At long last, the debut album by Glasgow / London based band Golden Grrrls. We’re super excited to release Golden Grrrls, it being the culmination of a journey which began with the first Night School and Golden Grrrls release.
Glasgow’s Golden Grrrls are Eilidh Rodgers, Ruari MacLean and Rachel Aggs. What began as bedroom guitar experimentation soon bloomed into a fully-formed pop language inspired by the 80s New Zealand and Australian indie pop scenes, DIY punk and Glasgow’s own rich pop history (think The Vaselines, The Pastels). Drummer Eilidh Rodgers’ inventive, loose-cannon drumming and lead vocals have framed MacLean’s baritone from the beginning, with newest member Rachel Aggs (also of Trash Kit) bringing an effortless melodic sensibility on guitar and backing vocals. Golden Grrrls’ first releases exemplified the lo-fi aesthetic they came from. Now long sold out, the two previous 7”s on Night School married the roughed-up recording dynamic with a boisterous, inventive melodic sense that has blossomed further on this, their self-titled debut LP.
For Golden Grrrls the band has written eleven perfect songs about life’s realities dressed in three-part harmonies, heart-tugging changes and a playing style derived from punk and classic crash-pop enthusiasm. Like contemporaries Twerps and Sea Lions, they’ve joined a storied lineage of pop essentialists such as The Clean, The Bats and The Feelies — bands who eschew complexity for concision and never sacrifice melody to mere primitivism. Each chord, beat and vocal line is perfectly placed, essential and simply has to exist as it is in its moment in time.
With all three members singing throughout, the harmonies and guitar lines interweaving, there’s a warmth in every song that adds to the poignant punch of the album as a whole. Opener New Pop is a blast of breakneck spiked power pop while Think Of The Ways is a sweetly melancholic song that plays MacLean and Rodgers’ vocals against each other. Take Your Time and Date It are a punked-up indie pop gems, while album closer We’ve Got… is the catchiest ‘anthem’ you’ll hear from a band that would be repulsed at the idea of writing anthems.
