Girl Of The Hour, the new EP from Toronto’s alternative indie pop project Housewife, feels like a therapy session where singer and songwriter Brighid Fry conveys coy remarks about her relationships and inner thought process.
Beginning with a few grungey guitar chords and a hazy atmosphere that tightens as it progresses, not far off from the style of someone like Slow Pulp, the opening track, “I Lied,” explodes with an ear candy lead guitar riff as Fry’s sad girl indie pop vocals mesh perfectly. This track feels like sneaking out as a teenager, running to smoke weed in the playground and make out till dawn.
“Work Song” continues this vibe and wastes no time with a fuzzy, preppy bass line as “Life Of The Party,” despite its name, is more of a shoegaze downer, which has become one my favourites on this little EP. Distinctly, the mixing of Brighid’s vocals and backing vocals on this track are primo feeling gargantuan even at a lower volume, while the wall of grungey guitar-driven sounds and four-to-the-floor drumming. Next to this, we get “Matilda,” an even more melancholy song about being stuck and having things ripped away from you. The instrumentation here is more ’90s alt rock ala Sonic Youth, but it could go a bitter harder. Still, that fleeting outro with more shoegazey guitar is so sweet.
“Divorce” takes a bit to kick in, when the literal kick drum signals to a fuller mix, still remaining a bit bedroom pop. Lyrically, this is probably the most straightforward one on Girl Of The Hour. Again, those outros are sinister and sound massive. My favourite Housewife vibe is the atmospheric wall of sound, but Girl Of The Hour has many attractions.
