Sea Girls – Open Up Your Head

With alternative blues and sunset vibes, Open Up Your Head by Sea Girls is a collection of some of their best tracks from their previous EPs. Alongside these songs are a mesh of new music and old singles. There is soul and wonder in this record captured by the instrumentals and production. The lyrics don’t falter, with typical clichés from a former indie scene and echoes of melodies from early 2010 memories.

Transplant begins with a soft charm reminiscent of indie nights. It’s delicate in the way it explores the conflicting feelings of hearts and minds changing, toeing the line of falling out of love and the desperation of being left behind. All I Want to Hear You Say, first released in 2018, has lyrical pattern similar to other indie bands such as The 1975, Pale Waves and The Kooks. In its musical stylings and production, it’s more similar to Walk the Moon and Metro Station.

A series of highlights from the album are Lie to Me, Closer and Weight in Gold. These songs thread softer vibrations but still keep an upbeat and steady tempo. Lie to Me is a self-deprecating lullaby which ties in perfectly the line “I’m a baby”. The bouncy rhythm lulls listeners into a sense of sleepy comfort. The instruments are heavy and hypnotic, blending well with the gruff of the vocals. Closer, on the other hand, has similar production to Transplant but is more intimate and vibrant, with the rough edges of alternative and rock. It seems to draw melodies from Queen’s Radio Gaga. Weight of Gold is a quiet strum that builds up to soft lessons and chaotic crescendos.

Moving On lyrically makes sense as a closer, but it doesn’t carry from You Over Anyone as well as one would hope. There is a thread of tonal harmony with Transplant, but it’s not enough to tie the record cohesively as a whole. Although that lingering hesitance at the end which circles back to the start of the track is a nice added touch, it does get old. Still, a single playthrough of the album is fine. Overall, there’s a lot of heart and nice little touches to every song – but as a record it is stuck in the typical indie box, and that is something that needs to shift just a little bit.

Mae Trumata
Photo: Danny North

Open Up Your Head is released on 14^th August 2020. For further information or to order the album visit Sea Girls’s website here.

Listen to Closer here: