Goat Girl – Goat Girl

Scuzzy quartet Goat Girl’s self-titled debut is a celebration of London. Actually, celebration isn’t the right word. More a cerebration. The band honour the good of the city and shine a spotlight on the bad, not unlike Daniele Luppi’s 2017 album Milano – a conflicted meditation upon 1980s Milan. But, where that album presented a clear societal dichotomy within Italy, Goat Girl’s London is a murkier, and at times far more unsettling place. Creep exposes a public transport pervert, complete with a 'dirty trouser stain,' atop ominous strings and fierce percussion, while The Man with No Heart or Brain is as scornful as it sounds.

In the face of these degenerates Goat Girl stand unfazed, a sentiment that remains a through-line even when the album warms up. The Man is a feverish love song, where lead singer Lottie, aka Clottie Cream, repeats the phrase 'You’re the man for me' ad nauseam with a moaning drawl until her infatuation steadily warps into obsession. Meanwhile, clocking in at under two minutes, Country Sleaze is a brief explosion of attitude, where a wall of crunchy guitars and bass drums envelops Lottie as she spits that 'nobody will mess' with her.

In Goat Girl’s London, a fucked up place full of weirdos both loathsome and benign – mostly loathsome – we’d say that’s a fair attitude to have.

Listen to: The Man, Country Sleaze, Cracker Drool