OK, what have we here? 4 tracks on 12” vinyl from The Girls At Dawn. Will this three piece band from Brooklyn step up to the hi-fi challenge or will they stick to their relentlessly lo-fi path? No surprise that it turned out to be lo-fi all the way as Ana, Erin and Sarah throw their songs at us from the far end of a tunnel.
Lost in reverb – and perhaps lost in time too –and held together with string is “It’s The Only Time” as good old fashioned teen angst gets a makeover. As the words go “… I’m so glad you’re mine”, your heart goes “Aaaaaah” Not being ones to change a winning formula, The Girls At Dawn then launch another dreamy little number called “Tomorrow Will Be Yesterday” that hits you with flawed harmonies through the murkiness like some sort of Class A drug psychosis.
Then “Surprise” brings a slight stylistic change as a visit to the hinterland between girl groups and proto punk gets scheduled (and executed from the coffee shop down the street by the sound of it). Last up was “I’m Not Sad” which was much brighter even if the vocals were nearly incomprehensible but, hey, it’s all about the impact, inane smiles and the urge for soda pop. Four nearly pop songs gone and – guess what? - the end result is utterly bloody charming in its unassuming sonic car crash kind of way
If you could go back in time who would you be? Phil Spector or Shadow Morton? You wouldn’t want to be Phil Spector as he would just pull out his little gun and shoot The Girls At Dawn for messing up the chord changes so it would have to be Shadow Morton. He could handle the Shangri-Las so he could handle The Girls At Dawn. Mmm…might just have come up with an idea for the script for the next series of Doctor Who.