As you're probably aware, we've been following the progression of San Diego's TV Girl since the first few EPs appeared online a few years ago. This early material was all available for free, in part due to the amount of samples used in its construction and problems with clearance. Frankly, TV Girl made the best use of samples since The Go! Team burst on to the scene in the mid '00s, and they quite possibly have the best record collections in the world. Last year's album 'The Wild, The Innocent, The TV Shuffle' marked the end of this period, and although it contained a couple of stone-cold classics, it was ever so slightly disappointing given earlier tracks such as 'Benny & The Jetts' or 'It's Not Something'. But from this point, the duo were ditching the samples (or most of them at least) and concentrating on producing material that's 100% their own. We know they can sing (the almost lazy-sounding voice is one of their best assets), we know they can play, YouTube clips proved that, and we knew they were among the best producers in the business. So how does new EP 'Lonely Women' shape up?
We've already waxed lyrical about free single 'She Smokes In Bed', the current holder of our OROTW award. Now for the rest. TV Girl haven't changed their sound, and this is a total joy to note; the songs they've written sound just like their trademark classics, so that's another string to their overly strung bow. As the title suggests, 'Lonely Women' is all about girls. 'Laura' contains a typical big beat, some great backing vocals and piano, plenty of melody and those almost lazy vocals that we've become so used to. 'My Girlfriend' is lovely. It takes their love of the finest '60s girl-group and easy listening sounds and gives them a twinkly modern makeover with more excellent female backing vocals. These are proper tunes and they sound like TV Girl and no one else. You can't mistake this band for any other. 'Easier To Cry' is even better, employing some vintage organ and upping the pace a notch while packing in the melody and beats. Finally we get 'Melanie' which once again combines the retro with the modern. Writing proper songs? To TV Girl it seems as natural as breathing.
TV Girl's website
Stream or buy the EP
Catch them live:
FRI 21 JUN Tv Girl, Black Carl
The Green Room, Flagstaff, AZ, US
SAT 22 JUN Tv Girl, One More Time, Deux Yeux
The Crescent Ballroom, Phoenix, AZ, US
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