GIRLS – Father, Son, Holy Ghost (Part 1)

Brandon calls up Dave Weintrop for what was supposed to be an enthusiastic discussion of Girls’ second LP, Father, Son, Holy Ghost. But after more than a few listens, the band of many faces appears to have settled on just a couple. Brandon gets his killjoy critical hat on, and he’s not happy about it.

From: Brandon Hall
To: David Weintrop

After Girls released Broken Dreams Club last year, following their stunning debut, Album, it was obvious to anyone paying attention that this was a band a band to be reckoned with – a shape shifting, enigmatic, and supremely talented group that could seemingly do anything. If Album was an exuberant mission statement full of look at me bravado and showmanship, and Broken Dreams Club was a band not just expanding their sound but creating an entirely new context with which they should be regarded, Father, Son, Holy Ghost is a band supremely confident in what they do, all swagger and chutzpah.

Man, was I ready to love this album. My first couple spins, I was in love. “They did it again!” I wanted to shout. And really, when they do something well, they do it exceedingly well. Like, better than just about anyone. Centerpiece, first single, and album standout “Vomit” is a deliriously thrilling six and a half minutes replete with quiet, down tempo fuzz-backed verses, glorious organ and electric guitar choruses, a fucking kick ass guitar solo, and a gospel choir buttressed coda that’s as electrifying as Floyd’s “The Great Gig in the Sky” or Madonna’s “Like a Prayer.” Turn that shit up!

All that for a lonely song about searching hopelessly for love – a theme this album never tires of – and another example of Girls’ prodigious talents with the long form song that they’ve been using to miraculous effect on their other album standouts, “Hellhole Ratrace” from Album and “Carolina” from Broken Dreams Club.

The thing is, the thing that’s bothering me – on Album, this out of nowhere band went ahead and seemingly did everything: cool 60s surf-pop. shoegaze, garage rock, folk. And they did it all with aplomb. Then, on Broken Dreams Club they brought out a horn section, wrote some exceptionally beautiful, structurally complex songs and really established themselves as a band bound by no genre or preconception. But on Father, Son, Holy Ghost, I feel like they fall too easily into a pattern. Too many of these songs rely on the soft, slow ballad with the epic finish. It’s always done well, and the coda is frequently enthralling. But it starts to feel like a formula on this album, and it weighs the second half of the album down a bit.

Then again, where Album was maybe a bit desultory, this album is nothing if not uniform and consistent, if occasionally a bit cloying or maudlin.

Gah, see? I’m talking myself out of it, and I really like a lot of these songs! Dave, I’m actually really interested to see what you have to say about this album, because I really have no idea whether or not this would be your bag. Not just this album, but Girls in general. With most of the people I have dialectics with, I feel like I can gauge where they’re going to stand on a particular album, but for you and this album, I have no idea.

Have at it!

“My love is like a river,”

Brandon