Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost

When a band follows up an amazingly good album (titled ‘Album’, obviously) with an even more amazingly good EP (last year’s ‘Broken Dreams Club’), there’s every expectation that whatever they do next will be even better. More often than not a mathematical trend based on two points of evidence tends to be a flawed endeavour, but then Girls are far from a science.

Brought up as part of the Children Of God cult, lead vocalist Christopher Owens was denied music - his only exposure found through watching films. Though he may cite Queen and Guns N’ Roses as notable examples of what he was able to absorb, Girls remain an all together different affair, their laid back, Costello tinged pop a million miles away from the bombast of Axl and Freddie.

From the moment lead track ‘Vomit’ appeared online the feeling of excitement was palpable. Six and a half minutes long, the emotional centrepiece of ‘Father, Son, Holy Ghost’ is a winding, almost sleazy slow burner that erupts into life with a spluttering riff and ends in full on choral rapture. Packed with ideas, yet at times almost minimalistic, it’s a shifting juxtaposition that sums up Girls’ second album perfectly.

Form and structure aren’t important. Neither, it seems, are expectations. ‘Die’ packs a guitar line straight out of Led Zeppelin’s Big Book Of Blues Rock which, when following ‘Alex’ and it’s wilful contempt for a single choice of tempo, leaves the listener scrambling for a foothold like Bambi on ice. This, obviously, is brilliant.

It would be too easy for Owens’ vocal delivery, matched alongside warm, 60s tinged guitar, to become samey. When mixing in the breathlessly beautiful ‘Forgiveness’ or the heartbreaking closer ‘Jamie Marie’ there’s always something interesting around the corner.

‘Magic’ plays out like a carefree summers day trapped in a song, while the winding slow dance of ‘Love Life’ is some of the most perfect production you’re likely to hear. By the end, ‘Father, Son, Holy Ghost’ seems almost spiritual. Of all the albums that will be pushed up those ceaseless end of year lists, you can be sure that Girls will be the proud parents of the one with a soul.