In the 4 years since I first saw Skinny Girl Diet open for The Nightingales they have amassed a decent following and have been able to finance the recording and production of a debut album out of the money earned as a live band. Thus, they can maintain their independence and be truly Indie (or truly Punk if you prefer).
Either way, I was very happy to get the vinyl to review complete with its intentionally shocking front cover which makes the Heavy Flow of its title crystal clear as this trio are going to bleed for you.
During the opening Comedown Intro, they sound like a low fi Sonic Youth full of squalling guitars and breathy comedown vocals to lure us into their still teenage world view. Yeti sounds a bit more like Hole as it's a non-love song to the hairy Yeti who wants to paw inappropriately and be around all night when you get the feeling they want to be out of his clutches as soon as possible.
Okay is a good song about feeling (and being) downtrodden and put down for no good reason by someone who claims to care for you. It marries sweet vocals against distorting guitar passages to great effect. Lazy Eye sounds a bit more focussed than it does live and it has a familiar rumble and all sorts of guitar stabs, which are almost like a come on but are more to see how sleazy he really is.
Eyes That Paralyse answers my question as to what this live favourite is actually called. I have never got the right song title before!! It's urgent and angry and in need of its downbeats as you get stuck like a statue by one of those looks that I'm sure all three members of the band have perfected.
Bored is an angry and very fierce look at boredom and why anyone should be bored in this day and age. The A-side closes with another live classic, Wolf Pack, with full on screaming from Amelia as they go horrorcore and nail the song into our psyches.
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The B-side opens with Silver Spoons: a great song about corruption and those born with silver spoons who think they know how to run things and our lives. It's suitably full on, angry and righteous. Fix Me is yet another song with that title and is full of odd noises against a great lo-fi rumble as they ask someone to try to fix them and not in the drugs sense of that phrase.
Pretty Song is, of course, an anti-Pretty song and tries to be as ugly as it can. It allows Amelia to let go with her screams and yelps as Delilah has a good go at the beauty industry and the music biz executives who ask them to sing them a pretty song, like that's going to happen.
DMJ is all about the addictions and other life issues that will get us all in the end. Forget is a song you won't forget hearing as they try to get over a parasitic lover who's stuck in their heads and is rather hard to forget.
Wasted Smile has a slow stoned opening as Delilah sings about a wasted friend and the roller-coaster they are on. The music reflects that ride as it explodes and dissolves more than once really harnessing the loud quiet dynamics used by many grunge bands to brilliant effect. I wonder if the friend OD's or survives to try again another day?
The album closes with Comedown Outro, which is all phased guitars and noises to finish a really great album off very nicely indeed.
Find out more at:
Skinny Girl Diet online
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