Rough Tide: Atlanta Girl’s “South Carolina”

Atlanta Girl emerges from the ashes of the band Colorado Coronado, a duo who didn’t release much music during their time together but what did trickle out was pretty absorbing. Their one release Far Away, on netlabel Canata Records, showcases a group who takes their time playing with an idea, clearly influenced by the slow-building music of Atlas Sound but also at times much weirder than Bradford Cox. Their career highlight has to be “An Old Strange Man,” a six-minute-plus vision quest of a song that takes it time to get anywhere, Colorado Coronado sounding like two stoned kids around a campfire just seeing what came out of their instruments.

So now comes Atlanta Girl and a lot has changed – first song/video combo South Carolina gets in your face instead of slowly unfold. The dominant sound comes courtesy of some cheap-sounding electronics and a cracker-jack beat. Atlanta Girl’s vocals are a touch higher in the mix, and also a bit more all over the place in terms of quality. Just over a minute into the song, a screeching scream rips through the mix, as if serving as a test for listeners – you either are going to keep going, or stop right here. “South Carolina” is not the prettiest Japanese song you’ll hear in 2013, but it has two things going for it. First, it sounds like a more confrontational Talking City 1994, at least when that Osaka outfit was just starting out and making similarly sorta-ugly grooves. Second, Atlanta Girl tries to be an all-or-nothing affair, which is actually a nice change from a music scene keen on playing it safe.