It's been a while since I had heard from Girls Names - the Northern Irish quartet whose second album The New Life features a killer track, the 8 minute closing title track that was one of my favourites of 2013. They marked their year of intent back in last month when they launched the (already sold out) limited edition EP Zero Triptych. I've included it here so you can hear it - suffice to say it's a stunning atmospheric 80s-tinged post-punk epic that circles the Krautrock wormhole due to that insistent beat and great electronics - I am a massive fan (You can get it on straight black vinyl here). Can you even remember when they were a fuzzy guitar pop outing? A decent one too - they had some great EPs. Oh how things have changed...
Well they aren't resting up, as their third album Arms Around A Vision comes out through Tough Love Records in October. First taste is 'Reticence', leaning further into the gothic shadows than ever before, crafting a track that is both beautiful and barbaric. The opening cacophony echoes the cold harsh sonic climes of Copenhagen and the Iceage collective, before settling into a morose black-mirror image of New Romantic post punk, complete with sweet silken synth, before the last twenty seconds leaves one with a decided hook of discordance. It's a brilliant call of arms from a band that aren't just ever evolving, but are almost militant in their seamless metamorphism. Recorded and produced by electronic wizard Daniel Rejmer (I wrote recently about his Room40 release), Arms Around A Vision has gone from an unknown quantity to feverishly anticipated album of 2015.
Girls Names are playing at ACE Hotel in Shoreditch tomorrow night with the great Shopping in support.
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