Vivian Girls (album)
| Vivian Girls | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | May 2008 | |||
| Recorded | January 2008 | |||
| Studio | Civil Defense League (Brooklyn, New York) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 21:27 | |||
| Label | Mauled by Tigers | |||
| Vivian Girls chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Vivian Girls | ||||
Vivian Girls is the debut studio album by American indie rock band Vivian Girls. It was released in May 2008 by the label Mauled by Tigers.[3]
After Mauled by Tigers' limited pressing of 500 LP copies quickly sold out, Vivian Girls was reissued on CD and LP by In the Red Records on October 7, 2008.[4] It was reissued again by Polyvinyl Record Co. in 2019, alongside its 2009 follow-up Everything Goes Wrong.[5]
Composition
[edit]Vivian Girls has been described by critics as an album of lo-fi[6][7] and noise pop[7][8] music. Paste's Henry Freedland said that it exhibits Vivian Girls' fusion of art punk and shoegaze-pop,[9] while NME noted the presence of garage rock elements.[10]
Critical reception
[edit]| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 80/100[11] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [8] |
| The A.V. Club | A−[12] |
| Blender | [13] |
| NME | 8/10[10] |
| Paste | 8.0/10[9] |
| Pitchfork | 8.5/10[14] |
Vivian Girls was met with favorable reviews from music critics.[11] The album holds a score of 80 out of 100 on the review aggregation website Metacritic, based on 15 reviews.[11] NME stated that "between the omnipresent slabs of reverb, the trio flip between harmonic garage rock, gloomy melodies and twee-Birthday Partyisms".[10] Jesse Darlin' of Plan B praised the songs' melodies as "all hard and spiky on the outside and gooey on the inside, like tough girl music should be."[15]
At the end of 2008, Vivian Girls was named the ninth best album of the year by Rough Trade,[16] while Pitchfork listed it as the year's 16th best album.[17]
Legacy
[edit]Despite being polarizingly received when it was released, Vivian Girls has since grown in status. In a 10th-anniversary retrospective, Stereogum's Patrick D. McDermott dubbed it "an all-killer-no-filler introduction to an awesome band". McDermott wrote of audiences' desire to hear "something catchy but not polished, raw but not mean" in music beyond the "pastoral-sounding boy bands and Coachella-band psych" common at the time. He felt that this was briefly provided by noise pop's late-2000s resurgence, of which the album contained "22 of [its] messiest and most influential minutes".[7]
Track listing
[edit]All tracks are written by Vivian Girls (Katy Goodman, Cassie Ramone and Frankie Rose)
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "All the Time" | 1:57 |
| 2. | "Such a Joke" | 1:43 |
| 3. | "Wild Eyes" | 1:55 |
| 4. | "Going Insane" | 1:29 |
| 5. | "Tell the World" | 3:36 |
| 6. | "Where Do You Run To" | 3:15 |
| 7. | "Damaged" | 2:06 |
| 8. | "No" | 1:19 |
| 9. | "Never See Me Again" | 1:41 |
| 10. | "I Believe in Nothing" | 2:26 |
| Total length: | 21:27 | |
Personnel
[edit]Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.[18]
Vivian Girls
- Katy "Kickball Katy" Goodman – bass, vocals[19]
- Cassie Ramone – guitar, lead vocals,[19] cover artwork
- Frankie Rose – drums, vocals[19]
Additional personnel
Charts
[edit]| Chart (2008) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)[20] | 44 |
References
[edit]- ^ Sendra, Tim. "Vivian Girls". AllMusic. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
- ^ "Vivian Girls – Tell The World – 7"". Woodsist. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
- ^ Caramanica, Jon (August 21, 2008). "Punks, but Really Romantics at Heart". The New York Times. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
- ^ Stosuy, Brandon (August 1, 2008). "New Vivian Girls – 'Where Do You Run To'". Stereogum. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
- ^ "Vivian Girls announce Memory, first new album in 8 years out 9/20 – listen to 'Sick' now + fall tour dates". Polyvinyl Record Co. July 16, 2019. Retrieved June 19, 2021.
- ^ Welsh, April Clare (April 12, 2011). "Album Review: Vivian Girls – Share the Joy". Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on March 5, 2021. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
- ^ a b c McDermott, Patrick D. (October 1, 2018). "Vivian Girls Turns 10". Stereogum. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
- ^ a b Sendra, Tim. "Vivian Girls – Vivian Girls". AllMusic. Retrieved October 18, 2018.
- ^ a b Freedland, Henry (October 14, 2008). "Vivian Girls: Vivian Girls". Paste. Retrieved October 18, 2018.
- ^ a b c "Vivian Girls: Vivian Girls". NME. 2008.
- ^ a b c "Vivian Girls by Vivian Girls Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
- ^ Heller, Jason (January 13, 2009). "Vivian Girls: Vivian Girls". The A.V. Club. Retrieved October 18, 2018.
- ^ Sheffield, Rob (November 2008). "Vivian Girls: Vivian Girls". Blender. Vol. 7, no. 10. p. 78. Archived from the original on October 4, 2008. Retrieved October 18, 2018.
- ^ Granzin, Amy (October 3, 2008). "Vivian Girls: Vivian Girls". Pitchfork. Retrieved October 18, 2018.
- ^ Darlin', Jesse (October 2008). "Vivian Girls: Vivian Girls". Plan B. No. 38. p. 71.
- ^ "Albums of the Year". Rough Trade. p. 1. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved February 21, 2010.
- ^ "The 50 Best Albums of 2008". Pitchfork. December 19, 2008. p. 4. Retrieved October 18, 2018.
- ^ Vivian Girls (liner notes). Vivian Girls. Mauled by Tigers. 2008. MBT 004.
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - ^ a b c Lindsay, Cam (September 28, 2008). "Vivian Girls". Exclaim!. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
- ^ "Vivian Girls Chart History (Heatseekers Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 20, 2018.
External links
[edit]- Vivian Girls at Discogs (list of releases)
