Girlpool: Power Through Vulnerability
[vc_row fullwidth="yes" bg_type="bg_image" fw_columns="yes" top_margin="0" bottom_margin="0" image_url="79446" css=".vc_custom_1445900968702{margin-top: -80px !important;}"][vc_column][vc_empty_space height="40px"][title color="#ffffff"][/title][title type="h2" color="#ffffff"][/title][title type="h3" color="#ffffff"][/title][vc_empty_space height="400px"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row top_margin="0" bottom_margin="0"][vc_column width="1/4" offset="vc_hidden-md vc_hidden-sm vc_hidden-xs"][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id="hb-default-sidebar"][/vc_column][vc_column width="1/2"][title type="subtitle-h6"]© Copyright 2014, Band To Watch: Girlpool[/title][vc_empty_space][title type="h1"]Girlpool: Power Through Vulnerability[/title][title type="h4"]Madelyn Sundquist[/title][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]
This month, lo-fi duo, Girlpool, took the stage at the Sett in Union South. The two women, Cleo Tucker and Harmony Tividad, confronted the crowd with ringing harmonies that commanded lyrical attention. Their voices were accompanied sparsely, with only a bass and a guitar, to project unconstrained melodic vulnerability, with stark and simple instrumentation that underscored each song’s message. Lyrics are central to Girlpool’s sound, covering topics from femininity, to women and hook-up culture, to awareness of intersectionality.
The show opened with “Ideal World,” the first song on Girlpool’s newest album, Before the World Was Big, which presents the struggle of self-acceptance and definition day-to-day. The guitar strums steadily to a uniform pulse from the bass, tuning us into the rhythm of detached routine in our regulated existence. Binding harmonies enter, speculating, “I thought I found myself today; no one’s noticed, things are okay.” Only in two lines, we’re communicated the struggle of finding individual truth in a stratified, oversimplified society. After edging on self-discovery, we find that they “found nothing beneath their feet” – they’re stuck with the same uncertainty as the day before.
The demanding line, “put me on a food stamp and a hallmark card,” later places blame on our socialized notions of life and identity, which prevent our true individuality. The song ends with the conclusion: “I was taught what to believe; now I’m only certain that no one is free; tranquilize me with your ideal world.” 30 seconds of scraping guitar follow these last lines, underscoring the frustration and tension as an individual in a society with high-pressure constraints.
“Paint Me Colors” is another loaded tune off of Girlpool’s first, self-titled album. Again, the drawling instrumentation leads us into a private experience: “He locked the door; he didn’t want me anymore; I hid the key; just in case he wanted me…” The lyrics are extremely vulnerable, discussing the feeling of wanting and being wanted, and how these desires play out as women. The song continues, “I’ll never understand what it’s like to be a man who’s white ‘cause he never has to fight,” juxtaposing the male experience to others that are marginalized.
“Paint me colors and take my nine-digit number” follows, which develops the previous parallel with a comment on intersectionality with gender and race. While having no experience as a white man who escapes oppression, the lyrics also recognize a lack of experience as a person of color, specifically a woman of color. “Littler that I am the less I have in my hand” expands this awareness, speculating how gender and race identity affect success and societal presence. The song ends the way it begins, repeating the initial story of a casual encounter but with an upbeat tempo and more instrumental intensity. The severity continues as Cleo and Harmony croon concluding “Ooh”s over the driving guitars, a final and emotional recognition of dissatisfaction and marginalization perpetuated.
Girlpool’s voices complex issues of gender, sexuality, and marginalization in a beautifully resonant way that commands important self-reflection. Though the group has since departed from Madison, you can still check out Cleo and Harmony on their website.
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