Girlpool are talented. Consisting of Cleo Tucker on guitar and Harmony Trividad on bass (both sing) the two are able to, quite successfully, pluck the listener from the age-diverse and sweaty crowd and plop them right onto their weed-cracked hometown sidewalk. The songs are simple and easy to grasp–not surprising considering the subject matter of the songs and lack of instruments—but the songs still seem somewhat larger than whatever image of high school and sidewalks they portray. They feel bold but, more importantly, confident; confident that the message they send, even if it is a personal one to a specific person in their lives, is important for everyone to listen to. Vocally the harmonies and unisons are just pleasing to listen to, and the same can be said of the minimalist guitar and bass. My only fear is that, without another member or two (especially a drummer), they will be quite limited going into their sophomore album (fingers crossed).
by Damien Borovsky