The world of Girlpool has mushroomed around its two members Cleo Tucker and Harmony Tividad. Surrounded by a world that refuses to make itself orderly and understandable, it makes sense that Tucker and Tividad would gravitate to the base component of constructed comfort: the wall.
In “Powerplant,” the band’s sophomore album, Girlpool does a lot of looking at walls.
Tucker and Tividad look at walls while standing awkwardly at a house party on “123”: “Looking pretty at the wall, is my mistake love installed.” They look at walls to avoid eye contact with fathers on “Soup”: “Your dad saw you crying when you looked at the wall.” And they look at walls when they want to become unfeeling and tap out of the burden of human existence as the they do on the title track: “She’s like a shelf the way she looks at the wall.”
If Girlpool’s first album “Before the World Was Big” laid the foundation for its members’ adulthood, “Powerplant” builds the walls. There’s still no roof, though, and a lot of fear and anxiety still penetrate Girlpool’s hideout.
Girlpool’s EP was released before either Tucker or Tividad had graduated high school, and “Before the World Was Big” confirmed their status as darlings in the folk music industry.
Now in their early 20s, Tividad and Tucker are starting to feel the pressure of success: “You’ve got lots of potential; can you feel it? Sit and stare at your hands ‘cause there’s so much to do,” sings Girlpool on “Soup.”
“Powerplant” is a natural progression from its first album, “Before the World Was Big.” Drums appear consistently on this album, a first for Girlpool, and Tucker and Tividad’s harmonies have grown even denser.
Songs like “Sleepless” receive a lo-fi guitar treatment that sounds worlds away from the clear acoustics of “Before the World Was Big.” A fuzzy guitar explosion rips through the middle of the song “Corner Store.” The noisier, layered songs of “Powerplant” could be jarring if they didn’t create a lush atmosphere that matches the emotional tone of the album so perfectly.
“It Gets More Blue,” the second single released off the album, foreshadowed the tone of “Powerplant.” Tucker and Tividad sound overwhelmed and weary at times, but Girlpool wouldn’t be Girlpool without the element of hope that propels each of its albums.
Tucker and Tividad find comfort in each other. “Tell me you are here, I hope I’ll find you static somewhere,” they sing on “Static Somewhere.” Girlpool is nonspecific in what they crave; the only requirement is that they have each other.
