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LP version. Following a steady stream of ultra-limited 7" singles, that were collated together in 2019 for the Pre/Post: A Collection 2016-2018 (HARB 204LP, 2018) on Louder Than War, Girls In Synthesis's highly-anticipated debut album arrives. Since forming in late 2016, Girls In Synthesis have quickly forged a fearsome reputation as one of the most exciting and volatile live acts in London. In equal parts frantic, considered, ear-splitting, and melodic, the group take their cues from the early DIY punk and post-punk pioneers to keep everything in-house. Now Here's An Echo From Your Future is their first release for fabled experimental punk label Harbinger Sound and finds the band advancing their sound, making subtle but experimental shifts in texture and tone, helping to break free from the shackled straight-jacket of punk rock that, to be fair, never really held them down in the first place. Across the album's ten songs, Girls In Synthesis explore a wide range of sensations and sounds as the album detonates into life with opening track "Arterial Movements" in a screeching flurry of over-driven guitar and hammering drums. The contrast between the slow, mesmerizing look into aging and dying in "Human Frailty", to the aggressive attack on the rise of the right-wing in "They're Not Listening" shows a wide range of subjects and reactions aggressively tackled. Mental health in a fast-moving, unforgiving world, media control, the divide widening between the have and the have nots, the class divide, the blaming of the poor, NHAEFYF bristles with an unforgiving frustration and temper. The recording of NHAEFYF started at Rockit Studio, Hull in April 2019 during days off on the UK tour to promote the Pre/Post compilation album. The Hull sessions were engineered by studio owner and local musician Sean Tomlinson. The remainder of the album was recorded and engineered by the band throughout summer 2019 in a large rehearsal room at Gun Factory studios, Homerton. Production and finishing touches were completed at GIS bassist John's S.I.C.K Studio in Hither Green. The album was mixed by long-time band collaborator and engineer, Max Walker. In their few years of existence, fans and critics alike have been stunned by the bands pure visceral and punishing wall of sound, as well as applauding the groups way of making a GIS show an all-inclusive experience; playing from within the crowd to create a unique and awe-inspiring spectacle.
Our take: I’ve been listening to this debut LP from London’s Girls in Synthesis for the past week and I still feel like it’s a puzzle I haven’t quite unlocked. Their sound is interesting. Classic anarcho punk is part of the mix, as is noise music (there are swirling synth noises layered over everything), but there’s an element of Sonic Youth’s noisy, song-oriented art rock circa Daydream Nation or Goo. While Girls in Synthesis reminds me of Bad Breeding when the latter element drops out of the mix, for most of Now Here’s an Echo from Your Future these sounds come together in a way I’ve never heard before. I think people who have like a wide range of styles but have a particular affinity for anarcho punk would love this, particularly if you’re into bands like Poison Girls, Omega Tribe, or the Mob, bands who didn’t foreground punk’s more aggressive elements. It’s arty, ambitious, political, and sounds like no other record in my collection… what’s not to like?