Cursing The Sea

Dublin, Ireland-based indie quintet September Girls followed the same initial trajectory as many of their noise pop contemporaries. Coming together in 2011, the group quickly developed a reverb-heavy sound drawing on equal parts melodic pop and dour goth undercurrents, accentuated by keyboardist Lauren Kerchner's looming Farfisa drones. Early tracks leaked out on quickly devoured cassettes and 7" releases and September Girls' profile grew as they played increasingly buzzworthy gigs. All of this brings us to Cursing the Sea, the debut album from these shadowy punkers, a 12-song tome of echo-dripping production and emotional cross currents of restlessness and despondency. September Girls fit nicely into the camp of more established acts traversing similar waters; the same Jesus and Mary Chain buzzsaw guitars and reverb chamber drum sounds have shown up in countless other acts, in particular earlier fare from Dum Dum Girls, Crystal Stilts, and Crocodiles. Dark, cloudy vocal harmonies are utilized nicely on tracks like "Talking" and "Heartbeats," the latter of which is the catchiest song on the album and arguably its strongest highlight. Likewise, "Someone New" taps into the twee side of the band's mostly void-of-sunshine sound, with a brightly fuzzy melody that recalls Tiger Trap or Talulah Gosh. More sprawling goth tendencies show up on the dungeon-dwelling crawl of "Daylight," a hung-over slab of dissonance and resolution. ~ Fred Thomas

ダブリンから登場した女の子5人組によるこの初作は、ハタチそこそこで作ったとは思えないほど異様にクールだ。と言いつつ、少女性の残る舌足らずなヴォーカルが導く翳りのあるメロディーも、ガレージ・パンクやネオ・サイケを基調にした楽曲の全編を覆う深いリヴァーブも、どう聴いても甘く幻惑的。でも彼女たちには夢見心地に耽溺しない醒めた感性が潜んでいるように思えて、恐ろしくもそこに惹かれてしまう。
bounce (C)北爪啓之