GIRLS – Father, Son, Holy Ghost (Part 5)

We’re just going to call this final installment in the Father, Son, Holy Ghost dialectic, “In Search of an Identity.” Also, “Flutes Don’t Really Suck. Sorry ‘Bout That.” And “A Meditation on the State of the Hipster Subculture.”  It’s about time I got my doctoral dissertation off the ground.

Girls – “Honey Bunny” from Father, Son, Holy Ghost

From: Brandon Hall
To: David Weintrop

You’re right. I shouldn’t have taken my frustrations out on the flute. It’s a fine instrument. Except the way Girls used it on “Just a Song.” The flute doesn’t always suck but it definitely does on that song, as do the lyrics, and the singing, and the arrangement.

I’m glad you like “Vomit.” That song is just too cool. But it’s too bad you so dislike “Die.” You described it as kicking ass for three minutes and being “really quiet and reflective” for the last two, but I don’t think that’s entirely accurate. The last two minutes are rather epic, as in the epilogue after a great battle with the sun setting over a newly conquered kingdom. It’s more in the vein of Rush (like you referenced earlier) or Led Zeppelin, but most reminds me of the iconic coda to “Layla.” Albeit, far from iconic.

And I disagree that Father, Son, Holy Ghost is a bigger step for them than the Broken Dreams Club EP was. That EP was jam packed full of ideas and experiments, introspective songwriting that was more storytelling than anything, and arrangements and song structures they had never previously shown a facility with. Father, Son, Holy Ghost does any of this sparingly at best, and too many of its songs do the same thing.

Though we disagree marginally on some issues, I think we both agree that the album conjures mixed feelings. Some songs we like (“Vomit!”) and others we could probably do without.

I’ve been thinking about what you said when talking about this album as a “mishmash of songs” that would never fit a given situation. That notion of uniformity and consistency bandied about when we started this discussion has been promptly and resolutely thrown out, appropriately so. The one thing you can say about Girls is that they do not make background music. They make music that demands to be paid attention to, like a kid holding a stage hostage at a talent show, refusing to quit until his bag of tricks is empty. I fucking love that about them.

The last thing I want is 10 songs that all sound alike. Still, I think your point is salient and builds upon my previous declaration of this band being the quintessential postmodern rock band. In being capable of mimicking so many past genres and sounds, they leave themselves lacking a solid, individual identity. If someone were to ask, “What do Girls sound like?” You might respond, “They sound like everyone. But literally everyone.” This issue of identity, of course, extends to the hipster culture that Girls are inextricably a part of. The hipster scene is one of consumption and assimilation of past subcultures. A subculture in itself that recontextualizes the fashion but loses the spirit of every niche group before it – groups that had some M.O., some purpose, some ideology. An identity. Something the hipster sect dearly lacks.

And maybe something Girls are still searching for.

“Easy come and easy go. Whatever.”

Brandon