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Sep 23, 2019The Talkies is a devastating and jaw-dropping record that provokes awe and anxiety in equal measure. Although there are elements throughout the record that are ‘quintessentially’ Girl Band, The Talkies builds upon these elements and makes a vast leap sonically and narratively with the aid of unrestrained experimentation. There is a definitive artistic expression found on The Talkies and frankly it should be a late contender for any albums of the decade list.
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Sep 27, 2019The Talkies is rough around the edges, is of a debased, primal nature, yet is incredibly on-point with the unsettling atmosphere it communicates. Girl Band is officially the crown jewel of Irish punk, if a beautifully horrific crown jewel.
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Sep 27, 2019It’s testament to their skill and commitment that it all hangs together so well. What could brush off as mere novelty instead thrives as an almost unique ability to mix anything and everything within arms reach. By being almost completely unrestrained and unmoderated ‘The Talkies’ can exist in its rawest and most vital form.
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Oct 17, 2019Unflinchingly stoic and resilient to the last, its 12 pieces are all carefully placed together consecutively like an ill-fitting jigsaw. It's a record that demands to be heard in its entirety, preferably in one sitting. Yet once digested, it never disappoints from thereon in.
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Sep 27, 2019While Girl Band are no longer explicitly talking about psychosis, they’re still experts at sonically communicating how it feels, through screeching sensory assaults that hit like a migraine and relentlessly pulsate like a heart racing out of control.
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Sep 27, 2019Overall this is a band that, by playing fast and loose with verse-chorus-verse, generate an addictive kind of noise.
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Sep 26, 2019By choosing to take on the subject [mental health] head-on, they've crafted an album which is half-noise rock record and half-audio representation of Kiely's mind. While it may be a struggle to listen to for anyone caught unaware, it's that same struggle that makes their output so captivating as an experience.
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Sep 24, 2019Weirder, funnier and fiercer than ever, Girl Band return as heroes of the weirder corner of rock music, and they’ve outdone themselves this time.
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MojoSep 23, 2019The Talkies is a scarifying, perverse noise-rock treat. [Oct 2019, p.85]
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UncutSep 23, 2019There's depth, vulnerability even humour to the lyrics. [Nov 2019, p.27]
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Sep 23, 2019Primal, raw and unformed - and ultimately not an album for the faint-hearted - its lyrical content alternates between the absurd and the everyday.
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Sep 23, 2019The Talkies is a superb return, with Girl Band building upon what they know they can do but without resting on their laurels. Still experimenting, still funny, still brilliant.
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Sep 25, 2019Having only a few minor setbacks, The Talkies is an exciting new addition to Girl Band's discography with its refinement of their sonorous experimental punk style and its ability to stay intensely enthralling, avoiding repetition. Getting deeper and darker than ever before on The Talkies, it will be interesting to see what Girl Band do next.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 9 out of 10
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Mixed: 1 out of 10
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Negative: 0 out of 10
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Oct 29, 2019