We had the opportunity to listen to the new Girlpool album in advance of it's drop date on February 1, 2019! Below you will find our track by track take on the album!
Girlpool - What Chaos is Imaginary
1. Lucy's - This track was a bit of a throwback for us as it reminded us of early 90's alternative music. Particularly in the guitar usage and effects that were used by the band. The vocals also pushed this, so needless to say we took a hard turn to nostalgia land here and loved every second of it. We also have to make mention of the homemade harmonies between Cleo Tucker and Harmony Tividad. Simply a fantastic tune to start the album with!
2. Stale Device - We once again have great guitar work to begin the track with vocals that bring comps to earlier alternative work. We love the falsetto utilized by Tivadad in her vocals here.
3. Where You Sink - This piece is pure alt with a driving guitar melody that just punches it's way throughout the track, it's absolutely haunting. The vocal harmonies are on full display again here and they are exquisite. The movements of this one along with the leads are just beautiful
4. Hire - "Hire" is a bit of a more upbeat track in comparison to the previous entries on the album. It features Tucker as the primary vocalist. The melody and cadence of vocals remind of an upbeat Wilco track. The chorus is down right catch city, i.e. it's damn catchy! We also loved the percussion in this one as it really helped build and drive the melody. Vocals were once again strong here per the usual from Girlpool.
5. Pretty - Another upbeat offering here, featuring Tividad as the primary vocalist. There are some great breakdowns here between verses and chorus. Also the use of pause in this song are great. Leads are strong and stand above the melody well while not minimizing it.
6. All Blacked Out - Tucker on vocals again, a slow burner here with some excellent finger-picking guitar work. Seems to be more of a change of pace song halfway through the album, but it's more than that. There's genuine meat here.
7. Chemical Freeze - Another slow jam with Tucker on vocals. The song builds slowly until there is a nice beat that accompanies effects driven guitar. Vocals take a back seat on this one as the melody is the star of the show. It slowly burns out.
8. Lucky Joke - Upbeat again here with some prominent guitar work, Tividad is back on primary vocals. Percussion is hard at work here as well with an almost marching beat at points to drive home the rhythm. Great song to dance to.
9. Minute In Your Mind - This track takes more of an ambient turn on vocals similar to "All Blacked Out" and "Chemical Freeze" but it's a bit more upbeat than those tracks. The drums here are fantastic and lead the melody throughout. There are also
10. What Chaos Is Imaginary - Organs to start the track off, accompanied by Tividad on vocals. Soon percussion joins and pushes throughout the track this is a good change of pace for the album.
11. Hoax and the Shrine - A simple acoustic track with Tividad on vocals. It's so different than anything we've heard so far it's remarkable to hear on this album. Simply fantastic.
12. Swamp and Bay - This song has almost an alt-country melody to it, which comes from nowhere. We have Tucker back on vocals. This song is downright bright in all aspects and is placed very well on the album here toward the end. It's interesting to see Girlpool tinker with the sound as we get closer to the end.
13. Joseph's Dad - Tividad back on vocals here. We have shifted back to traditional alt sound. There are some great harmonies and guitar work at play here. As always, the accompanying drums accentuate the melody unlike most bands you hear today.
14. Roses - Tucker is back on vocals here, with an ambient sound to the vocals. This pushes against a hard driving melody that is bookending the album well. We love the contrast in styles mashing together.
Overall Thoughts - Girlpool really threw everything in this monster of an album! They had some diversity to their sound, but also never got too far down the rabbit hole. Things we loved, vocal harmonies. all. day. long. They are simply great at this. We also loved the rhythm guitar and drum combos on this one, they played so well off of one another. We also appreciated Tucker and Tividad trading vocal time pretty evenly and each one presenting a unique spin to the track when they took the helm. An excellent effort from Girlpool that you need to check out now!
Rating: 4.5/5