Listening to ‘Share The Joy’ today, my mind wandered toward thoughts of the Vivian Girls, (Cassie Ramone, Katy Goodman and newest acquisition, Fiona Campbell), mascara running down their cheeks, pink pens tightly wound in their fingers, writing impassioned prose and expressions of gratitude to Phil Spector in prison. I could see the Vivians caught up in Spector lust, his signature girl group sound significant to the band’s make-up. A little convict crush doesn’t seem implausible.
I think in some ways ‘Share The Joy,’ the Vivian Girl’s third long-playing ode to ‘60s pop and lo-fi, branches out a bit. I will say that The Other Girls spends more time stringing together a guitar solo than it does pulling together a narrative, which is simply, “I don’t wanna be like the other girrrrrls.” Listen closely enough and you can even hear piano keys bouncing underneath their vocal harmonizing and boom-bap drum line.
Lake House gets wonderfully frantic and dramatic, Ramone and Goodman’s flat harmonizing fitting perfectly with the song’s busy melodies. Campbell’s tinny punkish snare drum shoots across the fields of low end like a tambourine slapped with a hammer. Trying To Pretend plays with structure and Sixteen Ways tries to evoke Link Wray-inspired attitude. There does seem semblance of maturity to the songwriting on ‘Share The Joy,’ which aids in Vivian Girls’ possible attempts at creative longevity.
The band also demonstrate a self-awareness that’s charming as the best friend offers advice to the hopeless romantic in Take It As It Comes: “You gotta think with your head, girl / Not with your heart / If you ever want a love so true-ooooh…” The verses are spoken and drenched in reverb and take girl group cues that are not only nostalgic, but amusing as well. As far as modern music is concerned, Take It As It Comes is quite possibly the best use of the classic ‘60s girl talk I’ve heard since Sonic Youth’s Little Trouble Girl, which was essentially Kim Gordon taking a stab at the Spector dynamic years before it became a millennial staple. They also try this device with Death, though it doesn’t seem to work as well down to the song being a little more serious.
‘Share The Joy’ doesn’t completely deviate from the plot, however. I Heard You Say and Dance (If You Wanna) are quintessential tracks from this band, the sort of simplistic surf guitars and vocal harmonizing they’ve made their signature. The same can be said of Vanishing Of Time, though the tone is somber. Light In Your Eyes stretches into an impassioned six minutes, organ strokes offering gratitude to The Blues Magoos before the album ends. It can’t be about Spector all the time.