The debut from London's Sea Girls is a release that wants to be both a big pop record and a simple indie offering. While the album Open Up Your Head is full of bangers, as they say, it's also loaded with enough interesting guitar-work to suggest a moodier act lurking underneath the crowd-pleasing one. Still, this is clearly an effort that's aiming to reach the individual fans in the back bleachers, while getting the entire stadium swinging. And it succeeds at times.
Sea Girls seem to be capable of cranking out catchy songs with ease, even as the trappings on each song here are done up all indie-style. "Do You Really Wanna Know?" is catchier than anything from The 1975, and more appealing too, while "All I Want to Hear You Say" is a fab approximation of The Killers. For all the numbers here on Open Up Your Head that mine a similar vein, some, like "Forever", mix an eagerness to please with enough instrumental heft to suggest something that's a faintly new variation on what bands like The Stereophonics have been cranking out routinely for a few decades. But Sea Girls do this all so well that it's churlish to point out how much has been done already, especially when these four don't seem too concerned about that.
As this album plays one marvels at how catchy and big Open Up Your Head sounds. I mean, I heard a few tracks from this band and went in thinking I'd get something more unassuming, maybe, but, to their credit Sea Girls really give this their all. "Damage Done" has a hook to kill for and a huge chorus, one that's sure to please younger fans, while "Violet" is a nearly perfect indie-rock single. It's urgent, propulsive, and is built around a really appealing sing-along quality. It reminds me of The View, almost, if that band had been given a bigger budget and had decided to run with it. Sea Girls are not shy about their strengths and I think that's why Open Up Your Head is hard to hate. It's a fun record, and one that's got some really enjoyable radio-friendly stuff on it, enough to make this a recommended release.
Open Up Your Head is out now.
More details on Sea Girls via the band's official Facebook page.
[Photo: Sea Girls Facebook page]