The debut from Girls, Album, commences with the retrospective ""Lust for Life,"" which traces singer/songwriter Christopher Owens' reflection of his youth, singing about the lack of a ""loving man"" in his life with a devastating whine, ""And maybe then I woulda turned out right / But now I'm just crazy, I'm totally mad / Yeah I'm just crazy, I'm fucked up in the head."" One cannot help but draw connections to Owens' obscure youth as a member of the Children of God cult and his straightforward lyrical expression.
He sings in a nasally, drowsy voice that carries his introspective lyrics of regret, heartbreak and thirst for a new love fittingly against a backdrop of appealingly simplistic music. ""Big Bad Mean Mother Fucker"" is reminiscent of a California surf feel of the early '60s, telling of their San Francisco origins. The album closes on an appropriately philosophical note as Owens opens the song, ""I was feeling so sad and alone / And I found a friend in the song that I'm singing,"" vowing to the remedial powers of diving within the soul to write and compose music.
On the whole, Album finds credibility in its artistic integrity. Girls never stray from the place they started: catchy and harmonious rock 'n' roll that invites you into a world startlingly melancholy, yet alluring at the same time.
