On May 24th, Australian group Girl and Girl will release their debut full-length, Call A Doctor, on CD/LP/DSP via Virgin Australia (AU/NZ) and Sub Pop (ROW.) The album is the full-length follow-up to Girl and Girl’s 2023 digital release Divorce +, an eight-track EP that featured the standout singles “All I See” and “Dance Now.”
Call A Doctor is an unforgettable first bow from Girl and Girl, an audacious and aggressively tuneful blast of a record from this Australian four-piece garage rock outfit. The band is comprised of frontperson Kai James (singer, guitarist) and his Aunty Liss (drums), along with longtime friends Jayden Williams (guitar) and Fraser Bell (bass). Call A Doctor was recorded at Sundowner Sound in Melbourne, a two-story industrial complex where the band ate, slept, and made music in marathon sessions for two weeks straight with producer Burke Reid (Courtney Barnett, Julia Jacklin).
To celebrate the launch of their new forthcoming long player, the band is sharing an official videofor their lead single, “Hello,” from director Tayla Lauren.
The band’s front person, Kai James, shares this about the single: “‘Hello’ is the story of a young man who requires daily consults with health professionals in order to rationalise his self-destructive thoughts and routines. It’s about romanticizing your own misery. Letting those deep, dark, dirty thoughts take over. Understanding that even if you could pull yourself out, you wouldn’t because the constant stress and worry are all too familiar and comfortable.”
Girl and Girl have also announced North American & Australian tour dates, with additional appearances at Eurokennees in France and End of the Road in the UK. The band will appear at SXSW in March before heading home for the Hello Australia Tour in April. In late April, the band heads back to the States for a North American tour supporting fellow Aussies Royel Otis. See below for a full list of shows.
Wed. Mar. 13 - Austin, TX - SXSW Thu. Mar. 14 - Austin, TX - SXSW Fri. Mar. 15 - Austin, TX - SXSW Sat. Mar. 16 - Austin, TX - SXSW Thur. Apr. 04 - Gold Coast, QLD - Mo’s Desert Clubhouse Fri. Apr, 05 - Sunshine Coast, QLD - Sol Bar Sat. Apr. 06 - Brisbane, QLD - Black Bear Lodge Fri. Apr. 12 - Melbourne, VIC - The Tote Sat. Apr. 13 - Sydney, NSW - Lansdowne Sun. Apr. 14 - Wollongong, NSW - La La Las Tue. Apr. 23 - St. Paul, MN - Amsterdam Bar & Hall * WED. Apr. 24 - Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall * Fri. Apr. 26 - Toronto, ON - Longboat Hall * Sar. Apr. 27 - Columbus, OH - A&R Music Bar * Sun. Apr. 28 - Cleveland Heights, OH - Grog Shop * Tue. Apr. 30 - New York, NY - Racket * Wed. May 01 - New York, NY - Racket * Thu. May 02 - Philadelphia, PA - Theater For The Living Arts * Fri. May 03 - Washington, DC - The Howard * Sat. May 04 - Carrboro, NC - Cats Cradle * Wed. May 08 - Austin, TX - The Parish * Thu. May 09 - Denton, TX - Rubber Gloves * Sat. May 11 -Denver, CO - The Perplexiplex at Meow Wolf * Wed. May 15 - Phoenix, AZ - Rebel Lounge * Thu. May 16 - Hollywood, CA - The Fonda Theater * Fri. May 17 - Santa Barbara, CA - Soho Restaurant & Music Club * Sat. May 18 - San Francisco, CA - Rickshaw Stop * Mon. May 20 - Portland, OR - The Aladdin Theater * Tue. May 21 - Vancouver, BC - Fox Cabaret * Wed. May 22 - Seattle, WA - Neptune Theater * Thu. Jul. 04 - Cravanche, FR - Les Eurokennees Fri. Jul. 05 - Cravanche, FR - Les Eurokennees Sat. Jul. 06- Cravanche, FR - Les Eurokennees Sun. Jul. 07- Cravanche, FR - Les Eurokennees Thu. Aug. 29 - Dorset, UK - End Of The Road Fri. Aug. 30 - Dorset, UK - End Of The Road Sat. Aug. 31 - Dorset, UK -End Of The Road Sun. Sep. 01 - Dorset, UK -End Of The Road
* w/ Royel Otis
Call A Doctor is available to preorder now on CD/LP/DSPs from Sub Pop. LP preorders from megamart.subpop.com, select independent retailers (US), select independent retail stores (EU/UK) & Mega Mart 2 (the new, UK-based sibling site to the world-famous Sub Pop Mega Mart) will receive the Loser Edition on White vinyl. All colored vinyl versions are available while stock lasts.
About Girl and Girl’s Call A Doctor: In one sense, it’s easy for artists—songwriters, specifically—to express their feelings in their work. After all, that’s what the lyrics are for! But it’s much harder to convey emotional energy in how you play, slash at the guitar, and the structure of the music itself. That’s precisely why Girl and Girl’s Sub Pop debut, Call A Doctor, feels like such a vital, electrifying shock to the senses. Not since the early work of Car Seat Headrest or Conor Oberst’s widescreen emotional brutality as Bright Eyes has indie rock managed to come across as this intimate and grandiose, as the Australian quartet led by Kai James lay a lifetime’s worth of woes—mental health, the human race’s planned obsolescence if you’ve been living on this cursed rock you know what we’re getting at—across a canvas of indie rock that feels both timeless and in-the-moment.
An audacious and aggressively tuneful blast of a record, Call A Doctor is an unforgettable first bow from Girl and Girl, whose origins lie in James and guitarist Jayden Williams jamming in his mother’s garage in the afternoon after school. One afternoon, James’ Aunty Liss headed down to their practice space after walking her dog and asked if she could sit in on drums. “It sounded really great,” James recalls. “We begged her to stay, and she said, ‘I’ll stay until you find another drummer.’ We wore her down, and she eventually became a permanent member.”
After bassist Fraser Bell joined to round things out, Girl and Girl hit the road and began to make a name for themselves beyond the Australian bush, eventually signing to Sub Pop off the strength of word of mouth. Call A Doctor came together quickly soon after, largely recorded in marathon sessions in a two-story industrial complex over the course of two weeks. “That added to the intensity of the album,” James says about the frenzied creative process overseen by producer Burke Reid. “I can hear the stress in the record, which is good because that’s what it’s about—being tense, tied up, and in your own head.”
Call A Doctor’s eleven songs—spanning sweeping guitar epics and wry acoustic shuffles to spiky punk maneuvers and the type of raw, adoringly unvarnished indie-pop associated with legendary PacNW label K Records—are literally plucked from James’ personal history, as he reworked older recordings with newer lyrics reflecting his past struggles as well as new anxieties that emerged prior to the album’s recording. “I’ve struggled with mental health for a lot of my life,” he explains, “and I went through a particularly difficult patch when we were making the album; the band had started to get some attention, and I felt an enormous amount of pressure to live up to it.”
Far from the sound of collapsing under pressure, Call A Doctor finds James and Co. stepping up with their entire collective chest. This is a record that’s so out-and-out alive that you nearly feel like you’re in the same room with Girl and Girl as you listen to it; lead single “Hello” practically bursts through the speakers, amplified by Aunty Liss’ unbelievable stickhandling duties. “‘Hello’ is all about romanticizing your own misery. Letting those deep, dark, dirty thoughts take over. Understanding that even if you could pull yourself out, you wouldn’t because the constant stress and worry is far too familiar and comfortable.”
“Mother” pogos on a spiky groove that’s reminiscent of the geographically close New Zealanders who make up the legendary Flying Nun label, while “Oh Boy” draws from the Shins’ own jangly sound, injected with James’ wonderfully nervy vocals. Then there’s Call A Doctor’s sorta-centerpiece “Maple Jean and the Anthropocene,” a five-minute epic offering a new perspective on climate change and the notion of what it means, in a personal sense, to suffer: “I live in the bushland, and I was driving home one night and hit and killed a wallaby with my car,” James recalls while discussing the song’s lyrical inspiration. “My first thought was, ‘What is the universe trying to tell me?’ No remorse, no guilt, just total self-centeredness. Which was like, Woah, you fucking psychopath! This wallaby wasn’t put on this earth to send you a message. That’s what the song is about, our egocentric species - thinking you’re the main character and that everything that happens is somehow about you.”
“This record is about an individual who’s too far in their head, trying to get out,” James continues while discussing Call A Doctor’s overall outlook—specifically the snapshot it offers of its creator. But even though this record deals with uneasy topics we all know well from within ourselves, it’s important to emphasize how teeming with life Girl and Girl’s music is. There’s a brazen, bold sense of humor to this stuff, an undeniable brightness to the darkness that makes it impossible not to be drawn in as a listener. Feeling down never sounded so goddamn good.
Track Listing: 1. INTRO 2. Call A Doctor 3. Hello 4. Maple Jean and the Anthropocene 5. Oh Boy! 6. Suffocate 7. Mother 8. You’ll Be Alright 9. Comfortable Friends 10. Our Love (Ours Only) 11. OUTRO
Today, November 2, 2023, the Australian group Girl and Girl’s Fight Night EP, a 5-song effort featuring new interpretations of songs from their 2023 EP, Divorce +. This collection of songs was filmed and recorded at Fight Night Studios in Melbourne, Australia. You can watch the Fight Night sessions in their entirety HERE.
Fight Night Records is a recording studio perched above Dutch Vinyl record store in Melbourne, established in 2015 by identical twins Harley and Delaney Stewart. Their live studio sessions have captured performances by some of Australia’s most incredible underground talent, including Grace Cummings, Folk Bitch Trio, Felix Riebl, Gabriella Cohen, Jazz Party, Bones & Jones, and Sweet Talk.
Girl and Girl are working on new music for their full-length Sub Pop debut and have announced AU and EU shows this fall, including a festival play on November 11th at Pitchfork Music Festival in Paris. Tickets for all shows are on sale now.
Fri 3 Nov - London, UK - Sebright Arms Sat 4 Nov - Margate, UK- Whereelse? $ Sun 5 Nov - Brighton, UK - Mutations Festival 2023 Mon 6 Nov - Southampton, UK - Heartbreakers Wed 8 Nov - Orleans, FR - L’Astrolabe Thu 9 Nov - Nantes, FR - Stereolux Fri 10 Nov - Weissenhäuser Strand, GER - Rolling Stone Beach Sat 11 Nov - Paris, FR - Pitchfork Avant Garde Thu 30 Nov - Auckland, NZ - Whammy (The Others Way Pre-Party) Fri 1 Dec - Auckland, NZ - The Others Way Festival Wed 6 Dec - Melbourne, AU - Spaced Out Festival
On November 2, 2023, Girl and Girl will release Fight Night. This 5-song collection features new interpretations of songs from the group’s 2023 EP, Divorce +, and recorded at Fight Night Studios in Melbourne, Australia.
Girl and Girl is sharing a new performance video of “Strangers” from the Fight Night sessions, which you can watch HERE.
Girl and Girl’s frontperson, Kai James, says about the single and video: “For ‘Strangers,’ we tried to bottle the feeling of a night out alone, the thrill that comes from meeting new people. It’s my favorite track to play live; people connect with it. I try my best cowboy dancing, and everyone’s stomping and shouting together. It’s a hoot.”
Fight Night Records is a recording studio perched above Dutch Vinyl record store in Melbourne, established in 2015 by identical twins Harley & Delaney Stewart. Their live studio sessions have captured performances by some of Australia’s most incredible underground talent including Grace Cummings, Folk Bitch Trio, Felix Riebl, Gabriella Cohen, Jazz Party, Bones & Jones and Sweet Talk.
Girl and Girl are working on new music for their full-length Sub Pop debut, and have announced AU and EU shows this fall, including a festival play on November 11th at Pitchfork Music Festival in Paris. See below for a full list of shows.
TOUR DATES Fri. Oct. 13 - Melbourne, AU - The Evelyn Sat. Oct. 14 - Paramatta, AU - Paramatta Lanes Sun. Oct. 15- Wollongong, AU - Yours & Owls Festival Wed. Oct. 18 - Sydney, AU - SXSW Sydney (The Chippo Hotel) Thu. Oct. 19 - Sydney, AU - SXSW Sydney (The Lord Gladstone) Fri. Oct. 27 - Amsterdam, NL - London Calling 2023 Mon. Oct. 30 - Manchester, UK - The Deaf Institute w/ Water From Your Eyes Tue. Oct. 31 - Glasgow, UK - The Hug and Pint w/ Water From Your Eyes Wed. Nov. 01 - Leeds, UK - Brudenell Social Club w/ Water From Your Eyes Fri. Nov. 03- London, UK - Sebright Arms (2 shows) Sat. Nov. 04 - Margate, UK- Whereelse? w/ Flamingods Sun. Nov. 05 - Brighton, UK - Mutations Festival 2023 Mon. Nov. 06 - Southampton, UK - Heartbreakers Wed. Nov. 08- Orleans, FR - L’Astrolabe Thu. Nov. 09 - Nantes, FR - Stereolux Fri. Nov. 10 - Weissenhäuser Strand, GER - Rolling Stone Beach Sat. Nov. 11 - Paris, FR - Pitchfork Avant Garde
Today, June 8th, Sub Pop will release Divorce +, an eight-track digital EP from the newly signed Australian band Girl and Girl. On the heels of the previously released single “All I See” comes the undeniably catchy track “Dance Now.”
Girl and Girl’s frontperson, Kai James, says about the single and video: “Shooting this clip was probably one of the best days I’ve had in months. I’ve felt lots of pressure with my art and creating lately, so I wanted to step away from that and create something totally unhinged and fun. For the shoot, Rose, our leading chook, just emanated pure joy, and that’s exactly what I wanted to capture, a chicken lady so in love with life, and her chicken form, whose deepest desire is just to feel the wind in her wings.”
Girl and Girl have also shared a 6-minute punk-umentary directed by friend Alexandros Kalas. This video features live and behind-the-scenes performance footage of the band, as well as an interview with frontperson Kai James. You can watch it here.
Girl and Girl just returned from a fifteen-date run in the EU and the UK, which included performances at The Great Escape and London’s Wide Awake Festival, as well as support dates with Partisan Records act Blondshell.
Girl and Girl Divorce + EP Artwork
Tracklisting: 1. Divorce 1 2. Dance Now 3. Strangers 4. Garden Son 5. I See a Man 6. Divorce 2 7. All I See
Girl and Girl are currently working on new music for their Sub Pop debut, with additional Australian, UK, and EU touring in the Fall.
Fri. Jun. 23 - Fortitude Valley, AU - Black Bear Lodge Sat. Jun. 24 - Byron Bay, AU - The Northern Fri. Jun. 30 - Sydney, AU - The Lansdowne Sat. Jul. 01 - Melbourne, AU - The Curtin Wed. Nov. 11 - Paris, FR - Pitchfork Music Festival
Sub Pop is thrilled to welcome Australia’s Girl and Girl to our self-proclaimed iconic and undoubtedly recognizable label roster. This exciting, four-piece garage rock outfit features frontperson Kai James and his Aunty Liss on drums, with longtime friends Jayden Williams on guitar and Fraser Bell on bass.
To celebrate this budding union, the group has shared an official video for their new single, “All I See.”
The band’s frontperson, Kai James, says about the single and video: “Lyrics came last for ‘All I See,’ about 3 years after the track, and when I finally sat down and wrote them, I was pretty anxious about whether I had them right or not. A new Mylie Cyrus track played on the radio that afternoon, she too, was singing about houses burning down, and I took that as confirmation. So I thanked Mylie Cyrus and her great new track ‘Flowers’ and never looked back.”
Girl and Girl are currently working on new music for their Sub Pop debut. The band has announced a series of tour dates for 2023, which includes performances at The Great Escape and London’s Wide Awake Festival and a support run with Partisan Records act Blondshell. See below for a full list of dates.
Girl and Girl Tour Dates
Sat. May 06 - Glasgow, UK - The Road To The Great Escape Tue. May 09 - Dublin, IE - The Road To The Great Escape Thu. May 11 - Brighton, UK - The Great Escape Festival/Sounds Australia Showcase (Komedia) Fri. May 12 - Brighton, UK - The Great Escape Festival at Mucky Duck (Sub Pop Showcase) Fri. May 12 - Brighton, UK - The Great Escape Festival at Latest Music Bar (Official Showcase) Sat. May 13 - Paris, FR - Point Ephemere ^ Sun. May 14 - Tourcoing, FR - Le Grand Mix ^ Mon. May 15 - Cologne, DE - Helios 37 ^ Wed. May 17 - Berlin, DE - Privatclub ^ Thu. May 18 - Hamburg, DE - Molotow Skybar ^ Sat. May 20 - Amsterdam, NL - London Calling Festival Tue. May 23 Brussels, BE - Witloof Bar Thu. May 25 - Manchester, UK - YES (Basement) ^ Fri. May 26 - London, UK - Wide Awake pre-party at Earth Theatre Sat. May 27 - Bristol, UK - Dot to Dot Festival Sun. May 28 - Nottingham, UK - Dot to Dot Festival
