Washed Out

Ever since The Guardian’s Tim Jonze tipped me off about Washed Out – who hails from Georgia (state not country) but is now based in California – my life has had a new option.  Click the right buttons on my laptop and the aural equivalent of a paradise beach villa awaits: a secluded, trouble-free place of beach barbecues, fruity cocktails on the veranda and romantic strolls as the sun sets.

Aptly called a ‘bedroom boffin’ (these are the one-man bands of the 21st century) by Jonze, Ernest Greene’s songs float somewhere between ambient chill-out and hazy lemonade pop.  Some, such as Belong, are rockier and full of choruses you can chant along with; others including New Theory and Feel It All Around have jazz, r’n'b, Balearic and even elevator music influences or samples.  In You’ll See It, behind the lo-fi sheen I can even hear traces of dancier 80s and 90s bands like the Stone Roses or Erasure.  Elsewhere there’s a neon-sponsored splash of electro, or a slice of Latino rhythm. All of the tunes have one common element, though: each provides the sort of woozy, contended feel normally associated with things like hammocks, siestas and starlit skies.  All of which are present and correct at my imaginary villa.

Washed Out on MySpace
Washed Out’s blog

MP3: Washed Out – Feel It All Around (zSHARE)
MP3: Washed Out – You’ll See It (zSHARE)

Live in London – Girls

With a London show swift approaching, San Francisco quartet Girls (three men, one girl) are an act well worth investigating.  Dripping of 70s rock and the dankest blues, and shaped around teenage-angst lyrics, their mellow rock is often downbeat, sometimes angry, but always easy on the ear.

Solitude starts off like the kind of slow, school disco song every hellraising 70s rock outfit came out with once – think an echoey sound and particularly winsome lyrics.  From there it slowly morphs into a  smoky, folky ballad, complete with a harmonica and an ever-tinkling bass guitar. Hellhole Ratrace is striking for its quiet, meanwhile, as much as cutesy couplets like ”I dont wanna cryyy my whole life through / I just wanna do some maths for two”.  On and on it trippily goes, simple as a builder’s caff, yet blissful as looking into a lover’s eyes. Think of the delicious guilt that comes with a day in your pajamas and you’re somewhere near the indolence this regal song provokes.

It’s not all gentleness though: Lust For Life is shorter, faster and louder, although still just as mellow as the above numbers.  Between the vocals, the harmonica reappears, drums clang, guitars twang and the temptation to close your eyes and sway your head is irresistible.  Big Bad Mother Fucker is truly a step up tempo, however.  It has much more feedback and the odd high-pitched howl; that, and thrashing guitars and a real beer-swilling grunt. 

Live date:
Tues 20 October – Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen, Shoreditch

Girls on MySpace

MP3: Girls – Hellhole Ratrace (zSHARE)
MP3: Girls – Lust For Live (zSHARE)

Buy Girls’ album Music here.