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Girlpool Powerplant Anti-

12.05.17

Powerplant gets off to a triumphant start, as Girlpool soar on the first track 123. Here we’re granted the signature escalation and exclaimed harmonies that have defined the LA indie-punk band’s sound up until now. With Harmony Tividad and Cleo Tucker’s seemingly telepathic chemistry still intact, the fleshed-out instrumentation of this second LP makes a pronounced shift from the duo’s typical set up, previously comprised of just a guitar, a bass and their two lead vocals.

Initially, it feels as though there is something to mourn in the loss of the unadorned simplicity of Girlpool’s earlier material, which spoke so effectively to the childlike energy they sought to portray. But the matured complexity mirrors that of the artists within the music. Corner Store, for example, stands out as an unassuming whirlwind of a song. It begins innocently, only to drag you unexpectedly into a liberating wall of sound.

Lyrically, Girlpool explore intimate topics like toxic relationships, detachment and bad habits, and there’s a compelling darkness to be found across Powerplant. ‘You make him the sun/ you wanted that poison/ handpicked the gun,’ the girls sing in self-effacing resignation on the album’s second single. The title of the track, It Gets More Blue, should be heeded as a promise, and a warning, for the album.