Girls debut, Album, is getting some internet hype, and a lot of it focuses on Christopher Owens upbringing and escape from the Children of God cult. While certainly unusual and worthy of telling, if you just take a look at the music, you probably wouldn’t think twice about religion because the focus here is on…well, girls.
This is a breezy pop collection of tracks about heartache that plays in a mix-tape fashion. The strongest songs show real promise; “Hellhole Ratrace” is intoxicating in its simplicity, and slowly building climax, “Lust for Life” puts on an Elvis Costello mask and shimmy’s with mimicking vocal inflections and “Darling” is pitch perfect pop. The tunes do genre jump a bit, Owens writes lyrics and sounds like a lazy David Byrne on one track then resembles a speed freaking Bob Geldof on another. “Laura” has a 1950’s Doo-wop feel to it, “Headache” could be a love song to heroin with its slow drawl, and “Summertime” says it all with it’s title. The vocals try too hard at times to be clever but Girls manage to throw in enough drone and touches of My Bloody Valentine, most noticeably on “Morning Light”, to keep Album from getting sappy and predictable, an overall good first effort from the duo.
Girls debut, Album, is getting some internet hype, and a lot of it focuses on Christopher Owens upbringing and escape from the Children of God cult. While certainly unusual and worthy of telling, if you just take a look at the music, you probably wouldn’t think twice about religion because the focus here is on…well, girls. 
