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Album reviews with Ian Sinclair

Girlpool Before The World Was Big (Wichita Recordings) 4/5

WITH 10 songs totalling just over 20 minutes of music, Girlpool’s debut is very short and very, very good.

Born in Los Angeles, the teenage Cleo Tucker on guitar and Harmony Tividad on bass play rough-and-ready DIY indie as they sing about growing up, friendship and life crises.

“I thought I found myself today,” they declare on the youthful opener Ideal World, perfectly encapsulating the uncertain emotional lives we all struggle with under late capitalism.

Ranging from delicate ditties like Cherry Picking to the shouted, harmonised nursery rhyme lyrics of Before The World Was Big, they bring to mind the anti-folk of Moldy Peaches and the infectious energy of fellow Californian alt-rock group Best Coast.

With one song just 30-seconds long, blink and you’ll miss Girlpool — which would be a shame, because they are a charming lo-fi duo on the cusp of big things.

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