When they were teenagers, the members of Girl Band played together in a band called Harrows, which they are quick to disregard now as “shite”. But only a few years later, in their early 20s, the Dublin foursome are creating vital, propulsive, and almost terrifyingly energetic noise-rock that pulls as much influence from classic techno as from say, the Birthday Party or the Fall.
“The Early Years” collects (on very limited 12” vinyl and digital) tracks Girl Band has released via various hand-crafted formats over the past year-and-change: hand-stamped sleeves, flexi-discs in wooden boxes tied with twine, screenprinted 7” sleeves - mailorder/merch-table items that US audiences have never gotten their hands on.
Girl Band’s music - and particularly the stunning frenzy of their live show - has critics pulling out their satchels of underused adjectives, their witty artistic crash-ups (“Like the Jesus & Mary Chain and Gang of Four conceived a baby at a rave”), and Girl Band certainly merit all this cleverness. But ultimately, anyone who’s paying attention can only conclude, like Noisey did: “The one blindingly obvious thing about Girl Band is that this is fucking great."