Upbeat from the opening bars, Indonesian rising stars Grrrl Gang’s debut album, Spunky!, lures you in with a colourful, bouncy mood, only to blindside you with darkly reflective lyrics. Given the first track is called ‘Birthday Blues’, this shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise, but the depth of the emotional journey this band takes you on can still feel like a sucker-punch.
The album is a case study in dissatisfaction with early adulthood. The first few tracks are all high energy and exciting; at a glance, they are the perfect picture of a fun party lifestyle, but the lyrics deliver a different picture. The birthday is unsatisfying – no longer a celebration, but ageing into a directionless adulthood. Bar-hopping feels like shallow entertainment, business school doesn’t afford the opportunities it once promised… A fight breaks out in a karaoke bar. The joy in these songs are surface level, and reality rudely forces itself on you no matter how hard you try to stay optimistic.
The single ‘Cool Girl‘, with its absolute encapsulation of isolation in a crowd, sits comfortably in the middle of the album, marking a turning point for the whole mood. The preceding tracks sow the seeds of doubt about a life being lived because it’s what is expected, building up to a breaking point with ‘Cool Girl’.
From this point onwards, Spunky! shifts its tone dramatically, becoming abruptly vulnerable. The next track, ‘Better Than Life’, cuts through all the pretend optimism. It hits you with the upfront “I feel caged in my body/I’ve been flirting with death” delivered in a direct and deadpan style, whilst the rebellious, self-destructive appearance of previous tracks drops away in exchange for a brutally honest depiction of how the world tears at your mental health. This is followed by ‘Tower Moment’, a moody instrumental piece that makes you sit with the feelings the album so far has raised.
The mood shifts again with ‘Mother’s Prayer’; a poignant moment of reflection. The sense of isolation lingers on this track, despite it being specifically about the people who care – “My mother’s prayers/Can only get me so far”. There’s a realisation that demands a moment of quiet to digest, before the understanding comes that the only actual choice you have is to carry on.
Spunky! draws to a close with a sense of hope to it. ‘Blue-Stained Lips’ in a love song; the liveliness of the music has a lot more body to it than the counterparts at the beginning of the album. Insecurities still linger, but they are gentler now, acknowledged but overruled by the brighter tunes. The album ends with ‘The Star’, which addresses the work required to get to a truly healthy place, but with a firmly optimistic attitude – you can’t help but be convinced that things are about to get better, that moving past the struggle is not only possible, but getting closer every day. Some of the most wholesome moments in this track are also the simplest – “I look in the mirror/And I like what I see”.
Having been featured in the likes of NME and Spin, with Spunky Grrrl Gang showcase their ability to fuse together their empowering riotous punk energy with a poignant raw honesty and relatable fizzing emotion. Uplifting and cathartic in equal measure.
Spunky!, the debut album from Grrrl Gang, is out now via Trapped Animal, and via legendary label Kill Rock Stars in America. Order here.
Kirstie Summers
@ActuallyKurt
Photo Credit: Tiny Studio
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