gnarled minimalist pop to sufficiently (re)assert the charm of this Ypsi-trio, a long-awaited response to those who’re hungry to hear more recorded songs beyond their 08 debut…and yet the haymaker is still yet to come.The Girls Who Look Like Me EP comes to us just two-ish months before the slated release of this band’s 2nd proper full length album (tentatively/rumored to be titled The Blonde Album) and it’s an effective bunch of interest-piquing bait to dangle into our ears.
It is, you’ll pardon the cliché, a snapshot of the band’s growth, (oh music journalism and your funny, formulaic phrases). But, no it is a nice snapshot, of new styles and sensibilities: -the intricately clattering chops and locomotive percussion on “When You Sleep” goads along the glistening twang of the keyed-up country-tinged acoustic guitars, giving the boys a chance to shine. -The angsty, forceful pound of the piano and drums, plodding together in “I Know” finds singer/keyboardist Leah Diehl charting a new kind of dark, diary-esque tract, maturing beyond the narrower gripes of the day-jobbing-college-age and into a chillingly world-weary warbling scuffed by potentially answer-less questions as her wispy voice surges along a radiant guitar wail and cymbal-crashing march. Much of these new soundscapes, “Know” particularly, is distinguished with a fuller fuzz and dazzling reverb; a new ferocity teething sharply from their often sweet-sunny pop aesthetic.
“Wake Up and Find Myself” returns us to that sonorously bittersweet piano as it supplements a mantra-ish, lullaby-ish ballad, a cooing resolution. Their augmented musicality and home-studio experimentation shines here, uncannily finding goosebump-teasing poignancy from an otherwise wintry-toned synthesizer’s melodic refrains as Ben Collins’ guitar spills pedal-effected embers atop the steadily crackling drums of Aaron Diehl. This is part of the reassertion – this band gets marked as the fun, hook-heavy pop peddlers, with live sets remembered mostly for their snarky, simple, sun-blasted romps – and yet, as
November Birthday often demonstrated, Diehl’s songs can be much more pensive, ambient drifts, and “Wake Up and Find Myself” (along with “I Know”) shows their range as an ensemble to sufficiently stir those quieter, slower, and, yes, darker songs with each player’s unique layer, (be it guitar, drum, keys or voice), into subtly swelling crescendos.
EP’s should always leave you wanting more. If Girls is just the start, (re-start, or what-have-you), if this is the “waking up,” the opening rounds of what’s to come, then it bodes well for this band’s album.
