The new one from September Girls dropped on Friday and I'm here to tell you why you should grab it. Age Of Indignation, out now on Fortuna POP!, is bold, hard stuff that recalls the best music from Curve and Lush. If the band's name would make you think that the Dublin 5-piece were fans of Big Star, you'd be mistaken. If their earlier releases would have you peg them as shoegaze revivalists, you'd be closer to the truth, though still a bit wrong. "Jaw On The Floor", for instance, revs up with a bit of menace that hints at earlier Jesus and Mary Chain and Loop cuts as much as it does the more obvious shoegaze reference points. The wonderfully-titled "Catholic Guilt" rides a superb rhythm into a Swervedriver-like rave-up of guitars, bass, and drums.
Elsewhere, on the album's title cut and the softer "Love No One", the band do remind one of "Hypocrite"-era Lush, albeit with a harder edge. However, the insistent hooks of "John of Gods" and the hypnotic "Quicksand" place the music of September Girls far closer to the sound of bands like Queens of the Stone Age, or even Radiohead, than anyone from the class of C86.
Overall, Age Of Indignation is a sharp distallation of the sound of September Girls. If their first releases hinted at something more in debt to feedback-explorations, the 10 songs on this album more firmly etch their way into your memory. These are confident cuts that blend elements of a dozen styles from the post-punk era into something vaguely beholden to the pioneers of shoegaze but which sound overall like music that is beyond genre.
Age Of Indignation by September Girls is out now via Fortuna POP! and you can follow the band on their official Facebook page.
[Photo: Jeannie O'Brien]