Our Girl - The Good Kind

Our Girl’s debut album, ‘Stranger Today’ came in a period of time during which frontwoman Soph Nathan appeared to have a superhuman ability to be everywhere at once, its 2018 release following both The Big Moon’s debut album and Marika Hackman’s ‘I’m Not Your Man’ (on which the TBM play). Six years on, and despite her other band’s schedule appearing to slow – Top Ten third album ‘Here Is Everything’ having been released in 2022 – still the announcement of Our Girl’s ‘The Good Kind’ appeared to come from nowhere. That’s the most surprising thing on offer, the record saturated with a familiar warmth that on occasion belies its largely melancholy tone. Shoegazey layering and classic indie rock are met with a reliable pop sensibility, such as on the building ‘Who Do You Love’ or the foreboding ‘Unlike Anything’: on the latter, it never really becomes clear if the titular “unlike anything else” refrain is intended to be good or bad. Subtle shifts in sound balance out the tendency to softly lull - see the strings of the title track, or the drum loops of ‘Relief’. ‘The Good Kind’ is a slow burner, but a rewarding one.