Christopher Owens - Another Loser Fuck Up

Listen to Christopher Owens’ new track ‘Another Loser Fuck Up’, and you’d be forgiven for thinking that Girls had miraculously made a secret comeback. The single chord introduction is there, the guitar solo is more wild than riding the Runaway Train at Chessington while bevved, the self-deprecating narration is mixed with moments of hope. In reality, it’s just a cut from Owens’ (or Chrissybaby’s) third solo LP. It may be sans the retro-production godliness of Chet Jr; but boy - err - does it sound like Girls.

It’s easy to think of this as a flaw in the trajectory of a solo artist. Surely a solo career should see divergence and reinvention, right? There’s always the risk that repeating what was done as a group is uninteresting - and at worst - pointless. But that’s to misunderstand the resonance and frankly cult stardom of Girls. They fostered proper ‘super-fans’; obsessive types that would belt-out the whole of ‘Lust For Life’ or mimic that amazing solo off of ‘My Ma’ at the drop of a metaphorical hat. Owens’ last two solo albums were a bit different from ‘Girls’, and he did show a sense of experimentation; but to be honest, it compromised the brilliant career-defining sound that Owens had helped create. Now, back with one engineer, ‘Another Loser Fuck Up’ sounds more Girls than ever. And that’s a bloody fantastic thing.