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Oct 17, 2011With Father, Son, Holy Ghost, the band has vaulted the equivalent of three albums ahead, taking the conciseness of the EP and confounding expectations.
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Dec 15, 2011a record that is both this good and a display of a band with so much more to show us does not come along often.
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Nov 29, 2011They sound like they'll probably end up being one of the most enduring bands of our era.
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Nov 3, 2011FSHG continues this wheelhouse effect, drifting from Smile session bounce on opener "Honey Bunny" into the heavy-psych wind tunnel of "Die" and sprawling anchor "Vomit."
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Sep 28, 2011The album is nothing like a career-killer, but it is a career-worrier.
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Sep 28, 2011The lyrics are self-consciously Âgloppy, but from the Beach Boys pop of "Honey Bunny" to the textured, churning rocker "Alex" to the soul ballad "Love Like a River," Girls find the right sonic twist to give clichéd romantic self-pity a fresh, forlorn sting.
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Sep 27, 2011Wahile Girls have returned brimming with confidence and enthusiasm, this record seems to overstretch them.
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Sep 26, 2011The album's middle section yields the record's most comprehensive songwriting.
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Sep 23, 2011The simple truth is, you won't find a sadder yet more uplifting album all year.
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Sep 21, 2011Father, Son, Holy Ghost contains some of the deftest songwriting of 2011, and is more than a worthy successor to the group's debut.
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Sep 20, 2011On the whole, the album feels like a parody of music's tropes, limping along with no real soul.
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Sep 20, 2011With Father, Son, Holy Ghost's exquisite, beyond-indie melodies, arrangements, and musicianship (the playful "Magic," the elegant "Just a Song," the fiery "Die"), he [Christopher Owens] and bassist-producer JR White flirt with perfection.
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Sep 20, 2011Because there's an awkward squirm at Girls' core, a deviant devolution of classic mores, and that makes Holy Ghost something of a maladroit masterpiece.
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Sep 20, 2011Altogether, Father, Son, Holy Ghost is a complex record, one that doesn't quite fully realise Girls potential as great recording artists, yet equally suggests that bona fide masterpiece may not be too far around the corner.
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Sep 20, 2011This latest disc really seems to cement the notion that the collective combination of the songsmiths Owens and White simply cannot do no wrong, that all of that time spent kept away from the pleasures of modern music, at least in one member's case, has simply fostered an entity that is bemused and bedazzled with the charms of the past's reflective prism.
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Sep 14, 2011The good news is that this album proves they are top-level purveyors of pop. The bad is that the eccentricity that once flowed freely feels forced.
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Sep 13, 2011While there are some real successes here, Father, Son, Holy Ghost is extremely inconsistent.
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Sep 13, 2011The reason Father, Son, Holy Ghost is so uniquely, imperfectly swell is because the band plainly give fuck-all about convention or stylistic uniformity.
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Sep 13, 2011The pair has picked up a supporting cast and loads of confidence for Girls' second album, Father, Son, Holy Ghost.
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Sep 13, 2011This album not only surpasses its predecessor but raises the bar for any band, indie or otherwise, mining the past for inspiration.
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Sep 12, 2011Remember, Girls are only on their second full-length album and certain missteps should be expected. What we do know is that an album that misses the mark for Girls is far better than the majority of music we come across on a daily basis, and that Father, Son, Holy Ghost is, above all, a fascinating listen.
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Sep 12, 2011Father, Son, Holy Ghost succeeds thoroughly at nearly everything it does, expanding Owens and JR White's palette beyond the scope of the duo's debut without going too far out on a limb.
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Sep 12, 2011Album is an astoundingly good record in its own right, but the omni-directional growth showcased on Father, Son, Holy Ghost is nearly overwhelming.
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Sep 12, 2011We have Father, Son, Holy Ghost: honest, occasionally crushing, often stunning, and all the better for the fact that Owens seems to be incapable of being anyone but himself.
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Sep 12, 2011This lyrical simplicity shouldn't obscure the fact that these are sharply constructed songs that take unusual turns. One of Girls' specialities is their willingness to go completely over the top but somehow keep us right there with them.
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Sep 9, 2011The lo-fi arrangements are messy, too. Gospel choirs? Stadium rock riffs? Six minute folk songs in no hurry to find the nearest chorus? All feature here--not always seemlessly, but always with a certain charm.
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Sep 8, 2011Girls' have traded their early work's immediacy for something that requires more patience but goes much deeper if you've got the time.
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Sep 6, 2011It's lengthy, but the sensitivity of every guitar tickle and percussive touch, as well as main man Christopher Owens' spellbinding voice, means that it is rarely boring.
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Sep 6, 2011A quiet, understated triumph.
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Entertainment WeeklyOct 6, 2011It's a quietly compelling follow-up to their more adventurous 2009 debut. [23 Sep 2011, p.79]
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Q MagazineSep 23, 2011In the end, the try-everything approach works out: if only because Girls' scatterbrained classic rock patchwork is so idiosyncratically odd. [Oct 2011, p.124]
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MojoSep 20, 2011The deadbeat look befits an album that travels from slacker pop to a kind of desolate, beautiful blues in a series of quite astonishing songs. [Oct 2011, p.104]
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UncutSep 9, 2011"Die" is generic glam riffage, and "Magic" is a tedious Britpop stomp, but there are many successes. [Oct 2011, p.86]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 43 out of 46
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Mixed: 2 out of 46
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Negative: 1 out of 46
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Oct 8, 2011
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Aug 1, 2012
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Apr 23, 2012