Vivian Girls – Everything Goes Wrong

This record fizzes and pops, and has the same tough, spiky, weird gaucheness that Lush had…

This record fizzes and pops, and has the same tough, spiky, weird gaucheness that Lush had…

 

http://www.intherredrecords.com http://www.konkurrent.nl

 

Now this is a great LP, and quite a turn around for your critic, who couldn’t stand their debut effort. Where previously the whole sloppy flippant air that the band flaunts rubbed me up completely the wrong way, now there’s (dare I say for a female trio) added balls and vitality. This record fizzes and pops, and has the same tough, spiky, weird gaucheness that Lush had when they started out. Manic, puppyish spurts like When I’m Gone, The Desert or Survival are good examples of this.

 

The focus is much sharper, boundaries are drawn, and the shambolic nature of the delivery is cleverly balanced (or seems to be cleverly balanced) against spaces and textures. And, well… the songs are far better; Can’t Get Over You or Tension sound like they were penned by Richard Gottehrer. Double Vision is a cracking track, rumbling along in a simple and funny manner, and with a great fiery tail-out. And that’s not all. Tracks like The End spit and snarl and show a set of teeth I didn’t think the band had: Out For the Sun sounds like a Fall-style hillbilly stomp (without ah, the vocals-ah)…  

 

A great, affirmative listen. Who said second LP’s are always a let-down?