3/5 stars
As Girlpool, teenagers Cleo Tucker (guitar) and Harmony Tividad (bass) make distinctly stripped-back indie-pop, driven by hypnotic riffs and demanding vocals that flicker between shrill harmonies and barely-there murmurs.
On this debut album, Before The World Was Big, the LA-raised, Philly-based duo combs through childhood memories (the hyperactive, very short ‘Magnifying Glass’) and mulls over growing pains (‘I Like That You Can See It’).
Girlpool share the quiet intensity of The Breeders and the introspective nature of Waxahatchee, unafraid to play around with pace and volume. The absence of drums never feels obvious, nor are they missed.
Together, Tucker and Tividad’s voices can be piercing – a little pop-punk, a little wayward country – and are an effective way of filling space. ‘Dear Nora’ feels like a sleepy secret, and a spot-on homage to the lo-fi darlings of the same name, whose influence lingers over the entire album (as on ‘Cherry Picking’).
Tucker and Tividad swap vocals to great effect, sounding like fidgety siblings recounting their days.
Girlpool’s Before The World Was Big is available through Witchita.
