South London all-female post punkers, Goat Girl caused a bit of a splash with their self-titled debut album and early, belligerent tunes like “Scum” back in 2018. Now, however, is time for its follow-up and, unfortunately On All Fours is indelibly stamped with difficult second album syndrome. Sure, they take on big issues like humanity’s parasitic relationship with the Earth; sexism and the patriarchal society; social isolation; mental health issues and the short-comings of capitalism, but instead of decking themselves in warpaint and going for the jugular, like the Slits or L7 might do, they address things with passive-aggressive whining backed by insubstantial and forgettable music.
“PTS Tea” is a case in point, being billed as a “fuck you” to entitled and boorish men through the lens of an incident when a bloke spilled hot tea on singer and guitarist Lottie Cream and then didn’t apologise. While Ari Up or Donita Sparks might have brushed off the incident or gone raging after the tea-spiller, Lottie winds herself up by griping to herself but ultimately does nothing over some insipid lo-fi indie pop. “They Bite You” manages to muster up a bit of depth but is still somewhat languid, suggesting that Goat Girl have something that’s holding them back from loosening up, letting rip and throwing caution to the wind. Instead, On All Fours spends all its time wandering between lo-fi wooziness and twee, C86 sounds.
There are times, such as on “Sad Cowboy”, “The Crack” and “Closing In” where Goat Girl threaten to muster up the energy to be memorable and possibly even hip-swinging. Unfortunately, they never actually get there and for what is hopefully only the time-being, Goat Girl remain a band who are interesting idea but who seem to be incapable of actually bringing that idea to an attention-grabbing and exciting fruition.
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