In a recent interview Pendlebury explained how the band “strive to create some kind of change in society obviously we’re all trying our best, but it’s not really enough.” ‘On All Fours’ doesn’t fix that feeling of ‘not enough’, but it doesn’t shy away from the current mood, either. Instead they hunker down in the middle of the swamp and take stock – of political anger, pandemic stupor, and warped reality. Goat Girl offer no shiny breezy hallelujah outta here, nor an impulsive volley of rage.
#KALEIDOSCOPE SONG FEMALE SINGER CRACK#
But Goat Girl reach their pithy, lyrical best on ‘The Crack’, a song that tackles the environmental crisis: “The crack was singing protest songs / The people wouldn’t listen, they didn’t care / They were singing worship songs.” The songs move with ease between poetic – “Flick of the eye showing the whites, showing the nervous vessels inside” – and bluntly honest – “ I don’t wanna be on those pills / I think they numb the way you feel”. Without this political focus, their sound would lose much of its vitality. And like Lou, Goat Girl clearly find plenty to be furious about: climate change, sexism, attitudes towards mental health and sexuality, eyes that turn away from social injustice.
But that might be like mistaking Lou Reed’s disaffected drawl for a lack of fury.
READ MORE: Goat Girl interview – “We’re not afraid to be lavish or indulgent”ĭespite the choppy pop tempos, lead singer Lottie Pendlebury’s languid harmonies could sink you into lethargy. The album lifts with ‘Sad Cowboy’, but the track doesn’t fully capitalise on its opening – a sequinned synth line that would make Pet Shop Boys jealous. ‘P.T.S.Tea’ sounds like you just crossed the finish line on Mario Kart, though the song deals with a far more serious incident of homophobia and hot water. Nor have Goat Girl abandoned their playfulness. The record’s offbeat electronica is a welcome counter to the psychedelic whims of ‘Goat Girl’, but the band’s earlier sound is never far away: for example, trumpet and viola lead ‘Jazz In The Supermarket’ astray via the warped bass of Lou Reed’s ‘Walk On The Wild Side’. Confronted with mortality in very real ways, on ‘On All Fours’ Goat Girl double down to address the rising stakes of being human. ‘On All Fours’ doesn’t totally rewrite the book, but there’s a new concision to Goat Girl’s sound, an urgency that stems from personal as well as global upheaval: one band member is in remission from a serious cancer diagnosis. Their eponymous 2018 debut album flaunted both politics and play, on nineteen tracks of creative, instrumental indulgence. Spawned from the same south London scene as the likes of Fat White Family, Shame, and Black Midi, Goat Girl are no less upfront and plucky than their male counterparts – and completely unafraid to be themselves. But the follow-up to their charged debut sees the same issues – political, mental, environmental – filtered through a tempered, almost kaleidoscopic lens: an elaborate yet tight exchange of sound and emotion. Yellow, orange, red: Goat Girl’s photo shoot palette for ‘On All Fours’ is deliberate – colours of fierce joy that also bring out the band’s incendiary nature.
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