Album Review: Girlpool - Powerplant

The biggest difference between Powerplant and Girlpool’s previous folk punk releases is the addition of drums into the mix.

Girlpool's sound has always been somewhat characterised by its minimalist combination of guitar, bass and raw, exposed vocals, but the addition of drums enhances the slow burn of their climactic songs which takes the album to a whole new level.

Lead single 123 does a great job of setting the tone of the album – it’s rich, dynamic and builds in texture like most of the tracks on Powerplant. Harmony Tividad and Cleo Tucker like to contrast softer moments of intricate guitar lines and their sweet, vulnerable voices singing in harmony with heavier moments of distortion, dissonance and crashing drums - both of these extremes demonstrated on Corner Store and Soup.

The Los Angeles duo showcase their songwriting talents and manage to match the quality of the instrumentals and vocal deliverance with both witty and emotive lyrics on songs like Sleepless, Your Heart and driving album closer Static Somewhere. Noteworthy are the lyrics on the deeply poetic It Gets More Blue - “You know it don’t say much/The things that he did/You’ll build him a tower/He’ll burn you a bridge”.

With honest lyrics and memorable melodies, Powerplant is undoubtedly Girlpool’s best release yet.