Secret Meeting score: 77
by Philip Moss and Phil Scarisbrick
After spending the last two years on the road – playing second fiddle to the likes of Parquet Courts, The Fall and The Moonlandingz – Goat Girl have clearly used the experience as more than just an opportunity to prick a few new sets of ears. Yes, it’s overtly clear from the moment they shuffle onto the stage at a sold-out Shipping Forecast in Liverpool, this is a band who’ve had their own eyes and ears wide open.
Kicking off with a supercharged version of Burn The Stake just as their eponymous debut album does, the South London four piece set their stall out from the off. Its venomous lyric confirming that there’s no ambiguity regarding their political views – “Build a bonfire. Put the Tories on the top, put the DUP in the middle, and we’ll burn the fucking lot!”
Following heavy rotation received on the radio, The Man – in all its shuffling, pre-fame Kings of Leon-evoking glory – provides a mass sing-a-long and, just as it is on record, Cracker Drool is a standout: its middle-eight section transforms into a carnival style instrumental that would fit perfectly in between Chemical World and Sunday Sunday on Blur’s masterpiece, Modern Life Is Rubbish.
The show is more than just a recital of their record. The lone violin sits in the middle of their live sound brings a wall of sound quality that allows everything around it to flourish, while the ghoulish ‘home made’ goat figures that furnish the stage add a sense of theatre.
Visually, Goat Girl’s hybrid look of grunge meets 90’s charity shop chic is as striking as their music – drummer, Rosie Bones, is The Clash’s Topper Headon reincarnated, bassist Naima Jelly is coolness personified with slicked back hair and Papa Lazarou inspired jewellery choices, and guitarist L.E.D’s harmonies take the songs to places that go beyond the recorded versions. While, with minimum chatter between songs, Lottie Pendlebury aka Clottie Cream lets her lyrical social commentary do the talking, as she snarls (in unison with the sold out crowd) her way through Creep– “Creep on the train, I really want to smash your head in!”
Much has been made in the press about Goat Girl being a very good girl band. But, despite femininity being a big part of their lyrical outlook, this is a disservice. They are a very good band, full stop. With another tour booked later in the year, stopping off at venues that are over ten times bigger than that housing tonight’s show, it certainly feels like this band could be at the start of something very special, and it will be intriguing to see how their career progresses from here.
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