Have you ever been listening to your Top 25 on iTunes and found yourself thinking “Wow, this is great but what I would really love right now is a mix of Buddy Holly and psychedelic rock sung by someone who sounds slightly like Elliot Smith?” While it may not be the most direct line of thinking, after listening to San Francisco- based indie rock band Girls you cannot help but wonder how the strange musical compilation didn’t enter your perception earlier. Main songwriter and singer (as well as former Children of God cult member) Christopher Owens seems to weave a hypnotic web with his voice and simple stripped down lyrics that makes an album so emotionally diverse that even Pitchfork had very few bad things to say about it. The beauty of the album also lies in its’ throwbacks to past decades of rock history – the 50s, 60s, and 70s are all here but with a twist that does not make it seem you just spent ten dollars on an album you could have borrowed from your parents.

A definite standout would include the almost eight-minute long epic that is “Forgiveness.” Basic acoustic guitar descends into ripped-up riffs as Owens gives lyrics with such depth of life advice you wish your high school valedictorian had said it. On the opposite spectrum, there is the track “Magic”. With its’ charming chants of “la” and peppy drumming, one YouTube viewer (yes I read the comments) remarked that the song maybe sounded like “a really cool band playing at a really cool high school dance in a really cool teen comedy” without it being in any way a bad thing. Cool indeed.

Girls – Forgiveness

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BONUS TRACK: Check out some of Girls‘ 50s influence with this classic Buddy Holly track:

Buddy Holly – Everyday

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