Call a Doctor

by Girl and Girl

Overview

The debut full-length album from Brisbane, Australia's Girl and Girl, 2024's Call a Doctor, crackles with a youthful enthusiasm that finds the quartet ably balancing a mix of late-'70s and early-'80s post-punk and jangle pop influences. Centered on singer/songwriter Kai James, the group has the warbly vocals and twangy guitar attitude that evoke classic bands like Television, the Feelies, and Beat Happening with the subtle Krautrock undercurrents of groups like Devo and Joy Division. However, rather than coming off as an overly studied exercise in style, Call a Doctor has the loose feeling of kids who seemingly just stumbled upon this sound as a good conduit for their own rambunctious, somewhat nerdy indie rock impulses. This makes sense as most of Girl and Girl are in their twenties, save drummer Melissa James, Kai's aunt, who started drumming in the late '80s in Sydney punk outfits; a fact that might explain some of the band's nervy post-punk inclinations. There are some bona fide mixtape-ready songs here, including the title track, a strident group vocal that evokes Brian Eno's '70s albums, the Strokes-esque "Mother," and especially "Hello," a driving anthem that has the fidgety, self-effacing energy and wry humor of David Byrne and early Talking Heads. The lyrics give give you the feeling that James is talking to himself, narrating his own insecurities, as he sings "Hello, I guess I'm just calling to let you know that I'm not that well/But you're obviously not there/And I know you're all too familiar with my little personal hell/So you probably won't care." The song feels both personal, like he's talking directly to the audience, and conceptually wry. It's that balance of emotional immediacy and playfulness that's reflected in the band's wiry vocal, guitar, and drum interplay on Call a Doctor that's never less than thrilling. ~ Matt Collar

Product Details

Release Date:	05/24/2024
Label:	Sub Pop
UPC:	0098787160604
Rank:	36368

Tracks

1. INTRO
2. Call a Doctor
3. Hello
4. Maple Jean and the Anthropocene
5. Oh Boy!
6. Suffocate
7. Mother
8. You'll Be Alright
9. Comfortable Friends
10. Our Love (Ours Only)
11. OUTRO

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Girl and Girl   Primary Artist,Primary Artist