Album Review: Girls Against Boys- Ghost List EP
So saying that I’m a little late to the party on Girls
Against Boys (often stylized as GVSB) is an understatement. I pretty much can
say I almost didn’t make it to the party at all.
GVSB were a band that I was always aware of—they had a slot
on the Mallrats soundtrack, and I can
recall seeing their much maligned major label flirtation, 1998’s Freak*on*ica having prominent placement
in record stores. But that was about the extent of it until pretty recently.
Sometimes, when you go internetting around after reading up
on one band you randomly remembered from the past, you end up reading about a
lot of bands you suddenly also remembered. GVSB was one of those—and it seems
like I was just in time with this sudden interest.
Girls Against Boys, spending the last decade on hiatus, have
returned with a new five-song EP, The
Ghost List—released by the band in a partnership with O.G. music newswebsite Epitonic.
You don’t have to know a ton about the history of the band
prior to listening to Ghost List. It
helps knowing they were born out of the post-hardcore scene in Washington
D.C—the same scene that bore Fugazi. GVSB have an interesting
dynamic—straightforward alt rock, post- punk and post-hardcore, indie rock
leanings, electronica dabblings, a slight sense of humor, and at times a little
hint of funk.
Each of their LPs have pushed their music a little farther
into one of those descriptors—Freak*on*ica
whole heartedly embraced electronica and a modern rock aesthetic—polarizing
critics with how slickly produced it was, leaving some wondering if it was some
kind self-satirizing joke they failed to grasp.
Well over a decade after their final LP, You Can’t Fight What You Can’t See,
released on the predominantly emo label Jade Tree, the under-the-radar return
of GVSB is a little surprising. Very little has been made of Ghost List—save for a few mentions on
Stereogum. The holiest of holy, Pitchfork, has yet to give it the time of day.
It’s worth noting that GVSB have two bass players—it’s not
obvious on any of the songs here on Ghost
List. If it’s a fact you know, you spend time hunting for the real bass
line, then the OTHER bass line, which often comes in the form of a fuzzed out,
distorted strumming.
Ghost List is
incredibly fast paced. At only five songs, I suppose it would be reason for
concern if it weren’t. It’s only on the
closing track, the incredibly dramatic and menacing “Kick,” that GVSB recall
elements of their more experimental leanings. Opening things up with the EP’s
first single, “It’s a Diamond Life” sets the overall tone—it’s a fuzzed out
slice of mature sounding indie pop.
“Let’s Get Killed,” aside from having a pretty incredible
title, is about as catchy of a well written “modern rock” song as you’d want,
but it’s a shame that “modern rock” radio would never pick up on something like
this. The middle of Ghost List is
held down by the punky “Fade Out,” and the Freak*on*ica-esq
“60 is Greater Than 15”—the most synth heavy track of the bunch.
Ghost List, for
the most part, is relatively cohesive, and it works in an interesting way for a
new listener: for a band that’s been gone for over a decade, putting out five
songs like this, aside from working as a “comeback,” serves as a most excellent
way to discover the band’s back catalog—specifically their seminal House of GVSB. For a long-time GVSB fan,
hopefully Ghost List is a welcome
return, and for all parties, it’s the promise of more material in the near
future.
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