![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/girlpool.jpg\")
<\/p>\nLos Angeles-based band Girlpool started out in 2013 with a stripped-down, clattering style that echoed Violent Femmes. But as the band has grown and developed, it has moved in two opposite directions at once: the group\u2019s recordings have become more soothing and melodic (think Elliott Smith), and today, its onstage vibe often leans toward a punk aesthetic. The latter was on display when Girlpool played Asheville’s Grey Eagle in November 2018.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
That marked contrast between Girlpool\u2019s live set and the arrangements on its studio output are very much by design. \u201cEach is like a different medium to play with and explore,\u201d says bassist\/vocalist Harmony Tividad. She explains the way in which she approaches live performance. \u201cYou\u2019re in a community setting, and you\u2019re feeding off this energy of other people. And that feels really crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n
But for Girlpool, the recording studio has a very different atmosphere. \u201cThere\u2019s something more private about it,\u201d Tividad says, acknowledging that the results will nonetheless be released to the listening public. Still, \u201cIt\u2019s not really a shared experience,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
While a Girlpool show is uptempo, often noisy and even shambolic, the band\u2019s studio recordings are largely understated. One of Girlpool\u2019s three recent singles is \u201cPicturesong,\u201d a soothing ballad that focuses on vocal harmonies and minimal instrumentation.<\/p>\n
Guitarist\/vocalist Cleo Tucker (“Cleo’s pronouns\u00a0are they\/them or he\/him, not she\/her,” the band’s publicist advised ahead of the interview) views the band\u2019s split studio vs. live personality as perfectly natural. Live performance is \u201ca cool opportunity to readdress something you\u2019ve made,\u201d he says. \u201cTypically, we\u2019re playing these songs long after we\u2019ve written and recorded them, so there\u2019s a whole different kind of context. Playing [a song] live gives you that opportunity to give it more of a specific energy that [maybe] was lacking in the recording.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another reason that Girlpool displays more energy onstage is its lineup. Originally, the group \u2014 co-led by Tucker and Tividad \u2014 had no percussion. \u201cIt was only two years ago that we added a drummer,\u201d Tucker says. \u201cAnd that [lineup] only lasted a few shows before we added another guitar player.\u201d The increased instrumental firepower gives Girlpool the versatility to rock hard when it chooses to, and yet still bring things way down when a song calls for it.<\/p>\n
Perhaps it\u2019s counter-intuitive, but Tucker says that his songwriting style hasn\u2019t really changed in light of having a full band. He notes that while on earlier releases \u2014 a 2014 self-titled EP and the album Before the World Was Big<\/em> (2015) \u2014 songwriting was a collaborative effort between he and Tividad. More recently the two are writing individually. The 2017 album Powerplant<\/em> and three singles released this year are the product of that more divided approach.<\/p>\n \u201cHarmony and I have been writing our own music separately, and then sharing it with each other,\u201d Tucker says. \u201cWe\u2019re just kind of collaborating in a different way.\u201d The queer themes that informed songs like Before<\/em>‘s \u201cI Like That You Can See It\u201d are less overt on the band\u2019s newer, more lyrically oblique material.<\/p>\n Girlpool\u2019s increased touring schedule means that there\u2019s less time for songwriting. \u201cI love being on tour, and it\u2019s really fun; I have such a good time,\u201d says Tucker. \u201cBut in the back of my mind, every time I\u2019m on tour, I\u2019m thinking about how I wish I had the space and the ability to write the way that I feel comfortable writing. Most of the time \u2014 almost always \u2014 I just can\u2019t get there when I\u2019m on tour.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, Tucker and Tividad found time to write the dozen songs on Powerplant<\/em> last year, and at least three new ones (\u201cPicturesong,\u201d \u201cWhere You Sink\u201d and \u201cLucy\u2019s\u201d) this year. The deeply textured \u201cWhere You Sink\u201d showcases Girlpool\u2019s vocal harmonies, with Tividad\u2019s upper register contrasting with Tucker\u2019s exploration of lower notes.<\/p>\n While the band has crisscrossed the U.S. many times on previous tours, almost always including a date in Atlanta, Girlpool\u2019s current run of dates adds smaller markets like Asheville, Grinnell, Iowa; and Greenfield, Mass. Those scheduled shows, nestled between high-profile concerts in Chicago, Brooklyn, Detroit and Philadelphia, are strong evidence that Girlpool is expanding its audience.<\/p>\n Tucker shrugs at the suggestion. \u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d he says. \u201cI just think we\u2019re both super stoked that we get to go to cities that we\u2019ve never even been to \u2014 or sometimes even heard of \u2014 and play a show and [have] people like the music. It\u2019s pretty exciting to just be able to play music and have any kind of audience.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Los Angeles-based band Girlpool started out in 2013 with a stripped-down, clattering style that echoed Violent Femmes. But as the band has grown and developed, it has moved in two […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16236,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,41,49,59],"tags":[3740],"class_list":["post-16235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-folk","category-interview","category-new-release","category-punk","tag-girlpool","cat-30-id","cat-41-id","cat-49-id","cat-59-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16235"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16237,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16235\/revisions\/16237"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}