I made a promise to myself before writing this column, that I would not compare Chris Owens, front man of the aptly named Girls to the legendary Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys. It became a sort of a mantra of mine, don’t compare Owens to Wilson don’t compare Owens to Wilson. I wrote it repeatedly on a chalkboard over and over while in detention at Springfield Elementary School, and I even took my wife and child to a abandoned hotel in the mountains during the winter so I could type a reminder to myself… over and over and over again. But with that said I think I am finally ready to write my pick of the week on Album, the wonderful debut by The Beac… er I mean Girls.
When I say that Girls are like the Beach Boys I don’t mean that they sound like the Beach Boy’s sunny pop, because they simply don’t, or that Girls cashes in on surfer aesthetical themes, because they don’t do that either. No, what Owens has in common with Wilson is his ability to write songs, his love for the craft, and sheer talent and melodic sense. Instead of trying to write tracks that childishly/predictably mash up genres or rely on abstract lyrics that are neither poetic nor relatable, Owens comes off as someone who wants to write shallow pop songs with dumb lyrics and riffs but fails miserably at it; somewhere along the way creating one of the best albums of the decade. The thing that he captures so well is the profound sincerity that can be found in Beach Boy tracks like “Wouldn’t it Be Nice”, which if song by someone else could have been a car crash at the junction of Corny St and Wussy Avn. There is no doubt that Chris puts himself into his songs, many of which are very personal and explore his relationships with women, his upbringing (he was born into a cult by his mother, he escaped and was homeless for a long time before eventually being taken in by a rich artist), and his struggles with drugs. That Owens cares about his craft is obvious; a good example was his performance of “I Will Always Love You” after hearing Whitney Houston died (you can track it down on the internet if you try hard). Im sure there were a lot of bands that played covers of Houston after she died purely to be topical or as a joke, but Owens’ gut wrenching rendition sure as hell doesn’t look like a joke.
The sincerity with which Owens approaches “I Will Always Love You” is the same sincerity that he brings to every track on Album and it really is just as gorgeous. Ironically the song that is least sincere is probably the most emotional, the albums opener Lust for Life (no not a cover of Iggy Pop, check out the video here, It is legitimately one of my favorite music videos of all time). In a voice that Owens himself has described as being intentionally snotty he croons “Well I wish I had a boyfriend/ I wish I had a loving man in my life. The song is sublime to say the least, a track from a band called Girls sung by a straight male from the perspective of a needy female that parodies melodrama, but is in essence melodrama itself? It is all of those things indeed, but as the late Billy Mayes might have exclaimed “Wait, there’s more!”. Indeed, Lust for Life, which at its core is about a girl at her absolute lowest, her most vulnerable, is perhaps the most ironically catchy song to come out of Indie rock since Pavement and that is really saying something. What’s more it features a cappella vocal backings on the second verse and a melodica solo, a well rounded extremely bittersweet tune that features the lick from The Needle and The Damage Done by Neil Young as its outro. The rest of Album follows suit, ranging from sad numbers about relationships to headstrong yet misguided tracks that sound like they are the beginnings of new heartache. Production interestingly enough varies from track to track, making Album probably about 1/4 -3/8 of a lo-fi album. The track God Damned for instance is very lo-fi in its production quality featuring stripped down acoustic guitar which is an interesting choice because it is one of the best written songs present on Album. In total though the whole thing is unbelievable good, and if a certain Beach Boy happens to read this blog (unfortunately folks I know he doesn’t), Id imagine he would agree.
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