After taking 2019 by the scruff of the neck and making it their own with some great festival appearances, as well as a blistering trajectory in 2020, Sea Girls have come out all guns blazing with their emotionally charged, deeply personal, hook laden debut album “Open Up Your Head” – on Polydor. Featuring fourteen doses of memorable jagged guitar-pop brilliance, the LP was produced by Larry Hibbitt in London. It is no surprise that Sea Girls are confidently clear in who they are. This assertive stance on just what their style is, and what type of songs they are drawn toward bringing to vinyl, resulting in a collection of tracks that can’t help but draw an abundance of refreshed appreciation from fans and critics alike. Each time I’ve seen this band they just bring joy.
‘Transplant’ has been described as “the most Sea Girls song ever”, and it does follow the band’s established hit-song formula. The lyrics are brutal; Henry Camamile sings “your heart changed, mine stayed the same”, and the line can’t help but hit home for numerous fans listening along. The group effortlessly relate to their audience throughout the record, having spent years getting to know them with exciting and vibrant live sets.
We can weave together a rough story line, and there’s a humour in the description of two people being on the phone and unable to really hear each other. However, the comical situation becomes heartbreaking; the song is essentially a goodbye, and an ode to collapsing communications. A euphoric chorus greets us after the fierce build up, with vocals and guitars woven together in a howling few lines that truly do epitomize the band’s thunderous, almost-pop sound.
‘Closer’, ‘Call Me Out’, and ‘Violet’ are some of the pre-existing tracks that have made it on to the album track list, and slot in brilliantly with the new material. ‘Do You Really Know’ is the perfect summer anthem, with a boppy melody underlying slightly darker lyrics.
Though known primarily for indie-pop, ‘Lie To Me’ shows a Sea Girls experimenting slightly with style; it’s almost Western in the vocal style and clapping melodies underpinning them. “I cut my teeth on something that I shouldn’t eat” is one of their best lines yet, and leads in to the candid exclamation, “I’m a baby”. ‘Forever’ soon follows, as the product of year of tweaking and precise labour. Sharp, galvanizing guitars crescendo and beautifully compliment the huge vocal strength. Something about the song is just inextricably mammoth; there’s an immensity to it that many aim for, and not many reach.
Keen to also open up their tracks to gentler tones, the group have penned ‘You Over Anyone’; a ballad telling a universally relatable love story. It doesn’t quite live up to ‘Daisy Daisy’ – a soft track from their 2017 “Call Me Out” EP, but it is hard to imagine that much will.
Sea Girls, released the stunning new animated visual for their latest single, ‘All I Want To Hear You Say’, which is lifted from their forthcoming debut album ‘Open Up Your Head’, out on August 14th.
The animated video, directed by acclaimed Korean-Swedish duo Tjoff Koong Studios (Tezo Kyungdon Lee and Magnus Lenneskog), takes the viewer on an emotional rollercoaster.
“When I wrote this song I was trying to channel some emotional highs and lows of the likes of Kurt Cobain,” says lead singer Henry Camamile. “Full of visual adrenalin, it builds with rushes of excitement and lack of control. Someone build a rollercoaster through the city and we’ll get on it.”
The animated video, directed by acclaimed Korean-Swedish duo Tjoff Koong Studios (Tezo Kyungdon Lee and Magnus Lenneskog), takes the viewer on an emotional rollercoaster.
“When I wrote this song I was trying to channel some emotional highs and lows of the likes of Kurt Cobain,” says lead singer Henry Camamile. “Full of visual adrenalin, it builds with rushes of excitement and lack of control. Someone build a rollercoaster through the city and we’ll get on it.”
With tracks such as this, you forget that the core concept to the album is a traumatic head injury. The effervescent tunes catch in your own head, and skillfully glaze over the darkness that grounds much of the lyrical content. You dance along, joining in with the rose-coloured illusion of the songs themselves.
‘Shake’ and ‘Moving On’ also revert back to Sea Girls’ raucous roots, with the expected blazing chorus’ near enough begging you to see them live and sing along. The latter track in particular ends the album on a triumphant note; the message of acceptance and optimism towards a projected progress is glaringly forefront. Henry’s vocals flare and spark with an immersive buoyancy: the entire track is lifted through melody and tone. We see a lighter, unburdened band close the collection.
The band have also announced a run of intimate in-store shows for November
‘Open Up Your Head’ The debut album
The Fat Angel Sings 