California Girls is setting out to release a new project to come for all of our throats, scheduled for a 2020 release.
California Girls is the recording project of Gus McGrath, who is set to release his sophomore LP (and first release on Dero Arcade) titled Beat Boy on March 3, 2020.
Blurring the lines between pristine pop, gritty, filthy club music and post-punk, California Girls has been working from his hometown of Canberra since 2014, moving to Sydney only recently in 2019.
His first album Desire (2016, Moontown Records) came to terms with the complexities of romance through contemporary synth-pop. With his upcoming second album Beat Boy, Gus’ new music uses pop approaches to dissect emotional and theoretical ideas of being, highlighted on his recent single, the woozy and autotune heavy ‘Give Me Everything’ (produced by William Sneddon).
Brand new single ‘Small Birds’ demands attention, affection and bodies throwing themselves onto each other on the dancefloor. It’s a calculated cacophony of sex, loneliness and the urge to be wanted and desired. Powering on with the frantic vibes of bands like Girl Pusher or Atari Teenage Riot, California Girls makes chaos his bitch, and it’s truly a delight to hear.
This is, as Gus would describe on his Instagram, intellectual gay music. ‘Small Birds’ captures that idea perfectly, with all the anxieties, beauties and jaded dreams of being queer wrapped up into one package. Those unaware of the experiences provided by Gus’ music may just hear the tunes as quality club music, but when it comes to California Girls’ lyricism, the real message is “if you know, you know.”
Beat Boy is loosely built around the performances of identity and sex, which Gus attempts to play out through a pop framework. California Girls isn’t pop music, but it references that vocabulary within its own expansive, punk approaches. California Girls is electronic music; intense, danceable and mechanic, with vocals that move from soaring autotune, to moans, to yells. These shifting textures align with the personal narratives and lived experiences that drive Gus’ lyrics.
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It’s magnificence in action, malignant intent in beautification, modernity in motion. Just listen to the songs, is what I’m really trying to communicate. Nobody is doing what California Girls is doing.
Beat Boy will be released through Dero Arcade on March 3 2020. ‘Small Birds’ is out now.
Catch California Girls live
Freda’s, Sydney, NSW
Supporting Molly Nilsson
November 28th
Tickets here
The Curtin, Melbourne, VIC
Supporting Molly Nilsson
November 29th
SOLD OUT
The Foundry, Brisbane, QLD
Supporting Molly Nilsson
December 1st
Tickets here
The Vic On The Park, Sydney, NSW
Rice Is Nice Christmas Special with SPOD, Prudence + Okin Osan
December 15th
Event here
