MyPod: "When I'm Gone" by Vivian Girls

Last year, Brooklyn-via-New Jersey transplants Vivian Girls attracted international acclaim for their eponymously-titled, self-released debut, which fetched upwards of $100 on Ebay until reissued by In the Red Records last autumn. The reason is simple -- while we armchair critics can harrangue Grizzly Bear or the Dirty Projectors for their falsely portentious solipsism, liken Here We Go Magic's Luke Temple to a poor man's David Crosby (actually, Vini Reilly may be more analogous... and quite frankly, Temple's preferable to both), or scoff at the media machinations behind the Pains at Being Pure At Heart, the Girls are like buttah. Shambolic and fecklessly ambulatory in the way that is practically synonymous with good rock and roll -- a quality lost on the neo-shoegazers -- they are one of the few contemporary local bands that have the capability to be transcendent. Which is saying a lot, considering that drum kits and electromechanical guitars seem as anachronistic as a 57' Chevy in the touch-screen milieu of 2009.

"When I'm Gone" is the debut single from the gals' upcoming Everything Goes Wrong, and as I prognosticated in an earlier post, the cover art's desert landscape hinted at a marked change in musical direction. This seems to have boded out, for while "Tell the World" and "Where Do You Run To" were lapidary Brooklyn/Spector/Velvets cool, scuzzy and compressed, the new track is more indicative of a West Coast spaciousness. Primitivism may still be the motto on paper, but the guitars and bass have taken on a symphonic flair that recalls the formative efforts of Brian Wilson. The effect is startlingly divisive; at moments, they sound like the best band in the world, while the desperate lyrics and indifferent drumming suggest all the end-of-the-road ennui of an overhyped punk group.

Judge for yourself here.