At 36 minutes,
Everything Goes Wrong is over 50% longer than
Vivian Girls‘ self-titled debut from last year. Given that this is a standard-length LP, it would be fair to expect the Brooklyn trio to branch out a little and show that there’s more to them than just another fuzz pop band with hummable melodies and scuzzy production.
Everything Goes Wrong, however, makes no attempt to distinguish itself from the pack, and its 13 songs offer almost nothing in the way of variation. For some listeners, this will come as a disappointment, but that’s probably unfair. After all, this is more of the same quality material that earned the band so much recognition in the first place. “Can’t Get Over You” is a dreamy, distorted doo-wop throwback, while lead single “When I’m Gone” buries its sugary harmonies in atmospheric reverb.
mp3: “When I’m Gone”
The most immediately obvious thing that distinguishes the album from its predecessor is its track lengths; unlike the band’s previous bite-sized offerings,
Everything Goes Wrong contains two tracks that clock in at over four minutes. Still, none of the tracks drag, so it doesn’t make much of an impact on the album’s overall effect. Rather, the most significant difference here is that the songs sound more like straight-forward punk, with barreling tempos and thundering drums. The lyrics are fittingly venomous, with “Walking Alone at Night” sneering ,”What do I care? / You were just a waste of my time.” Only closing track “Before I Start to Cry” eases back on the full-throttle assault, its slow-burning tempo setting the tone for its heartbroken tale of lost love.
It’s unlikely to win any new fans, but it isn’t trying to. Although it won’t convince any skeptics,
Everything Goes Wrong offers more of what made
Vivian Girls one of last year’s breakthrough albums.
It’s out now via
In the Red.
