September Girls - Cursing The Sea

The Chalets’ 2005 album ‘Check In’ is a lost – although by how much isn’t clear after they’ve had songs appear just about everywhere – favourite. And while musically this has next to no impact on September Girls’ sound, it’s worth noting that the Dublin-based quintet’s Caoimhe Derwin and Paula Cullen were once the improbably-monikered “Pony” and “Peepee” from that very band. A little more is shared, of course, by the pair’s next project, in which current bandmates Lauren Kerchner and Jessie Ward also took part. Much of ‘Cursing The Sea’ shares the same attention to melody – just smothered in a whole truckload of fuzz.

The Girls (both nominally and literally – the line-up now completed by drummer Sarah Grimes) share a lot with Veronica Falls. Both the opening title track and follow-up ‘Another Love Song’ echo those parts of the Londoners’ debut that caused them to be dubbed “goth”. It’s doomy, stormy stuff, topped off by some deliciously angular guitar parts.

Another obvious contemporary would be Dum Dum Girls – the vocal arrangements on ‘Talking’ and ‘Someone New’ cases in point. Going further back there are clear nods to Joy Division (the guitars of ‘Heartbeats’ almost identical to ‘She’s Lost Control’) and The Ramones (the guitars on ‘Money’, drums of ‘Someone New’).

But there’s a lot of fuzz. A whole lot. And at times – ‘Left Behind’ most notably – the thick smothering of reverb-heavy feedback makes the record sound like it might’ve been recorded down a well. Which although stylistic, is a shame – there are probably a few more damn fine tunes underneath.