Vivian Girls - Share The Joy

When the Vivian Girls released their debut, self-titled, album back in 2007 they were on the crest of the lo-fi garage-pop wave with acts like The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart and Best Coast following in their wake. Since then, as is the way with these things, said wave has broken and people are busily looking for the next big sound to get excited about. Such is the climate in which the Vivian Girls release their third full-length, ‘Share The Joy’.

The album begins with a slower, distorted psych-pop effort ‘The Other Girls’ which proves to be one of the album’s few missteps. All slow-burn melodies and meandering solos, it lacks the urgency and immediacy of the bands finest moments, such as the opener to their first album ‘All The Time’. Clocking in at over six minutes, it’s a strange choice for the first song but, should you persist, you find yourself greeted by the gorgeous harmonies and nonchalant charm of ‘I Heard You Say’, the lead single. This had been my favourite song released in 2011, then I heard ‘Trying To Pretend’ and fell in love with the Vivian Girls all over again. Building from a strummed acoustic intro into a galloping verse, it all comes crashing down in a raucous chorus propelled by machine-gun drums and propped up by one of those sweet-as-sugar harmonies the Vivian Girls do so well. It soon establishes itself as one of the best things they’ve put to record, if not the best. It’s a highlight on an album studded with gems such as ‘Take It As It Comes’, which boasts harmonies of which the Ronettes would approve, and ‘Death’ which offers it’s own take on the life-as-a-reason-for-living formula in lines such as ‘I want to die, Not now, Ten Years from now, I wanna live, To be his bride.’

Although not everything they try on ‘Share The Joy’ works, Vivian Girls have crafted an album that more than keeps pace with it’s predecessors. There are songs on here that rank among their finest moments and they have noticeably grown as songwriters.