Tuesday's Recommended Release (Part 1)

2009 is gonna go down as a year of scaling back and redefining the goals of our lives. Thanks to the economic backlash of lying and cheating to get to the top most of the world has felt an economic crunch and scaled back to the bare essentials and started to look in old, forgotten places for comfort. Instead of material wealth and possessions more and more folks look towards spending time with family and friends, hanging out or listening to good tunes for a good time and in turn the artists that we look to for entertainment have also scaled back. It has been the year of lo-fi music, partially out of necessity and partially because it mimics the recessed life most of us are living.

As nice as it has been to have artists scaling back with us none of these lo-fi acts have done as good a job to soundtrack these trying times as Girls are able to do with their debut album Album. Released on True Panther Sounds in conjunction with Matador Records, Album is a record of the simple desires of life; love, companionship, dancing, and fun. At times it can be peppy and upbeat at others its downtrodden and melancholy, but that's what life is. The series of trials and tribulations starts of with "Lust for Life", which immediately declares it's desires with the opening line "I wish I had a boyfriend, I wish I had a loving man in my life". It continues with the wish for a father and the picture becomes a little bit clearer, he's just looking for a little direction to guide him through this life. From there the band continues to dream in moderation throughout all of their songs.

Now I know that it's not the most uplifting story, nor is it a dream big scenario in any way, instead Girls are keeping things real, setting modest goals for themselves and hoping everything turns out okay. There's a lot of people that feel this way right now. Folks that have been out of work for months just want an okay paying job to keep putting food on the table or a roof over their heads, but everyday they head out looking for jobs that just aren't there. These are the people that need to be held up in these trying times and amazingly a band that grew up in a cult and wound up on the streets in his teen years is the one offering the inspiration to get through our day-to-day slog. It's an impressive message and it transcends the basic, raw emotions of the current lo-fi movement.

Instead of pushing all the pretty pop music behind noise Girls revels in it, letting all the harmonies and melodies play out in front and lead the way through their emotional ride. It's the music that makes the realistic dreams sound so positive and hopeful, with the psychedelic tinges and bluesy riffs guiding us through it all. At times it can be a bit Elvis Costello at others a bit Jesus and Mary Chain, but when it comes down to it Girls is a blender of genres tossed together to enlighten us all and bring us up off our lowest lows.

Now I don't claim that this music is going to "save your life" or be the answer to all your problems, but it's nice to hear an artist that is struggling right along with us with a generally positive outlook on it all. There are times throughout Album where things seem a little bleak but they vanish at the sign of the next upbeat track to dance you through till the next wave of bad hits. This is a perfect record for these times and with "Lust for Life" and "Hellhole Ratrace" it also has two of the best songs released all year. Pick it up today, you won't regret it.
Girls - "Lust for Life"
Girls - "Hellhole Ratrace"