5 Reasons to Come Say Goodbye to Girlpool Tonight at Underground Arts

Although farewell tours are usually associated with Jurassic bands whose relevance has been lost for years, if not decades, that’s far from the case for LA indie duo Girlpool. ...

Although farewell tours are usually associated with Jurassic bands whose relevance has been lost for years, if not decades, that’s far from the case for LA indie duo Girlpool.  Avery Tucker and Harmony Tividad have been making music together for just under a decade and, earlier this year, released Forgiveness, their fourth and arguably best LP.  The album, their third on Anti-, is a homecoming of sorts.  The origins of the album began a few years ago, after Avery and Harmony returned full-time to their hometown of LA after spending a handful of years on the East Coast.

Avery said of the album, “A lot of my songs on this record are about relationship dynamics where I experienced frustration and pain, and struggling to hold a lot of complexity in my emotions… Writing Forgiveness helped me fit all those pieces into an acceptance: that my fate pushes me exactly where I need to go.”  While Harmony added, “A lot of life feels like unavoidable experiences to me… To me, Forgiveness is about accepting that concept. It’s about forgiving reality for having to be exactly what it is all the time.”

However, just last month Girlpool announced that they would be breaking up and that their current dates – announced in April – would be their last.  Fortunately for us, they will be playing Underground Arts tonight, September 23rd.  And while it’s sure to be a bittersweet evening, I would highly recommend coming out to pay your final respects, if for no other reason than to have your first and last opportunity to hear these 5 especially amazing songs off of the band’s final album.

 

“Violet”

This most vulnerable track from Forgiveness would also seem to provide the album’s most haunting moments.  This classic LA love story sounds straight off of a soundtrack from Gregg Araki’s Teen Apocalypse Trilogy.

 

“Nothing Gives Me Pleasure”

The opening track of Forgiveness would seem to be a mashup of TRL pop and the kind of industrial balladry perfect for closing out a long night at the Goth Prom… and has a music video that perfectly matches those sentiments…

 

“Faultline”

Forgiveness’s first single sees the group at their desert-dreamiest, like something that would accompany a moment of calm in the world of David Lynch.  According to Harmony, “The Faultline represents everything you do as a means of escape that pushes you further into the very thing you’re escaping.”

 

“Dragging My Life Into a Dream”

The album’s most charming track is this super summery, sun-soaked, post-party number about how easily we sentimentalize our likely-rather-mundane past… and the fact that the music videos finds Avery doing just that amidst a plethora of cigarettes and porn just makes it all the more relatable…

 

“Lie Love Lullaby”

… Although the album’s best track is likely this space age R&B jam, which serves as a commentary on young love and the tragedies into which it so often flings us.

*Get your tickets here.

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During the day Izzy Cihak teaches transgression, subversion, and revolution at Temple University. At night he haunts Philthy's best venues to cover worthwhile acts for Philthy Mag. Morrissey is everything to him and, in their own heads, all of his friends see themselves as Zooey Deschanel.

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