Girlpool - Powerplant review: a dozen brilliantly crafted tunes

The addition of a drummer (Miles Wintner) on Girlpool's second album is the attention-grabbing takeaway. It's not the full story. Powerplant confirms Harmony Tividad and Cleo Tucker as two of the brightest indie-rock songwriters around.

Yes, the percussive crescendos mark a significant dynamic shift but here’s a dozen brilliantly crafted tunes: deceptively simple melodies, greyhound lean (only two songs pass the three-minute mark) and lyrically laced with honesty, love and humour.

The young Californians’ sound could be plucked from the 1990s, traces of Pavement, Red House Painters and Pixies combine with the duo’s feather-light harmonies, bristling guitar and bass and occasional stabs of noise. Highlights? Start from the beginning and enjoy it all.

[ girlpoolmusic.com ]