An
exceptional debut from South London’s Goat
Girl. This is a grimy, grubby record, which has elements of punk and
grunge, but it also slows things down to find a sort of askew DIY shoegaze, specifically
for those with dirt on their shoes. This feels like an album that should be
played in a sweaty Camden bar, but at the same time there are string flourishes
and harmonies that would be more at home in a theatre. Lyrically, it deals with
some serious stuff: ‘Burn at the Stake’ is a vitriolic attack on the Tories and
the DUP (and I mean really
vitriolic), while ‘Creep’ is about a guy who films a woman on the train without
her consent, and is delivered with the anger of what feels like personal
experience (‘I want to smash your head in’). Goat Girl is an album of lyrical (and sometimes musical) ugliness
(e.g., ‘Country Sleaze’ = ‘I’m disgusting, I’m a shame to this so-called human
race’ + the most jagged of jagged guitars). But it’s also beautiful (see ‘Lay
Down’, which has a Nirvana: Unplugged
vibe to it) and occasionally downright bouncy (see ‘Cracker Drool’ or ‘The Man’
– the latter perhaps being the best way in to the album, while not necessarily
being the album at its best). Goat Girl
have a unique voice, and – on what doesn’t feel at all like a debut record –
serve up self-assured, but also unashamedly damaged, material for the
Brexit/#metoo/Trump world.
sample track: The Man