Grounded in sexism and inequality, Goat Girl inflicts another kick to the gonads of their male peers — proving they are not to be seen as harmless, just because they are women.
Three years after their debut album, South London-based Goat Girl returns with On All Fours, an extension of their twangy country and inherently political sound. After a 2019 lineup change, Goat Girl welcomed Holly Mullineaux, replacing Naima Redina-Bock on bass, which allowed the band to redistribute responsibilities. While Lottie Pendlebury, the lead guitarist and vocalist, primarily wrote the band’s debut, this adaptation helped the band take a more democratic approach to songwriting; the duties now spread evenly across the band’s members. While writing, the members would often switch instruments, allowing them to create new sounds without worrying if they were playing “correctly.”
Retreating from their strictly “guitar music sound,” On All Fours draws from an interesting array of electronic influences and diverse vocal styles. Throw some Lauryn Hill, Stereolab and Blonde Redhead into a blender and you’ll come pretty close to the sound Goat Girl and Producer Dan Carey created.
In On All Fours, Goat Girl evolves from their once angsty youth to an unapologetic adult. “I have no shame when I say; step the fuck away,” Pendlebury sings in the opening track “Pest.” While the underlying themes to the songs read as political, there is a subtle urge to allow yourself to feel positively hopeless rather than be complacent. Tracks “Badibaba” and “Anxiety Feels” are just that, while very danceable there is a darker undertone of human greed and our parasitic relationship to the earth and ourselves.
Goat Girl’s ability to vocalize their personal interactions and put them into songs should be seen as vulnerable, but there is such an art to how they can take their traumas and turn them into something so powerful and unfortunately relatable. Track “P.T.S.TEA” is about a ferry trip the band went on when drummer Rosy Jones was burned with boiling hot tea by someone who did not feel the need to apologize. Their burns were so bad the band was forced to cancel tour dates. This whole situation poses the question: Why are women and non-binary people not being listened to, and why isn’t their identity respected?
What makes this album so special is how multifaceted it is, not only musically but emotionally. The sound they created is absolutely immeasurable, and the messages they have talked about are not only important but powerful. Typically something so exceptional would be seen as exorbitant, but because of the production and instrumentation, it comes off as being fluid and effortless. Goat Girl truly deserves to be recognized as being on the same level of intensity as their peers, if not above.
Essential Tracks: “Where Do We Go?” “Badibaba” and “Pest”