A powerful listening experience, Our Girl’s explosive self-titled single “Our Girl” finds something great coming to fruition.

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Our Girl have been a strong but shy contender to become everyone’s favourite new band for a while. With their EP Normally, released in 2016, the band showed everyone just how capable they were of producing rock music that stood out from all the rest. However, the Brighton trio composed of Soph Nathan (guitar and vocals), Lauren Wilson (drums), and Josh Tyler (bass), carved its way into the music scene in no rush – after the EP’s release, Our Girl put out a cover of Ty Segall’s “Sad Fuzz” in 2017 when they also recorded their debut album and supported Marika Hackman on tour.

But the best things take time.

After being nominated as one of DIY‘s “artists to watch” for 2018 and securing a slot at SXSW this March, Our Girl are ready to claim their time in the spotlight and show you what they’ve been working towards. Their latest release, the self-titled single “Our Girl,” is solid proof that all this wait has been more than worth it. It promises that they really are one of the most exciting new rock bands to exist today, and keeps its promise spectacularly.

Listen: “Our Girl” by Our Girl

A slow-burning start to the song pulls you into it, until the drums begin and “Our Girl” kicks off in traditional, fuzzy, and guitar-drenched Our Girl style. Soph Nathan’s vocals blend in with the guitar beautifully, almost like two parts of one whole – a nice touch considering Nathan is the band’s lead guitarist and main songwriter. Nathan is talking to Lucy, talking about how things are not necessarily as they seem (“Everything’s fine but I feel weird”).

Everything’s fine but you look weird
Lucy I trust you to be kind
Everything’s fine but I feel weird
You can’t always change the way that you’re good

The chorus is a repetition of a single sentence, an order: “don’t be so nice”. It is up for us to decide if Nathan is saying that to Lucy, or constantly repeating it to herself, like a recurring mantra she’ll say out loud until she manages to achieve it. The mystery and elusiveness to the lyrics are part of what makes Our Girl special – though the songs refer to events and people in Nathan’s life, she leaves open-ended meanings and universal sentences in song so that whatever she is singing can be applied to your own life too. This matches up with Nathan’s delivery, as her voice is at times fragile and shy, but also strong enough to make itself heard through all the other layers of the song. It’s a wide, genuine, and human appeal that you find in few bands today.

Don’t be so nice
Don’t be so nice
Don’t be so nice
Don’t be soooo

It’s on the second verse that the song’s most relevant and special sentence is said: “Our girl can’t be seen the way that we see.” Again, the lack of specificity to the lyrics leave us wondering who this girl is, or if Nathan is referring to the band itself – or even, is this how they came up with the band name? The line also talks about people’s different points of view and objectiveness when looking at anything – nothing can be seen by other people the way that we ourselves see it because each of us look at life through different lenses. It’s a line that seems to be important for this new phase of Our Girl, since it is prominently featured on the single’s cover art too.

Don’t play with me
Our girl can’t be seen the way that we see
I’m fine are you okay?
You promised to tell me how you were

The chorus is repeated again, and the last word drowns into a guitar solo which showcases Nathan’s fantastic abilities as a guitarist as the song fades to a close. It’s an exciting time for Our Girl, it seems also like a rebirth of sorts as they prepare to release their debut album later this year. With their fantastic music, genuine and universally appealing lyrics, and incredible tightness as a band, we’re definitely in for a treat when that drops.

It is a bold statement to release a song that has the same name as your band – the song carries a specific weight and importance on your repertoire, and will definitely be referred to constantly as the song that is meant to represent the band. But Our Girl fully deliver on “Our Girl,” making a song that’s not only a great listen, but also one that has a special and unique quality to it that is hard to put into words, it’s that feeling that a band is doing exactly what they need to be doing and at exactly the right time. With “Our Girl,” you’re witnessing something great coming to fruition.

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