Dum Dum Girls - I Will Be

Ah, the joyous days of a carefree youth; it’s a common theme found in lo-fi American pop. Dum Dum Girls take more than a leaf from this book; in fact, whole chapters have been tugged out in an attempt to create the most exuberant sounds possible. And in many ways it works as every song is filled with blissful immaturity, just the right amount of radio static and swathes of 60s attitude. This is aided by the vocals, with head girl Dee Dee sounding like a cracked version of Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane. The trouble with Dum Dum Girls is that they may be too current in their revivalist stylings. You can hear the same riot grrrl aesthetics in Vivian Girls and Brilliant Colors among others. Dum Dum Girls have attitude, charm and the songs to boot, but whether they have enough to poke their heads through the canopy of a rapidly saturating market remains to be seen.[Gordon Bruce]