Neverever – Young and Dumb
2010 has really been quite a year for “girls in the garage” revivalist sounds, with records already released from LA’s Dum Dum Girls and Brooklyn’s Golden Triangle, plus new records from Best Coast and a grittier Tender Trap on the way (all that’s missing is a new record from the Vivian Girls, who, given their prior pace of output, are pretty due to join the party). Neverever have perhaps the “cleanest” sound of the bunch, though it’s pieced together with equal parts garage, girl-group, Smithian indie-pop and post-punk. It’s a sound that with each play grows on me more and more, particularly lead singer Jihae Simmons Meek.
Just as a bit of an aside, in the not so distant past the group had the rather clever name Champagne Socialists, which I was very fond of, as it reminded me (positively and negatively) of my time in Berkeley. But on second thought, perhaps it was right make the change to Neverever, after all who really wants to associate with Champagne Socialists, it’s not exactly a compliment after all…