Photo: Press
The sun’s setting over east London while Cleo Tucker and Harmony Tividad tune up: “So, we’re on a roof and it’s lovely. This is so fucking good – cheers.” It’s refreshing to see a band as chuffed to be at a gig as the audience are.
After chatting and tuning, Girlpool launch into pretty much all the tracks from their debut LP, When The World Was Big. Performed live, the title track might be missing the nursery-school style xylophone, but everything else is there: wistful, yet excited about the future.
The playing is tight and the harmonies tighter; they manage the changes in pace admirably (considering the lack of drummer). Cleo’s expressive, gleeful face is a joy, both young women synchronising their screwed-up eyes and wide-open mouths perfectly, like little girls singing at a birthday party.
Playing beneath fairy lights and bunting, green turf under their feet, surrounded by potted daisies and deckchairs, it’d be easy to wander into the realms of ‘cutesy’, but their DIY vibe and wry, witty (and totally spot-on) lyrics, save it; the girls skirting the line between twee and downright cool with surprising precision in their chunky DMs.
‘Cherry Picking’ stands out – the girlish, naïve intro juxtaposed perfectly with a shouty, defiant chorus. ‘I Like That You Can See It’ is heartfelt and anguish-filled: “My mind is almost 19 and I still feel angry,” they cry. ‘Blah Blah Blah’ is bold and angry - it’s here that you can hear the Bikini Kill comparisons.
Girlpool are at this great stage: old enough to realise their world’s changing, but not yet jaded by it. Big enough to fill a Dalston rooftop, but not so big that they won’t chill out with a beer chatting to the audience after their set. It’s a rare privilege to catch a band at this point: do it while you still can.
