GOAT GIRL - Goat Girl LP

Label: Rough Trade

June 24, 2016—Britain voted to leave the European Union. And yet something hopeful happened that day: Four teens who called themselves Goat Girl inked a deal with Rough Trade. Two years later, following a round of premature hype as one of the UK’s most promising bands, they’ve released their debut LP. Goat Girl, whose members are now in their early 20s, are navigating post-adolescence in a time of queasy division between the young and old. Brexit’s impact remains a cataclysmically uncertain mess; London, which once boasted a thriving indie subculture, has lost much of its creative edge to greed and gentrification. In this crazy, aimless time, they’ve built something distinctly new and surreal.

While Goat Girl are part of the same scene that has produced post-punk quintet Shame and wonky rock group Sorry, they’re quite different from their London peers. At 19 tracks in length, their debut appears daunting but proves to be light and accessible, with plenty of offbeat wit and many an unexpected twist down gothic country roads. It’s an absurd and playful experience, like reading a book of André Breton poems while drunk on cheap cider.