Friday, May 29, 2009

Vivian Girls new album

Vivian Girls will release their second album, Everything Goes Wrong, on September 8. I’m not that excited by this prospect as I quickly tired of the Vivian Girls’ rather limited range, highly manufactured, cartoon-ish image, action figure stage names and aggressive marketing of releases that seemed to be about cash rather than quality – 2009 is all about Brilliant Colors and Dum Dum Girls, right? – although the press release below suggests that there might be more substance come the second album.
Vivian Girls have had an extremely eventful couple of years as a band, from appearing at major festivals, to playing the Bowery Ballroom about a million times, to having their own question on Jeopardy. The band spoke with Pitchfork's Tom Breihan back in March while in the studio in LA working on their sophomore LP, Everything Goes Wrong, due Sept. 8 on In The Red - below is an excerpt to give you and idea of what to expect from album number two:

"Last time, the album was really rushed," says guitarist Cassie Ramone. "We were just go, go, go, go. And now we're taking our time with every step of the process, making sure we're really happy with everything before we move on."

With this band, though "taking our time" means they're taking six days to record the entire thing instead of the three days they used for their first album. Ramone says, "We recorded 15 songs, but if we put them all on the album, that'll be an hour's worth of music, so we're going to have to cut some of them out. Our last album was like 22 minutes, so we figure if this album is longer than 44 minutes that'll just be insane. It would be twice as long."

"We're aiming for around 35 minutes," adds bassist Kickball Katy. So you'll probably still be able to plow through the whole Vivian Girls album on your morning commute.

On the first album, the two longest, slowest songs, "Tell the World" and "Where Do You Run To", were clear standouts. The band says they'll focus more on that side of their sound on the second album. "The songs are longer," says drummer Ali Koehler. "I think it's moodier. I think we have basically the same influences as on our first album, but with more influences added."

Katy elaborates: "We have a few songs that kind of sound like the Gun Club. We have, like, a Neil Young-inspired song."

Ali: "We're using No Doubt's hi-hat."

Cassie: "That's not actually an influence. We actually are using No Doubt's cymbals, though. That was an accident."

But the band is still making sure to keep the raw, fun edge that animated the first album. They're recording most of their songs in single takes, they're producing it themselves, and they're not bringing in any guests. "We haven't turned into perfectionists," says Ali.

01 Walking Alone at Night
02 I Have No Fun
03 Can't Get Over You
04 Desert
05 Tension
06 Survival
07 The End
08 When I'm Gone
09 Out for the Sun
10 I'm Not Asleep
11 Double Vision
12 You're My Guy
13 Before I Start to Cry

7 comments:

brogues said...

Vivian Girls really were OUTSTANDING last week in Glasgow! They were a lot more hopped-up and punk than they were in December at The Captain's Rest and it suited them. Of all the current Brooklyn crop they're the band who improve most on their records when playing live. The new songs sounded full of bite and were much better than the recent melodically weak For Us single would suggest.

To Dum Dum Girls and Brilliant Colors you can now add The Girls At Dawn:

http://www.myspace.com/thegirlsatdawn

So catchy!

Anonymous said...

Dum Dum Girls, Brilliant Colors and Girls at Dawn: CAPTURED TRACKS!!!!

Fire Escape said...

Brogues - I missed VGs in December due to illness but I heard rather mixed reports about their gigs. Glad to hear they were great recently - I'll keep an open mind about the new album. Not entirely taken by Girls At Dawn, but maybe a few more listens will hook me.

Anon - Captured Tracks is putting out some great stuff this year. A few misses, yes, but definitely a label to watch.

brogues said...

Woah, I'm amazed that you haven't fallen for The Girls At Dawn straight off. I like the fact that they sound less Shop Assistants and more Girls In The Garage/Girls With Guitars. The melodies and hooks are really cute and strong. Have you checked out Stolen Hearts? Maybe they'll be more to your tastes with your appreciation of Baby Shakes. I found them via the Douchemaster myspace page.

Fire Escape said...

Now Stolen Hearts I do like straight away. Thanks for the tip. I see the single came out a few days ago, which is why no UK distributor has it yet. I'll pick it up when it's out. Cheers!

brogues said...

Ah, good stuff! Glad you like 'em. If you find a UK distributor taking it please give me a shout as I'll happily snap one up, too.

andy said...

i often get stuff on douchemaster for distro, so will try and pick some up. http://sncl.collective-zine.co.uk