Academy 2, Dublin
SOME MUSICIANS leave their band to join a cult; San Franciscan Christopher Owens did it the other way round, quitting the notorious Children of God cult at 16 and setting off in search of rock’n’roll salvation. He didn’t leave empty-handed: he brought a guitar given to him by fellow cult member Jeremy Spencer, formerly of Fleetwood Mac.
He also brought along a keen ear for simple, singalong tunes, a consequence of the happy-clappy music he was subjected to while growing up in the cult.
Happily, the Academy gig is nothing like an evangelical rally, but there is a streak of hero worship running through the tunes. Owens and his musical partner JR White are plainly in thrall to the west-coast vibes of Brian Wilson, Big Star and Gram Parsons, filtering their influences through ripples of bongwater, and delivering songs that sound like woozy soundtracks to a million lost weekends.
Onstage, Owens has the look of someone who’s just been let out into the big world, his trademark long tresses pared down to a floppy college boy style. White looks more worldly and businesslike alongside guitarist John Anderson, drummer Garett Godard and keyboard player Matthew Kallman.
It all starts off quite tentatively, some of the tunes getting tangled in a repeated verse and never reaching the chorus, others petering out before they've really had a chance to open out. Eventually, though, the band find their stride on the pleading Laura, the ebullient Lust For Lifeand the reverb-heavy Darling. It isn't long before the band are surfing on waves of fuzz and flange, before settling down again into some lazy, sun-kissed country airs.
All the elements are there – surf pop, garage rock, high psychedelia and low country – circling in a close orbit around each other, never quite hitting perfect pop alignment. But that's probably the appeal of Girls – if it all gelled, it would stop being fun, and that would have left little room for songs such as Hellhole Ratraceand Life in San Fransiscoto shine.
