Instant Nostalgia: RIP Girls

As is often the case in music or any collaborative artform, sometimes people just have to move on to new things in order to progress and grow. This appears to be the case with Christopher Owens, the principal songwriter and singer of the indie-surf-soul outfit Girls. Owens earlier announced his intentions to end his involvement with Girls leaving partner and producer JR White in an impossible position of continuing on without the band’s voice, literally and figuratively.

Beginning in 2007, Girls started to take shape as Owens and White met for the first time in San Francisco. Raised in the fundamentalist cult Children of God, Owens used music as his outlet towards understanding the larger world he had been shut off from early in life as well as a means of expression. The resulting debut Album was received with instant critical acclaim and was championed by Pitchfork as another band they had successfully launched into the mainstream. As a result, Girls began to tour regularly as Owens and White began shaping their live aesthetic with the eventual introduction of bouquets of flowers and a trio of female mo-town style back up singers.

Their second, and for now final, album Father, Son, Holy Ghost further expanded upon Owens’ conflicted lyrical content and introduced a fuller sound with a Pink Floyd-at-the-beach feel. Girls seemed to be chugging forward with a full head of steam playing to a growing audience with the always interesting third album looming on the eventual horizon. Sadly, the world may never get to hear anything new from Girls as we knew it, but can take comfort in knowing that Owens is pursuing new musical interests and is likely hungry to prove himself in a new group or as a solo artist.

As tribute to a band shut down just as it was approaching its prime here’s a selection of some of Girls’ finest material that should live on as either a testament of what Owens should have never left behind or an early indication of what he could do and improved on.

 ”Lust For Life”

“Hellhole Ratrace”

“Laura”

“Honey Bunny”

“Alex”

“Vomit”