Powerplant

Their sophomore LP Powerplant sounds a little more like everyone else, echoing second-wave emo sourness (“Your Heart”), Britpop jangle (“She Goes By”), and classic alt-rock loud-quiet-loudness throughout. But Tucker and Tividad are wise enough not to abandon what makes them distinct--that unsettling magic that exists between them when they sing, the harmonic equivalent of The Shining’s Grady twins.

While the arrangements show collaboration, the lyrics sound like the work of the lonely mind. Powerplant is full of the solo enterprise of watching.

Powerplant sees Girlpool's naif-pop mature into a brittle, unpredictable, subterranean pop that recalls Pod-era Breeders. [Aug 2017, p.92]

Ultimately, Powerplant is a hooky, candid and sharp-witted portrait of young adulthood that engages with adept effortlessness.

Music is cathartic for Girlpool, allowing them to share their honest expressions while simultaneously allowing the listener to impose their own perceptions. This is a delicate balancing act that takes most artists years to master, but Tucker and Tividad provide enough give and take to make the overall experience one of constant intrigue.

With only two songs passing the three-minute mark, this is blink-and-you’ll-miss-it angst, but deserving of your attention nonetheless.

It's singular, creative work with pure intent; that makes Girlpool an important band, and it makes Powerplant an authentic, beautiful, effective record.

Girlpool base their songwriting around tenderness, vulnerability, and a complete disinterest in pretending not to embrace those things, and Powerplant finds them at their most transparent.

It’s a lot to take in, especially from a band formerly so minimalistic, but musically, it holds together.

There's a very singular character to Girlpool's music, and it's a pleasure to be able to dip into the remarkable world they have created.

The rest of Powerplant’s brief 29-minute running time can’t quite live up to “123,” though it has plenty of powerful moments.

Powerplant is not the strongest record they'll release, but neither, you'd imagine, will it be their last. There's more than enough here to suggest that we may still be in the earlier days of a long and beautiful friendship.