Stream: Vivian Girls, ‘Sick’

Kevin Bronson on July 22nd, 2019

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Vivian Girls, who rose from the Brooklyn DIY scene to release three well-received albums between 2008 and ’11, have announced the September release of their first album in eight years, “Memory.” Despite what the title implies, it’s no walk down memory lane. The trio, which reunited for secret jam sessions last year, lists the topics on the table as toxic relationships, the false promise of new love, mental health struggles and finding ways to accept oneself amidst it all.

The trio has covered a lot of geography since its last album, 2011’s “Share the Joy.” Not long after, bassist Katy Goodman and drummer Ali Koehler both moved to L.A., the former piloting La Sera through four stellar albums and the latter drumming for Best Coast as well as forging ahead with her own project Upset. Singer-guitarist (and visual artist) Cassie Ramone, who released two solo albums and two more with Kevin Morby in the Babies, relocated to L.A. last year after a phone call from Goodman.

“Memory” was made with Rob Barbato, the onetime Darker My Love bassist who has produced albums by Apex Manor, Bleached, Big Search, Morby and the Babies and has played with the Fall and Cass McCombs, among others. He juggles Vivian Girls’ sweet and raucously noisy sides on the first single “Sick.”

The new album will be released by Polyvinyl, which also has announced the reissues of Vivian Girls’ out-of-print first two albums, 2008’s “Vivian Girls” and 2009’s “Everything Goes Wrong.”

||| Stream: “Sick”