Album Review: Woollen Kits - Four Girls

It's been a fantastic year for fans of jangly garage rock and all things similar. While it may seem like every decent band in Australia has put out stunning records, Melbourne's Woollen Kits have upped the ante by releasing two fantastic albums. They haven't rushed this one out; if anything it's even more consistent than their self-titled debut.

The record opens with Back To You, which has a great descending bass line that follows the vocals, echoing the very subtle hook. Cheryl is the first of the Four Girls referenced in the title, and it's hard to get past this as a standout, or even get past it at all without skipping back to hear it 50 times. “When you look good, you know you feel good, and when you feel good, you get shit done” is just such a fantastic, life-affirming pre-chorus and it's given even more weight because it's just been thrown out with such reckless abandon. Second girl, Sandra, is a rougher distortion mess with mumbled lyrics and the first to break away from the basic pop patterns of the rest of the album. Susannah bounces around with a faster tempo and the vocals are much smoother, but the feel of the track remains loose and they jump in with a chorus out of nowhere that just smashes it into your memory instantly.

The '60s jangle is turned all the way up for last girl, Shelley, where the coolest part is what sounds like a dropped beat that could have been a mistake first time round but they keep it up throughout the duration of the track.