Fuzzed out, emotionally captivating and complex, Our Girl are more than just your up-and-coming neighbourhood indie band. Having recently toured with Marika Hackman in the UK and released their debut album Stranger Today in 2018, Our Girl have slowly garnered a dedicated following of fans from across Europe. It’s not very often that a debut album can lead you to an intense emotional retrospection upon your first time listening to it, yet Our Girl seem to nail that category successfully.
Consisting of Soph Nathan (who also plays in The Big Moon), Josh Tyler and Lauren Wilson, the gang first got to know each other over guitar jamming and late night talks at Soph’s old basement in Brighton – namely ‘The Dungeon’ for its ill-conceived, musty features. They soon came together as a full-fledged band when they played for the first time at a proper practice space.
Fused with swaggering garage rock elements, the trio’s debut release Stranger Today also entices you with their melodic tunes and fuzzy guitars. The opener/self-title track ‘Our Girl’ instantly draws you in with their reverb-drenched guitars and vocals, signalling the beginning of a series of catharises. While it’s difficult to ask Our Girl to dial down the eagerness, their big hits ‘I Really Like It’ and ‘Josephine’ are more steadily paced, showcasing the more mellow and sentimental side of theirs.
‘Two Life’ is easily one of the most blistering (and our favourite) tracks on the album. The endless build-up is joyfully consuming to the listeners, and we got a vivid picture of how they unapologetically unleash their fierceness from within. Through this emotional rollercoaster with Our Girl, the six-minute long ending track ‘Boring’ concludes the album with layers of brilliant guitar riffs, incessant drumming and smouldering warmth. Simply put, it’s an entrancing listening experience that will warm you up from the inside.
Beautifully honest and heavily noisy, Stranger Today definitely lives up to its anticipation and hype. What Our Girl bring to the table is more than just a dynamic whirlwind of visceral energy, but also an accurate representation of the emotional complexities of the youth. Their music speaks about vulnerability, being emotionally distant and unavoidably indifferent to others, as well as coming to terms with self-acceptance. It’s a journey of self-discovery and addressing one’s flaws. Not only does Stranger Today flow together incredibly well from beginning to end, it also reflects the trio’s emotional and intellectual depth.
From adding dashes of shoegaze-ness to delivering an emotionally captivating grungy soundscape, Our Girl have proven to us they can go above and beyond to incorporate genres of all kinds to create a wall of sound that is unique to themselves. If you fancy alternative bands like Beach House, Big Thief or Wolf Alice, Our Girl are without a doubt one of the most promising female-fronted bands that you should check out right now. Their uproarious indie rock tunes will consume your mind and swallow you whole, leaving you in awe and with a smile on your face.
Underground Soundwave presents an ongoing series of reports on emerging and established bands with close-up Q&As, new release reviews and gig reports with a special emphasis on supporting diversity in music, women in music, independent labels and venues and the local music scene.
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