New Vibrations: Girls - Album

The sound of Girls (a San Francisco band comprised of two testicle-packin' dudes) is quite clearly the result of singer-songwriter Christopher Owens's bizarre upbringing. His mother belonged to the Children of God, a cult that encouraged its followers to prostitute themselves in order to evangelize and spread God's love in a very physical way.

At the age of 16, Owens escaped the cult and hooked up with the punk rock scene in Amarillo, Texas. It was also there that he became a drug addict. Then Stanley Marsh III, millionaire, took Owens under his wing. From there, Owens moved to San Francisco, where he met Chet White, the other half of the band.

This tale explains perfectly the wonderful sound achieved by the Girls on this, their first album, so cleverly titled, Album.

Listening to the songs, one finds a mix of punk rock, severe drug abuse and the sweet, cool sounds of rock and roll from the days before punk kicked blues and boogie out of the equation.

In some ways, it reminds one of the early work of Elvis Costello, back when he was crawling out of the pub rock scene and becoming "New Wave." Owens's voice certainly owes something to Costello's style. It has the same whine, but with a higher pitch. The guitars that back him up and the bass are like a band from the glory days - the early 1950s - that has asked the producer to help them fit in with all the cool indie kids today.

There are the bright songs that take you back to the first time you heard a Beach Boys song. One of the early hits, before the fancy production, the orchestration and the mess that Brian Wilson got into in the late 60s. And then there are the sad ones. Not many, but because of that, they stand out. By itself, a slower track like "Hellhole Ratrace" wouldn't be all that impressive. The guitar sounds nice - a throwback to the Ventures' brand of space rock - and the singing is clear and honest, but it's not a very flashy song.

On this album, amidst so many fast-paced happy little ditties, it puts a pause on the whole album and gives one time to think, to feel its highs and lows as one might feel the mountains and valleys on a raised-relief map of California.