Richmond’s Black Girls struck a chord with me on their newest album, Claire Sinclaire. I used to deliver a lecture/drunken musing to whoever would listen on what would make for the best sort of album. "Basically, a Quentin Tarantino soundtrack should be the goal," I would say. It’s the way he puts such diverse styles of music together and yet it seems obvious they would be on the same release, and the way each track is both interesting in and of itself and a singular representation of a genre.
I have a special place in my heart for the chameleon bands, the ones that switch from sound to sound, from style to style succesfully, without missing a beat or a note, like they’re 10 different practiced and proficient bands joined together on a mix tape. Claire Sinclaire is an excellent example of this ideal. The album goes from disco dance-jam to revivalist indie-rock fuzz-fest to twee psychadelic surf ballad so smoothly, without a single weak attempt, that at first I didn’t realize I was listening to exactly what I wanted to listen to for years.
I was all rock-writery, trying to figure out what they were. My bad. Happily, they won our Band of the Month Poll in March, and I finally got around to doing a short interview. I’m even happier to tell you that they will be playing The DC Deli’s first All DMV Night at the Rock and Roll Hotel on Saturday, May 24th (alongside Bearshark, Alex Vans and the Hide Away, and Andy Bopp). –Natan Press