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Artist......: Girl Band
Album.......: The Talkies
Label.......: Rough Trade
Genre.......: Punk
Catnr.......: RT0065CD
Source......: CD
Rip.date....: 2019-11-13
Str.date....: 2019-09-27
Quality.....: 791kbps / 44.1kHz / 2 channels
Url.........: http://girlband.ie
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\ / # title time \ /
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1. Prolix 1:49
2. Going Norway 4:13
3. Shoulderblades 6:07
4. Couch Combover 3:34
5. Aibohphobia 2:41
6. Salmon of Knowledge 6:20
7. Akineton 1:47
8. Amygdela 1:43
9. Caveat 2:47
10. Laggard 5:56
11. Prefab Castle 7:38
12. Ereignis 1:08
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\ / ________ Runtime 45:43
,\ /... . . .... .... \ / ' Size 280.35______
:\/ ', \ / , \ /
' '... ..\ /.. .. .....:. .. .... .. . ..\ /.
: Release Notes: \/ , \/ ,
' '
,: After laying dormant for nearly a half decade, Irish quartet :,
: Girl Band open their new album with a self-administered :
:' stethoscope test. "Prolix" isn't so much a song as a diagnosis ':
,: - for nearly two minutes, we hear nothing but frontman Dara :,
: Kiely's breathing over an ominous, reverberating drone. But as :
:' the track goes on, Kiely's breaths turn harder, faster, and ':
,: louder, until he's desperately gulping air like a desert roamer :,
: sucking on their canteen. It's the sound of pure, visceral panic :
:' - which is to say, on their first album in four years, Girl ':
,: Band are in perfect health. :,
: :
:' "Prolix" isn't staged - it's a document of Kiely's actual panic ':
,: attack in the studio. And coming from an artist who's made no :,
: secret of his mental-health struggles - which precipitated the :
:' band's extended hiatus - the track is a grim reminder that, ':
,: even though Kiely feels well enough to resume his musical :,
: career, anxiety is an insidious affliction that can creep up at :
:' any time without warning. But the process of airing out his ':
,: issues in the press and in past songs has made Kiely less :,
: interested in exploring them through his music now - when :
:' writing The Talkies, he deliberately avoided the use of the ':
,: words "I" or "you" to avoid the painful introspection they may :,
: trigger. But while Girl Band are no longer explicitly talking :
:' about psychosis, they're still experts at sonically ':
,: communicating how it feels, through screeching sensory assaults :,
: that hit like a migraine and relentlessly pulsate like a heart :
:' racing out of control. ':
,: :,
: More so than 2015's Holding Hands With Jamie, The Talkies finds :
:' each member functioning less like a typical musician and more ':
,: like a loose lever on a console, crashing in and dropping out of :,
: the mix at random moments. Guitarist Alan Duggan has completely :
:' unlearned the art of riffs and solos, using his instrument ':
,: solely for textural dissonance - the more nauseating, the :,
: better. Bassist Daniel Fox deals exclusively in gut-rumbling :
:' frequencies, while drummer Adam Faulkner avoids the snare like ':
,: it might be rigged with electric shocks. The result is drained :,
: of any rock-band formalism, all scrap-metal clang and kick-drum :
:' thump teetering on collapse. ':
,: :,
: Kiely's lyrics mimic this deconstructionist approach, atomizing :
:' everyday scenes and conversations into fragments. On The ':
,: Talkies, you'll hear references to pop-cultural icons like Ricki :,
: Lake, Zinedine Zidane, Bert and Ernie, and the Byrds, though :
:' when fed through Kiely's cut-and-paste filter, they become ':
,: disembodied figures thrown into a parade of freaks that includes :,
: "mental zoo boy," "Crunchy Percy," and the "bloke with The Man :
:' and The Legend shirt." Kiely clearly delights in the beautiful ':
,: absurdities of the English language: The post-apocalyptic :,
: chain-gang chant "Aibohphobia" references the (not officially :
:' recognized) fear of palindromes while piling them onto ':
,: prospective victims ("Cain a Maniac! Salt an Atlas! Strap on No :,
: parts! Bird Rib!") with all the merciless fervor of a waterboard :
:' interrogation. ':
,: :,
: Kiely doesn't so much front the group as submit himself to them: :
:' As "Couch Combover" builds into a seasick, distortion-soaked ':
,: stomp, it sounds like Kiely is puking and crying at the same :,
: time. But later in that same song, the squall subsides to reveal :
:' Kiely gently singing the track's chorus, offering a glimpse of ':
,: the pop singer trapped in a noise band's body. :,
: :
:' By the time we reach The Talkies' tumultuous seven-minute ':
,: climax "Prefab Castle," Girl Band's balance of composure and :,
: cataclysm has tipped toward the latter. The emergency sirens are :
:' ringing out, the walls are closing in, and Kiely reverts to his ':
,: panic-attack gasp. And yet as the song begins its final descent, :,
: Kiely recites a mantra with unnerving calm: "When it's :
:' depressed/Still in love/When it's happy/Still in love/When it's ':
,: all sad/Still in love/When it's anxious/Still in love." It may :,
: not be everyone's definition of a peaceful conclusion, but after :
:' all the punishment Kiely's endured over the course of this ':
,: record, it's a minor miracle he's still breathing at all. :,
: '
'.. ..'
.. . :........... . . . . ............: . .
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\ / Shout out to all our homies from: \ /
\ / \ /
\ / iPC BOSS HiT2000 1way UKi i8 RNS \ /
\ / RAGEMP3 MANDY DV8 pLAN9 BUTT \ /
\ / \ /
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\ / H O U N D \ /
\/ 2 0 1 9 \/