DEBUT SINGLE RELEASE – pencil ‘The Giant’
3 November 2023
Goat Girl are back with a bang! The South London trio have returned with their first single in three years, ‘Ride Around’. The release of this new track accompanied an announcement of Goat Girl’s third album Below The Waste out on the 7th June via Rough Trade.
The Band’s wry sense of humour has always been a feature of their musical sensibility, indeed their name stems from a play on the character of ‘Goat Boy’ by comedian Bill Hicks. This new era seems no different, with the amusing double entendre featured in the title Below The Waste. But on this latest release, Goat Girl seem to have branched into a confident new direction, embracing the playful whilst maturing into new depths.
Goat Girl first gained traction after playing numerous shows at The WIndmill in Brixton, the South London venue that almost single handedly gave rise to a new generation of genre-bending post-punk and indie bands in the late 2010s. Alongside Windmill peers such as The Fat White Family, Shame, Sorry and Black Midi, Goat Girl proved themselves to be among the finest acts to come out of the UK. Similarly to their peers, Goat Girl have managed to build a sound that holds a distinctive and experimental presence, whilst not being afraid to showcase their sonic inspirations. On this new release, Goat Girl stay true to their south London roots with the music video for ‘Ride Around’, directed by South London production company, Foreign Body Productions, and filmed on the streets of Blackheath in South East London.
‘Ride Around’ begins as a straight forward attempt to deliver an industrial sound with understated vocals, but by the end of the track it builds into an expansive and gorgeous symphonic vocal arrangement.The band may have been branded in the post-punk genre, but this latest track sees them extending their artistry far beyond that label and venturing into a gloriously bizarre soundscape, landing somewhere between the realm of grunge and pop.
‘Ride Around’ is equal parts noise rock and equal parts delicately-layered harmonies, with the harsh guitar riffs and moody verse delivery complementing the melodic soft sounds of the chorus. There is also a Black Midi-esque layered instrumentation that pops up throughout the track – an interesting feature considering that this latest album is co-produced, alongside the band, by John ‘Spud’ Murphy who produced Black Midi’s 2021 record Cavalcade.
Of the Album, Goat Girl have stated that they are “delving deeper into the extremes of their distinctive sound” and that Below The Waste “veers between expansive noise rock, delicate folk experimentation, satisfying synth-pop and everything in between” – so expect to hear many more genre defying, beautifully written and produced tracks from the trio’s forthcoming release.
Check out the full track listing for Below The Waste below:
