Girl Friday - Swimmer
(Get Fresh)
The self-released debut from this NYC trio features a heady mix of punky power pop (particularly opener “Give Over”), torchy jazz ballads and soul searching confessionals, mostly from the pen of singer/guitarist Amanda Dora. Numerous friends provide harmony vocals throughout, which opens the sound considerably, giving the sonic appearance of a much larger band. “Make My Peace” is another punchy, hard rocker in the style of ‘80s legends, The Pandoras, but this early burst of high energy is derailed considerably by the sleepy floater “Leave No Worry Here” and the jazzy, wah-wah torch song “Lost” (kudos to trumpeter, Todd Horton). While the latter is memorable as a winning combination of Saint Etienne and Portishead, both of these tracks might have fared better if resequenced deeper into the album.
On first listen, “Worthy” appears to use a sultry Gwen Stefani approach to rope the No Doubt fans in, but it thankfully proceeds to put everything in their catalogue to shame. The over-the-top theatricality of “Ravaged” may come across better in concert—it needs the visuals to support its dramatic presentation, but “Meadow Song” is an intriguing marriage of Amanda’s delicately sweet vocals with a ballsy heavy rock backing and “Alone” is the best (unintentional, I’m sure) impersonation of Delores O’Riordan and The Cranberries I’ve heard yet, but don’t let that scare you off—its wistful, swaying melody and gentle harmonies (from David Bowie’s bassist, Gail Ann Dorsey) combine to make it the perfect choice for lead single and deserves heavy college radio airplay.
I swear I detected a hint of Karen Carpenter’s angelic sighs in “Don’t Know Anything” and the strings are definitely a winning embellishment, as are Sean McCaul’s vibes and John Cabán’s impressive wailing solos on the title track, a dreamy, psychedelic headswirler that, like this impressive debut, merits repeated listens.
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