There's something noble about sticking to your guns and riding out the backlash, something impressive about ignoring the hype and nonsense and making the album you want to make, damn the critics and blast the consequences.
Vivian Girls found themselves in a whirl of hype, plaudits, and small-scale success after the release of their self-titled debut album in 2008. They quickly found themselves at the forefront of a lo-fi noise pop scene that took off very fast and crashed just as quickly as people moved on to the next thing. To their credit, the
Girls didn't move on and
Everything Goes Wrong sounds very much like the first album: short, sharp, and punky songs influenced by C-86, shoegaze, girl groups, and classic punk rock played with a ramshackle abandon. The
Vivian Girls have not wavered from their chosen sound one bit, and for that you have to respect them. They bash through a collection of short, noisy songs that are a little punker and rawer than those on their debut. Singer
Cassie Ramone has some bite in her vocals and her guitar sounds like a downed power wire she's struggling to corral while the bass and drums race to keep up. There are some tracks that bring the energy level down from frantic to insistent for a change of pace: "Can't Get Over You" is a jangling love song with some nice vocal harmonies, "When I'm Gone" is C-86-approved and happily bouncy, and "Out for the Sun" is a sun-baked desert rocker that is equal parts
Green on Red- and
Wipers-sounding. The combination of window-rattling punk and more restrained indie pop makes for a nice balance and shows the band growing just the right amount. Here's to them for letting both the adulation and hate roll off their backs and not get in the way of delivering an impressive second album. ~ Tim Sendra