Have you heard of Sweater Girls? Honestly, I hadn’t until I gave their album Sweater Girls Were Here a listen. Their latest album is a collection of cutesy songs about young love, heartbreak, and things like “riding bikes through the park,” as heard on the third track, “Pretty When You Smile.” If you like to hum along to the smooth and indifferent vocals of Diana Meehan of Best Coast, or have ever found yourself relating to the lovesick songs of HelloGoodbye, then you’d be into Sweater Girls.
Sweater Girls are stuck in their early teens, dwelling over things like school crushes. Lines like “kissing in the halls” and “my parents don’t know” indicate that Sweater Girls are singing about being a kid in those vulnerable years when “liking” that one person in class is all-consuming. It’s for girls and boys in those years before life gets real. Or, it’s just for those indie pop-loving adults to listen to when they’re trying to take a vacation from the heaviness of the real world.
The album opens up with “Infatuation Street,” a track that’s reminiscent of 80s pop in the way that 80’s pop was reminiscent of 50s doo-wop. It conjures up the colors hot pink and pale yellow, sunny Southern California has most definitely had an influence on their pop sound.
“Is That You Leonard” is a faster song that opens with an unexpected and nonsensical mini monologue, indicative of their intent to sound indie. And yet, this song has enough of a pop punk sound to remind me of old Blink-182, circa their Cheshire Cat album, but only their serious stuff, not the Blink songs about peeing their pants.
Sweater Girls aren’t afraid to be so cute as to sing verses of “lalalas,” as they do in the song “Fast Forward.” Yet, they are likewise shamelessly emo with lines like, “I can’t see through the tears in my eyes. You never said goodbye,” to describe the loss of some loverboy in “Secret Weapon.”
Sweater Girls aren’t only girls, however. The LA indie pop band is comprised of three girls and two boys. Sweater Girls clearly aim to make the listener either weep about that one lost love or sing along to their cheery songs about “Sweater Weather” (that’s actually a track on the album). But Sweater Girls songs are so sweet that they can be overwhelming, like eating too much cotton candy.
The Sweater Girls’ latest album, Sweater Girls Were Here comes out on September 25 on Happy Happy Birthday To Me (HHBTM) Records.
You can check out their music here.
