ONE of the most up-front concept albums in recent memory, Girlpool’s Before The Word Was Big hinges upon notions of the splendor of childhood and the stereotypical ‘pleasantness’ that goes hand in hand with those days; contrasting them with the uncertainty and cruelty that comes along with the passage of time and the ascension towards the ranks of adulthood.

The title of ‘Ideal World’ that is attached to the album’s opening track is telling in itself before you’re even exposed to any music. Stripped back to rudimentary chords for the majority of its duration, it comes across as both jaded and disdainful. Featuring the insightful chorus of: “tranquilise me with your ideal world’, there is a longing to view earth and its inhabitants in the wondrous fashion of an infant.

Melancholic in its instrumentation, ‘Dear Nora’ recalls the days when communication wasn’t instantaneous and quite so readily at our disposal. With its downtrodden use of guitar acting as a backdrop for a heartfelt correspondence with what appears to be a pen pal, the song catches the narrator at a point of transition; in which the future looks uncertain and verging on bleak compared to the euphoria that summer afforded.

Opening with clattering strikes of a xylophone that are atypical of the manner in which a child would naively experiment with an instrument, the dual vocals of Harmony Tividad and Cleo Tucker soon enter the fray on the record’s title track, accompanied by chirpy and optimistic chords.

Proclaiming to have ‘walked around my neighbourhood 100 billion trillion times’, it is inherently juvenile dow to its adoption of a young child’s unfettered penchant for gross exaggeration. Within the song’s chorus they lament the loss of the days of ‘wearing matching dresses before the world was big’ making it the first blatant plea for the simpler times that they’d experienced and the innocent exuberance that their subsequent teenage years and adult life made such short work of.

A whimsical and folksy sound ushers in the beginning of ‘Chinatown’, which contains several lines attempting to grasp the roots of anxiety and paranoia that many feel creeping in their life as they approach the heightened sense of self-awareness that adulthood brings. Starting harmlessly enough with lyrics pertaining to “biting my nails” before progressing to a more extreme form of the affliction as they ponder: “If I loved myself, would I take it the wrong way?”, it sees the more sweet elements of the track which preceded it evaporate, leaving something more soberingly mature in its place.

‘Cherry Picking’ and its title can easily be interpreted as a reference to the LP’s core philosophy as they continuously ‘cherry pick’ the memories that portray both their childhood as a distinctly happy time and their adolescence as a period which was fraught with a great deal more difficulty. Musically, it exudes some of the most intense instrumentation to be found anywhere on the record, focusing on a looping guitar part and sincere vocal delivery from both members.

The grungy overtones of ‘Crowded Stranger’ act as an excellent base for some of the most bizarre comparisons that’ve ever been drawn within a track’s lyrics; before the angelic ‘pretty’ captures the conflicting emotions that one can feel towards an individual during the hormone-charged days of your teenage years.

The compellingly minimal and very bass-heavy ‘Emily’ alludes to both blissfully innocent activities such as road trip games as well as the more sinister hobby of ‘holding seances’ as it charts a friendship that seems in dire need of rekindling, leaving ‘I Like That You Can See It’ to bring the album to a close pleasantly, containing little more than charming guitar and bass beside the dual vocals that form the cornerstone of what makes this album such an amiable listen.

An appealing idea that they’ve managed to flesh out into a bewitching LP, Girlpool have spiritedly planted their flag in the ground for your love and endorsement. By the midway point of Before The World Was Big, there’s a very good chance they’ll have it.