Girlpool – Girlpool

Do You Wanna Make Out?

Girlpool is LA’s latest female lo-fi indie rock duet, and if their self-titled debut EP sounds like it was written by two teenagers, that’s because it was. Harmony Tividad is 18 and plays bass guitar, and Cleo Tucker is 17 (yes, 17) and plays guitar. There is no percussion.

Some people will start listening to Girlpool and within seconds, will turn it off and never look back. Others will smile and be intrigued. Single and opener “Blah Blah Blah” starts with easy, heavy bass strumming and guitar chords, and the girls’ cute, whiny, possibly annoying vocals as they repeat the word “blah” roughly 30 times.

Follow-up “Paint Me Colors” slows down considerably and while feeling more melancholy, features all of the above-mentioned. All lyrics are straightforward and don’t try to be anything other than simple sentences, like in the 36-second-long track “Love Spell:” “Love spell, go to hell, drink my wine, everything’s fine.”

There’s a lot of sexual talk on Girlpool. “Slutmouth” talks about being slut-shaming and making out, and “American Beauty” gets downright dirty. It’s a little messed up to listen to music created by a 17-year-old that says “Eat me out to American Beauty” when you’re at least a decade older, but it’s their statement toward “hookup culture” and Girlpool have stated in an interview that they don’t like the way that line feels and sounds during live shows.

One thing Girlpool is, is fun. Their “empowering” sexual anthems are easy to play and sing along to. Girlpool is cute, simple and all lo-fi, so it’s hard to fault Tividad and Tucker for doing anything wrong, other than not experimenting enough.