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Demos: 2009​-​2012

by Girls Names

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about

When the idea was suggested that we release these recordings of early sketches, songs and half-songs like some sort of declassified artefact I was very sceptical. Demos serve the purpose of testing out ideas of what works in a song or what does not - a sketch to then listen back to and figure out melodies, re-work or even write lyrics or, heaven forbid, to decide if you should kill the idea entirely and move on. They can serve a purpose to persuade a label that you are working on the next treasure trove of gold and that it will sound even better when properly recorded - a bargaining tool in the delicate persuasion of a record deal. They are never meant for mass consumption, especially not during the time of a band or artist when each new release should appear out of nowhere, fully formed all shining and burning bright with the shock of the new.


However, on listening back (something that was never really allowed in the Girls Names tunnel-eyed mindset) I released that these songs ceased to really belong to any of us anymore and that there were possibly fans out there who may want the veil lifted and a curious insight into the workings of the band at that time.


Back in 2009, somehow the spectre of Girls Names arrived at the correct juncture in time armed with a few ideas, a 4track cassette recorder and most importantly Myspace, email and the internet at large. With wide-eyed optimism and an idealist approach to everything DIY we had seized our own means of production and were off and running before we even needed to walk.


And it is precisely this ‘moment in time’ snapshot that makes these recordings fascinating. I hear the walls of each room, in which they were recorded. I see the heat of our breath in the cold of the winter. I can smell the damp of the carpets, see the paint peeling from the walls and smiles on our faces before anything had to be too serious. For the most of these ‘as live’ recorded tracks, I feel the nervous energy, the synergy and vibrations of a group of people playing music together for one common goal - the song. Possibly something that wasn’t as easy to recreate once we were always put into a real studio with everything separated by rooms, microphones, masses of overdubs and the added pressure of money haemorrhaging by the second.


The other remarkable thing about this collection is with the The New Life-era recordings. Long forgotten about, here they serve as a bridge to join the gaps between the very earliest frenetic, hiss-ladened noisy tracks to the polished mechanics and almost distant sound of that finished record and a band who now knew exactly (sort of) what they were doing and what heights they were aiming for. Now afforded the benefit of hindsight is the amount of time it was taking for things to get moving once a perceptible modicum of success (whatever that means) was added into the equation. Within the space of a year or so, the throw away attitude of 'write it, rehearse it, record it, put it out' had been replaced with a more studied approach, probably owing mostly to the fact that label delays meant that we had to wait 10 months between the recording of Dead to Me to its eventual release. So, songs possibly written in 2010 are demoed in 2011, recorded in the studio in 2012 and released in 2013.


Time has a way of playing tricks with the mind. It can distort half-truths and blur reality with a revisionist's eye. Is nostalgia really just our way of yearning for what we remember as a simpler time, less burdened with the reality of now and overflowing with a certain hope of all the experiences and highs that were yet to come in years since? Lows simply parked to the side. Things were about to surpass all expectations with the oncoming release of The New Life, in the year to come. And with each passing far-flung tour (of which there were a lot!) and each new release the band would quickly sky rocket beyond any initial ideas and ambitions from these early, formative years documented in this collection. However, in certain ways, at those precise moments in time, with the excitement of the unknown, with no weight of expectation and all possibilities limitless and endless, we never had it better. And you can hear that.

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released June 5, 2020

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Girls Names Belfast, UK

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