Who doesn't love Vivian Girls? People who are BAD AND WRONG. Bad, wrong people who will be gutted that they're back with their second full-length, convincingly building on their sterling debut with a maturation in both sound and songcraft (in a good way, not the usual 'euphemism for despicable dullness' way). Everything's produced with just that little bit more space and definition while retaining the 'rough around the edges' impression so crucial to their appeal.. Guitars fuzz in the midrange, the melodic bass thuds along beneath while up above are the out-of-tune harmonies of The Shaggs after they signed to Motown.. If only they had. As far as the songs go, you get the impression of a band completely at ease with itself and willing to push out of their comfort zone a little without totally compromising what made people love them in the first place: those punchy, fat-free punk-wop nuggets. Particularly noticable is that they're stretching out a little from what we're used to (although the longest track still doesn't even reach four and a half minutes), with the band interplay - and in particular the Greg Sage-y guitar - in the longer efforts putting that Wipers influence even more to the fore. If you want a previous reference point for the quality and confidence shown here, I reckon 'Tell the World' is a pretty good one and although none of the tunes really stand out the way that one or 'Where Do You Run To?' did, there's a broodier, more vague feeling here that I'm pretty into. If push comes to shove, at this early stage we reckon Everything Goes Wrong betters their first LP (and lord knows that one got enough love in here) and I'm fully expecting it to be making appearances in our 'top tens' at the end of the year!
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Sound clips for Everything Goes Wrong by Vivian Girls: on CD at Norman Records UK. CD, In The Red, ITR179CD, £13.19.
Brooklyn s Vivian Girls are back with Everything Goes Wrong,released almost exactly a year after In The Red s reissue of theirself-titled debut. The band have taken their time with this newalbum and recorded it in six days rather than the three theirdebut took though many of the songs were still recorded insingle takes. Over the last year, the Vivian Girls have touredthe US and Europe extensively, received a considerable amountof national and international press, sparked fierce debate as towhether they are a refreshing blast of unselfconscious punk rockenergy or a crew of contemptible, incompetent posers and, perhapsmost significant of all, become the subject of a question onthe Jeopardy game show.Everything Goes Wrong is a darker, moodier album than itspredecessor, with a couple tracks clocking in at almost twicethe length of anything on their debut. That said, the influencesremain the same; Ramones, 60s girl groups, surf, indie pop,etc., etc. This is immediately classic stuff.Watch for constant touring in late 09 and 10.One of the essential albums of 2009: this will be in many end of year lists.
