Girls Names get intense at London's 100 Club

Don’t get me wrong, I have a lot of love for the Emerald Isle, but there must be some sort of nation-wide edict stating that, in order to perform as a credible musician, it’s compulsory to have spent time performing under a pseudonym containing a feminine alias. Whether it’s suffixed with ‘Band’ or prefixed with ’September’ this definitely seems to be a theme right now.

When it comes to bands with a female themed moniker, Belfast’s Girls Names have the auspicious claim to being one of this first. Since the late 2000’s the frenetic four-piece have been honing their energies into a tighter and tighter form, which has seen them arrive at their fourth album Arms Around A Vision with enough potential energy to propel themselves skyward at escape velocity. And when Girls Names took the stage at London’s 100 Club for tonight’s show (19th October) it was clear this is exactly what they were intending to do.

Launching into “A Hunger Artist” the band eased themselves in as frontman Cathal Cully delivered his scratchy baritone over the barbed guitar and rhythm section which managed to hit somewhre inbetween Beach Fossils and The Smiths. Taking heavily from their new album, the band really hit their stride by the time “Malaga” came around as they delivered shards of jagged post-punk that shattered like series of crystalline firecrackers with Cully firing off lines with a viciously intense 1000 yard stare.

Recent single “Reticence” saw the static crowd finally loosen up and Girls Names gleefully elongated the song into the ominous rumblings of “Zero” like a sulphury wave of gloom that refused to crash. The tone of the tracks undoubtedly reflecting the bleak and troubled history of the band’s home city.

Calling it a night with “Take Out The Hand” and “I Was You”, tonight Girls Names proved that their name can be easily mimicked, but their sonic energy certainly can’t.

Setlist:

A Hunger Artist
Desire Oscillations
Malaga
Dysmorphia
Chrome Rose
Hypnotic Regression
Reticence
Zero
Exploit Me
Take Out The Hand
I Was You