Credit: Far Out / Holly Whitaker

From The Strokes to Rihanna: five albums that shaped the sound of Goat Girl

Tue 16 July 2024 6:00, UK

It’s hard to define what the term post-punk means anymore. For every artist who claims to make an offshoot of punk and do their best impression of bands like Television and Joy Division, there are just as many artists who are willing to trade in that punk ethos and turn in something purely eclectic whenever they make a song. Goat Girl might fit snuggly into the category of post-punk half the time, but their influences run the gamut of every genre under the sun.

Then again, most of the group’s material concerns their view of reality more than any specific style of music. Their debut was all about their time growing up in 2000s London, and the fact that it was released on Rough Trade Records reminded everyone that no one was going to get in the way of what they had to say when they went into the studio.

Before they had the idea of creating incredible rock tunes, drummer Rosy Bones singled out Rihanna’s Good Girl Gone Bad as the first record she ever owned on Tidal. Despite being one of the biggest pop stars in the world, it’s hard not to see what she saw in the pop idol, eventually making songs that feel like building blocks for how to write classic tunes in the future.

The same could be said of Woodbine’s self-titled record. While it’s not going to displace Rihanna as one of the greatest pop stars in the world, their unique flavour of indie pop is more in line with what they would be getting up to later. Yes, it still has the same tropes of standard pop songs, but they helped remind a lot of indie artists that it was okay to make something that audiences might want to hear.

While both are worthy artists for up-and-coming bands, there’s not really that much rock to go around. When talking to Ellie Rose Davies, she thought Is This It by The Strokes aligned more with what she listened to. Since rock was still emerging from the death of grunge at the beginning of the 2000s, hearing The Strokes make everything sound exciting is half the reason why groups with guitars are still considered cool in the mainstream.

Pure rock and roll can only go so far, and the sounds of Blonde Redhead and Willy Mason are the kind of music that gave the group a lot more emotional resonance when they started making their own material. Blonde Redhead might still fit pretty comfortably into the realm of alternative rock. Still, the indie pop soundscapes draw up the kind of nervy emotion that all good post-punk is based on, particularly the New Order-flavoured take on the genre.

And while Willy Mason’s country roots feel like the exact opposite of punk, it’s not that far off when you look closely. All great punk songs were built off of rootsy approaches to rock music, and since seasoned punk veterans like Greg Graffin have turned towards punk, that sense of Americana tends to seep in ever so slightly into any punk outfit.

But when anyone listens to Goat Girl, it’s not about picking out which songs sound like Strokes ripoffs or which tunes have a country flair to them. They are all about combining their songs into a musical collage of influences, and every time one of their tracks comes in, there’s no telling which influences they will be wearing on their sleeves.