Recorded on tape, it’s a raw, energetic album that sounds about as close to a live set as possible – a smart move given the amount of press their live shows have attracted over the past couple of years.
Goat Girl’s warped country sound is driven by edgy guitar riffs and pounding drums over which angst-filled lyrics are sung in a dispassionate drawl. There are no wasted words; most songs have few lyrics and rely on large doses of repetition to create a hypnotic effect. The lyrics to ‘Little Liar’ consist entirely of repetition of: ‘I don’t really mind / little liar.’ ‘Creep’ is more disturbing: ‘Creep on the train filming me / I want to smash your head in.’
The distorted piano in the album’s instrumental opener, ‘Salty Sounds’, creates a spooky fair-ground sound that hauntingly returns throughout the album. But for all its dark dissonance, there are moments of sweetness and irony that lift the album. It’s a world worth getting lost in.
8/10
By Bec Blakeney
