Go1Paste Magazine
Paste hat noch eins reingenommen und damit Platz 13 zweimal vergeben
13 (tie). Girls – Father, Son, Holy Ghost
This album was inadvertently left off the list despite appearing on nearly half the ballots. Yes, we know that makes this list 51 albums long. But this one is worth it.
While not exactly a pop savant, Owens has sharpened his songwriting in the few years since Album, and the new tunes sound more open-ended, allowing them to build on and play off one another naturally and easily, without being forced into a self-conscious song cycle or concept album. This is an album about juxtaposition and contrast, so the yearning “Alex,” which sounds lit by a beach campfire at twilight, segues into the riff-heavy “Die,” with its classic rock noodling and harried lyrics. Girls do pop melancholy and metal misanthropy equally well. The whole album is full of such odd, unexpected pleasure, which all the more impressive considering how familiar the elements are. That’s perhaps Girls’ most impressive trick: finding so many new ideas and emotions in pop’s well-worn sounds. In that regard, this album not only surpasses its predecessor but raises the bar for any band, indie or otherwise, mining the past for inspiration.—Stephen M. Deusner
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out of the blue