Vivian Girls - Everything Goes Wrong

by Sarah Maybank

published: 13 / 9 / 2009

Label: In the Red Records
Format: CD

intro

Fabulous second album from New York trio the Vivian Girls, which while having an element of C86 about it, finds their tales of broken hearts also having a widescreen cinematic edge to them

One of the things rarely mentioned about early 80s punk-fuzz indie of the 53rd & 3rd persuasion is its proto-thrash metal drumming, the speed of which would’ve had even Slayer reaching for the Lucozade. Vivian Girls have more than a hint of the Shop Assistants about them - and it’s their tub-thumping that helps make pure ecstacy of an album that, lyrically, has ‘Titanic-sized romantic-bust-up-induced misery’ written all over it. (Clue: song titles include ‘I Have No Fun’ and ‘Can’t Get Over You’; sample lyric: "All you do is bring me down".) While C86ers tended to keep their songs short and (sometimes not-so) sweet, Vivian Girls have made widescreen movies of their broken hearts. Propelled by the galloping drums, they take their songs to genre-mangling lengths - the thundering ‘When I’m Gone’ is three and a half minutes long, while the epic-sounding ‘Out For The Sun’, at over four minutes, leaves you time to boil an egg AND make the soldiers. Despite the downbeat source material, there’s a lightness of touch and melodic sense to the whole thing. And those, along with the sprinting speed, means listening to it, you feel like you’re hanging on the tail of a runaway horse – but the way these girls sell it, that can only be a good thing.

Track Listing:-

1 Walking Alone At Night
2 I Have No Fun
3 Can't Get Over You
4 The Desert
5 Tension
6 Survival
7 The End
8 When I'm Gone
9 Out For The Sun
10 I'm Not Asleep
11 Double Vision
12 You're My Guy
13 Before I Start To Cry

Label Links:-

http://intheredrecords.com/
https://www.facebook.com/In-The-Red-Recordings-39064159876/
https://instagram.com/intheredrecords/
https://twitter.com/intheredrecords

interviews

Interview (2009)

Sarah Maybank speaks to Cassie Ramone from discordant all-girl New York-based trio the Vivian Girls about their eponymous debut album which sold out within 10 days and the band's hard touring schedule