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SXSW review: Cheap Girls at Barbarella
Cheap Girls is like a highly volatile but maybe promising penny stock; you’re not really risking anything to get on board now but you have to do so with the realization that absolutely nothing of much value might come of it. That sure sounds like a diss when in actuality it’s an acknowledgment that the Lansing, Mich. band has plenty of musical building blocks they could but not necessarily will turn into lasting, inspiring songs.
As to the blocks themselves; buzzy, powerful punk rock as a base, bits of power pop and bar rock and traces of alt-country and hard rock peaking out from song to song. Imagine The Hold Steady without a thesaurus and penchant for lyrical mythologizing and you’re part of the way there. Put together a playlist of a bunch of Grant Hart’s Husker Du songs and early Cheap Trick and that essentially completes the trip.
The trio’s Saturday show at Barbarella showcased all of those base elements enjoyably and lots of times led to all-out head rocking but there was a feeling of cohesiveness missing that kept the whole package from connecting like it could have. At the risk of sounding like a know-it-all, these sounds don’t belong to them yet. Not to say that they won’t someday soon, or that Cheap Girls aren’t worth dropping $5 for on a decent bill because they really are. But the day isn’t here yet where they’re living up to the promise that’s out there in the open.
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