Eric Risch: Capturing the emotional frailty and lip-biting nervousness of first love, Girlpool’s Cleo Tucker and Harmony Tividad speak volumes on the short merry-go-round ride that is the a cappella “Pretty”. [7/10]
Dustin Ragucos: If your partner offered you a serenade like this, then it would be okay to feel sedated. If you wanted to introduced your saddened loved ones to Girlpool, then “Pretty” might not be the best gateway. “Chinatown” is a much better pick in that regard. [2/10]
Ed Whitelock: Girlpool’s “Pretty” comes across like a lullaby sung by the Overlook Hotel ghost twins from The Shining. I’m not going to sleep anytime soon. Great stuff. [8/10]
Paul Duffus: So someone sat on their cellphone, accidentally activated the video camera, and ended up recording nearly two minutes of juddering, out of focus nonsense? It could be worse. You could ass-dial China without realising. That’s an unwelcome surprise at the end of the month for sure. The weird thing is that someone then over-dubbed this butt-production with a ropey Yo La Tengo demo, a really bad one that wouldn’t even make the ‘bonus disc’ on a barrel-scraping box set. Quite a weird, sorry confluence of events all in all. [3/10]
John Garratt: It’s a very special thing when an artist can win you over in less than two minutes. It’s also very special thing when an artist completely looses you in less than 20 seconds. [2/10]