Evan Sawdey: Outside of the somewhat tired trope of a Letterman-Phoenix interview as a staging device for the music video, goddamn if they don’t perfectly capture that late ’80s Britrock sound down to a T. It’s a sweet spot that gets me every time, although I leave the song not knowing much about their band or personality, instead wanting to go back and listen to similar records instead of Girls Names’ new one. Imitation can be great, but hopefully this is just a set up for something greater. [7/10]
Chris Gerard: Hells yes. Any fan of post-punk bands like Wire, Magazine and Gang of Four are immediately going to respond positively to Girls Names. “A Hunger Artist” is a fierce garage rocker with new wave undertones and pugnacious attitude to spare thanks to frontman Cathal Cully. This is a band to watch. [9/10]
Paul Duffus: As the YouTube commenter distortiontruth says underneath the video, “see also: Band of Susans’ ‘It’s Locked Away'”. I was going to be more vague and say “see also: Killing Joke” or “see also: The Sound” for those synths in particular. However, she or he has it nailed. “A Hunger Artist” is fastidiously close to the Band of Susans track with a few other highly derivate post-punk nuts and bolts thrown in. Quoting the past without reflection is not a way forward. [2/10]