ALBUM REVIEW: Girls In Synthesis – Sublimation (Own It)
London’s post-punk noisemakers Girls In Synthesis are back with their third album proper, and it’s probably their best – and most accessible – yet.
John Linger (bass/vocals), Jim Cubitt (guitar/keys) and Nicole Pinto (drums) might only be a three-piece, but they make a hugely impressive noise.
Influenced by the likes of Crass, the Banshees and Killing Joke, their sound is based around shards of jagged guitar, juddering basslines and pummelling drums.
Formed in 2016, GIS initially created a stir with a series of self-released EPs before unleashing their debut album Now Here’s An Echo From Your Future (reviewed here) in 2020.
2022’s mini-album Konsumrausch (reviewed here) took them in a darker direction, which was continued by second album The Rest Is Distraction (reviewed here) later that year.
Now, Sublimation takes them to new places, without sacrificing the things which made us love GIS in the first place. The songs are just as intense and atmospheric, but the production is cleaner, and they sound all the better for it.
Working with producer Owen Turner in rural Norfolk, they have come up with a record which does away with much of the distortion which has become their trademark, in favour of a more melodic sound.
Gothic feel
Their driving drums and bass are still present and correct, if not quite as relentless, along with some coruscating guitar riffs. But keyboards are much more prominent on this album, giving it a really early ’80s gothic feel in places.
It kicks off with lead single Lights Out, a real song of two halves, with a tense, slow-building first half culminating in a maelstrom of electronic noise, and then the pace picks up and gives way to a slice of dark pop.
Recent single Deceit, about unhealthy relationships, sounds like Killing Joke, driven by the bass and drums, and Linger’s vocals are impassioned as he sings:”I’m trying, I wander in and out of frame, I’m trying, don’t need to go against the grain.”
There’s an early contender for standout track in Corrupting Memories, whose simple chorus repeats “I can’t think straight, I can’t think straight” over and over again.
Trademark tension and atmospherics are present in abundance on tracks like I Was Never There, which has a real gothic feel, and I Judge Myself, whose bassline is straight out of the Joy Division playbook and the organ almost church-like.
Album highlight
Picking Things Out Of The Air‘s irregular rhythms are powered by a piercing guitar riff and thudding bass, while Subtle Differences is possibly the highlight of the whole album. GIS rail against a world where everyone seems to want to look the same as Linger sings: “I live my life through subtle differences/I live my life through subtle distractions/I’ve been known to veer off course/It’s what makes me who I am!”
Girls In Synthesis tour the UK in May and June to promote the album and with songs this good to add to their set I can’t wait to see them again. 9/10.
