GIRLS: ALBUM (True Panther, 2009)

I have to admit, I was really wary of this album because of the hype. The never-ending comparisons to Elvis Costello and The Beach Boys seemed too good to be true. More Pitchfork bullshit, I thought.

However, casting aside all of that and actually listening to it, I really like this album. The mishmash of pop, surf rock, and psychedelia is pure California but there is something very beautifully and uniquely sad about the way Girls execute it. Frontman Christopher Owens delivers his uncomplicated, lonely lyrics in such a way that it is jarring how easily relatable they are without seeming cheesy or contrived. "I'm sick and tired of the way that I feel," he sings on Hellhole Ratrace, and on Ghost Mouth, "Now I'm a ghost man in a ghost town and I just wish I could get out and get into heaven."

A lot of people have called this a great Summer record, and although there is a song about the season called Summertime, it seems mostly nostalgic, like Summer is just another thing Owens has lost. To me, Album is much more suited to the colorful cold that is Fall.

To Download (Via Mediafire):

Girls: Album (2009) (Re-uploaded, 10 November 2009)