Church Girls - “I Hate This House”
Okay, okay, I know what you’re thinking: “But it’s not Saturday! This should be included in Punk Rock Saturday!” And, normally, I would agree with you, but Church Girls’ new track comes out on a Thursday, and then they embark on a tour…. So what kind of jerkface would I be if I blogged about their single while they were in the middle of a set? I couldn’t live with that, so here we are…
Stolen text from their press release: “Draped in vulnerable lyrics and obsessive hooks, Philly’s Church Girls plays a new breed of indie/punk rooted in angsty optimism and bittersweet joy that’s been acclaimed by Alternative Press, Stereogum, Brooklyn Vegan, KEXP, & more.”
The creamy center of this blog post is the track, “I Hate This House,” which is a freaking butt kicker of a punk jam! It is musically on the level of The Muffs, though the vocals of Mariel Beaumont are more Louise Post than they are Kim Shattuck (it’s okay to talk about Veruca Salt in a punk rock post because Post and Shattuck were besties) (RIP Kim). The emotions behind this track are accentuated by its soft, piano keyed conclusion and the story of its inception is quite heartfelt: “A friend came to stay with me seeking respite from a brutal divorce… We were days away from our recording session, needing lyrics for the instrumental demo we’d worked on as a band. The song is for him, but about the collapse of any relationship where you find yourselves endlessly repeating the same unhealthy patterns. Our producer John Pfiffner really helped shape the melodies for the song and we’re incredibly proud of how it turned out. I sent it to Dave Schiffman on a whim, who I’m a huge fan of, and was thrilled that he was down to mix it.”
I usually like to spend more time with a song before it hits the page, but after a couple listens, this track is a winner– the opening alone is worth it. And, holy crap, it is going to be quite memorable for anyone who catches Church Girls on this tour:
