Girls: Album

Artist: Girls
Album: Album
Date Released: September 22, 2009
Genre: indie rock, indie pop
Rating: 8.3

Girls is a much-hyped duo based out of San Francisco -- two guys riding the wave of excitement generated by a trio of highly successful videos for "Hellhole Ratrace," "God Damned," and "Lust for Life," Girls have managed to weather this storm of unrealistic expectations by putting out a remarkably solid debut album simply called Album.

Their sound could be characterized as being a bit retro, with hints of the Beach Boys and other surfer rock bands of the 1960's. You could characterize Album like that, but you'd probably miss the point. Intermixed into their sound are hints of Spiritualized, Pavement and Dinosaur Jr. -- not to mention some dark and sobering lyrics not typically found in the jangly beach-rock of a different era.

Album is a contradiction in terms: the tracks are kinetic, bright and colored by high energy, but the lyrical tone is one of pain, frustration and coming to terms with life's difficulties. It's this juxtaposition (or is it irony?) that propels this album to a higher level. Album is a highly accessible and enjoyable album from a new band that has managed to live up to a lot of the hype.