Song of the Day: Girls Names - Reticence

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJ’s think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on The Midday Show with Cheryl Waters, is “Reticence” by Girls Names from the 2015 album Arms Around a Vision on Tough Love Records.

Girls Names - Reticence (MP3)

Emerging in Belfast in 2009, Girls Names quickly transitioned from a gauzy lo-fi project into a formidable, severe quartet has made them one of the city's most consistently engaging bands. Led by frontman Cathal Cully, Girls Names first released a cassette that brought them to the attention of the UK label Tough Love, who released their first mini-album, 2010's You Should Know By Now. The band's proper debut, Dead To Me, followed the next year, as did their most extensive touring to that point. The band eased up on the fuzz on 2013's airy The New Life, but for their latest album, 2015's Arms Around A Vision, they tapped back into their more grimy and noisy tendencies. Despite tightening up their sound into a rattling, post-punk shock, Girls Names sound expansive and dark on "Reticence" in a way that they've only hinted at before. There's hardly a trace of the shimmering tones from their last album, their gossamer effect replaced by austere reverb and a thunderous, ominous rhythm section. Although the song shifts tone once the band roll through the song's sinister introduction, a Joy Division-type gravity still hangs over them, as Cully snarls through his bandmates' serrated stomp. By the song's end, it's clear that not only "Reticence" is a huge step forward for Girls Names, but also a clear example of how a band can draw from past sounds (in this case, post punk) without ever sounding the least bit reductive.

Girls Names finished a summer European tour last month, but keep a tab on their website and Facebook to get any news about new music or tour dates. Below, watch the band's video for "The New Day".