Album Review: Mystery Girl - "Mystery Girl"

 

It's probably the oldest trick in the book I realise but it's still safe to say that if your band name includes a New York Dolls reference then it's likely to catch our attention here at Nite Songs. So yeah, it's safe to say that Big Apple natives Mystery Girl's moniker alone might just have been a key factor in drawing them to our attention.

In truth though, this self-titled album is less Johnny Thunders and more Johnny Ramone with the sugar sweet melodies, garbled Joey-style vocals and the fact that they speed through the 11 tracks here in under 25 minutes being pure bruddas territory. And to be honest, it's not bad with the likes of Lipstick Traces and the strutting Chandelier including some good Thunders/Cheetah Chrome style guitar work proving that the Dolls influence is there, it's just in the background a bit. Elsewhere the pacy Hurting Hands owes a sly nod to Holiday In Cambodia with its opening riff and Head On A Stake, Six Bends and I Love Kissing has plenty of that Ramones style knucklehead charm.

The only drawback is that while it's an enjoyable album, there's not a lot of depth to it - I mean I know some mistaken weirdos say that about the Ramones as well but while there's plenty of fun hooks and tunes here, there's nothing which quite has that key "wow, I really must listen to that again!" quality to it meaning that while I enjoyed this album on first listen, it's not one that I've really had a massive compulsion to revisit since then.

That said, when you're drawing your influence from bands as good as these guys are, it's inevitable that a little bit of the ol' stardust will rub off unless you really screw it up and make no mistake, Mystery Girl definitely offer a competent enough take on the formula. This is a solid debut album which gives the band plenty of room to grow. Touch wood we'll make glam punk gods out of them yet. 

Bandcamp Link

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌑🌑🌑 (7/10)

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