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NBHAP Rating: 4,2/5
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[one_half last=”yes”]GIRLPOOL
Before The Worlds Was Big
Release-Date: 02.06.2015
Label: Wichita Recordings
Tracklist:
01. Ideal World
02. Dear Nora
03. Before The World Was Big
04. Chinatown
05. Cherry Picking
06. Magnifying Glass
07. Crowded Stranger
08. Pretty
09. Emily
10. I Like That You Can See It
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Like a 90s teen film of music
In the summer of 2009 my then boyfriend made me a mix tape of BEST COAST demos. It was like an indie film, we’d eat pizza and wander the streets of our tiny hometown and drink illegal pints. I’m digressing but I am trying to find a way to accurately describe the emotive power of GIRLPOOL’s debut album, Before The World Was Big. This is not a review claiming that BEST COAST and GIRLPOOL sound the same. They don’t. Yet they both possess that lo-fi sass and sweet vocals. No, it is trying to describe how they both capture the ‘summer before you move away from your hometown’ rite of passage. Like a 1990s teen film of music.
Coherent Coming Of Age
Dear Nora sounds like an open letter to some old aunt, explaining where you are in life and where you plan to be in the future. Plans to go swimming in Seattle and how a lot has changed in a year, for the two young women, Cleo and Harmony. It’s a record with enough high and low points to create a coherent coming of age record.
A tale of dissatisfaction in love
Before The World Was Big the titular single of the record is a sibling love and missing the bond between younger sisters. Lines like “I Just Miss How I Felt Standing Next To You Wearing Matching Dresses Before The World Was Big” show a nostalgic and a fear of growing up. Singles like Chinatown make the record a strong lo-fi progression through youth and sadness. It is a tale of dissatisfaction in love. “I thought I liked you/I was busying biting my nails” is the catchy line for every gal and guy who has thought they were in love in their youth before realising everything definitely sucks.
GIRLPOOL’s ‘Before The World Was Big’ is the soundtrack to an old school indie film – with enough highs and lows to create a coherent coming of age record.
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