian Girls. The sprawling harmonies and guitar rush sound remarkably like very early Hummingbirds. The pastiche of 60s pop and noise is straight out of the 80s RatCat textbook (listen to the intro of ‘Tension’ and compare it with RatCat’s ‘Killing Joke’ – quite spooky). The guitar textures and relatively lo-fi production remind me of early 90s Sydney-indie darlings Swirl. The harmonies remind me of The Clouds…you get the picture. Everything is reminding me of things I love. But the Vivian Girls don’t quite have the pop melody chops of those forebears, so haven’t yet carved their own niche into my consciousness. Which is not to say that I’m not enjoying Vivian Girls, but I have to admit I’m enjoying going back and listening to those old things even more.
Everything Goes Wrong is a good album. And the repetitions of history point to the idea that every 10 years or so, the music world needs to be flushed out with simple, noisy, unpretentious pop. So I’m going to give Vivian Girls the benefit of the doubt, but with the two disclaimers that I think they’ll need to start bringing their own thing to the table in the near future and that, if you are someone who has fallen under the spell, make sure you go and check out some of those other things previous decades have provided.
Adrian Elmer
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