The idea of rehashing and recycling styles of the past in music or fashion might well be one of the defining chracteristics of comtemporary times. There's an interesting Pitchfork interview with a long-time music critic Simon Reynolds about his recent book Retromania, where he laments about lack of forward-looking direction on the modern pop scene. Due to unlimited online access to past records and shameless freedom of creative pilfering from other artists, too many musicians become satisfied with rediscovering the wheel through current filters rather than moving on.
These concerns interplay well with the new release by Girls that sounds fine but blatantly recycles a variety of influences. Two other acts currenly on my loop are Youth Lagoon, who quite obviosly nods to anyone from Fleet Foxes to Bon Iver to countless others in the business of lo-fi melancholy and wide-eyed rusticalia, and St Vincent, a variation on Tori Amos or PJ Harvey.
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