You can’t go far wrong with harmonies. Harmonies are soothing and Girlyman do harmonies. Soothing harmonies at that and they make the world seem a better place with their album “Supernova” being as warm as the Santa Ana wind.
This being Girlyman, however, you will not be getting anything as fluffy and simplistic as summery pop music. They are an intense band and they mesh their words and music into a three course meal destined to appeal to the more refined sonic palettes. “Break Me Slow” neatly illustrates that appetising elegance as traditional concerns of things soon to be lost are reflected upon. It is dark in theme but nonetheless demonstrates a hymn like dignity. Closer to their previous work is “Michelangelo” whilst being something of an isolationist anthem also draws on the late period of The Beatles for its musical inspiration. Again, their trademark gracefulness shines through.
Even in conventionality – the precisely preformed “Soul Of You”, for example – Girlyman show that they could dominate the radio if such an aim were actually worthwhile these days. Talking of conventionality, “The Person You Want” could well be country music if country music could manage to incorporate intelligence into its current prefabricated state.
It is true to say that a sense of melancholy pervades this album but it is by no means relentlessly downbeat and it is equally true to say that “Supernova” is an album of notable depth, both musically and emotionally.