GIRLS NAMES / CRYSTAL STILTS

GIRLS NAMES : DEAD TO ME (Tough Love / Slumberland)

CRYSTAL STILTS : IN LOVE WITH OBLIVION (Fortuna Pop / Slumberland)

I do hope Slumberland Records aren’t falling into a ‘they all sound the same’ situation, but these two records are almost interchangeable. From the sloppy simple drumming, to the over reverbed vocals. (The Jesus & Mary Chain early records had a lot of reverb on the vocals right? Ok that's what we want...) Crystal Stilts owe more of their sound to The Doors and the 60’s, whereas Girls Names are slightly more 80’s, with hints of shoegaze. Both are good records, but both suffer from the same problem. You start off loving them, but by the sixth track, your interest starts to disappear. Possibly due to the vocals, and lack of any really killer melody. The voice is there only to really stop the songs from being instrumentals. Girls Names in particular, the singer has something of a ‘monotone’ voice, which you really do start to get pissed off with…

But at the same time,  I do like them, and listening to only three or four tracks at a time, I’d go as far as saying they were both great, but as full lengths, they do tend to become something of a chore to get through. So make of that what you will, but if you like indiepop, Doors / 60’s stuff, loads of reverb, a bit of indiepop, bit of shoegaze, the kind of drumming that doesn’t involve breaking a sweat, you’ll love these. I’d give Girls Names the higher score (if I was scoring) for some early Wedding Present guitar stumming!

RC