published: 13 /
9 /
2009
Label:
In the Red Records
Format: CD
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
Review
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
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