Cursing the Sea

More Dum Dum than Vivian, September Girls’ debut LP is a reverb-ridden sass-pot of a thing--all fluttering eyelashes and scratchy underbelly.

Cursing The Sea is an enjoyable listen from start to finish; whilst not possessing anything in the way of a number one single, the rawness and lo-fi feel will appeal to many.

It's sugar-coated sweetness with a psych-haze CS gas drizzle. It's unnerving as you're not quite sure where it's going to go next--it is unnerving, to a degree, but also an intrinsic part of their appeal.

However cloaked in black this record often feels (the closing track “Sister” deals viscerally head-on with the issue of rape with passion and extreme clarity), it’s rarely at the expense of any listening pleasure; sure there’s little let up in the mood but when the writing is consistently good you really can’t quibble about wanting more colours on the palette.

To be fair, there are a few songs that skew close to paint-by-numbers lo-fi indie rock but this is a record that refuses to hew too neatly to expectations.

There us ab agreeably lo-fi C86 sloppiness to much f this debut, even if it sounds more cheap than raw in places. [Feb 2014, p.81]

Contrary to the slipshod musicianship of their older peers, September Girls are more than competent unit that model themselves accurately with a toughened exterior, and most of the flaws arise out of its production inconsistencies; the most glaring being the distracting interchange between vocal clarity and obfuscation between tracks, and the whirring fuzz is stretched out far too thin.

There’s a difference between original and interesting, though, and there’s plenty of the band’s own identity on Cursing the Sea, which marks the start of what could yet be a tremendous 2014 for the quintet in deliciously dark fashion.

The sonic palette may be familiar, but the strength of songwriting indicates that September Girls might, just might, be capable of pushing past this.

Caoimhe Derwin and Jessie Ward’s guitars have perfected that Jesus And Mary Chain kettle-whistle sound, lending a haunted air to otherwise energetic stomps like ‘Heartbeats’ and ‘Talking.

September Girls sound like a copy of a copy of a copy, not quite reaching the heights of their immediate predecessors, let alone the classic bands they're all aiming for.

You can't help but feel that there's a brilliant EP in here, even if there's not quite meat enough to support a full-length.