Contact: adam@eastcitymanagement.com
Web: girlimusic.com
Players: girli, vocals; Hannah Smith, backing vocals; Chloe Arnow, drums
London-born alt-pop artist girli (the lower case is a style choice) is one of music’s best-kept secrets, which can be a cutesy statement to make when careers are just getting going, but must surely get tiresome after a handful of years. It has been around six years now since she dropped her Odd One Out debut album, and it feels like more people should be in on this damned secret. Because girli is a sensational artist, with a heap of incredible songs. Not just catchy, insistent tunes with melodies that latch themselves inside of your skull for weeks on end, but important songs. Pieces of art with lyrics blessed with genuine depth. She makes you want to grab the rest of the world and scream, “LISTEN TO HER!”
The Echoplex is bigger than its sister venue, The Echo, but when girli walked out in mid December after stellar sets by opening artists Alexa Villa and Marielle Kraft, she was welcomed by the sight of a big curtain sectioning off half the room. That was, again, annoying but swiftly forgotten due to the exuberance and enthusiasm of the people that were there. The chosen few. Those in the know. The smarty-pantses.
They’re certainly rewarded, because a girli show really is something to behold. She arrives on stage with an explosion of pink—both aesthetically and in terms of the energy. From the very start, she has the crowd firmly in her grip, as she belts out one patriarchy-smashing journal entry after another.
She clearly doesn’t take any shit, as anyone who has listened to last year’s Matriarchy album can tell you. Her set list is a veritable statement of intent, LGBTQIA+ anthems that hit hard and run deep, such as “Nothing Hurts Like a Girl,” “Girl I Met on the Internet,” and “Overthinking.”
“2 Year Itch” deals with girli’s fear of commitment. “For a long time, all my relationships seemed to end after two years, but then I met someone who changed that, making my fear of long-term love disappear,” she said.”I wanted to reference the 7 year itch because I connected with that idea—just on a smaller scale.”
But she saves the best for last. “Matriarchy” is an incredible tune; a bold, incisive statement of intent. “You and I make our own matriarchy,” she sings. “When we touch, we fuck to fuck the patriarchy.” Bang!
