SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: BABYGIRL – STAY HERE WHERE IT’S WARM

BABYGIRL
STAY HERE WHERE IT’S WARM
ARTS & CRAFTS

Toronto-based duo Babygirl says its music is inspired by acts from all corners of the pop pantheon, from Katy Perry to The Beach Boys to Swedish hitmaker Max Martin. But the sound of their debut album is far less manufactured and glossy than what you might expect from this description. It’s pretty, but subtler and gentler than “California Gurls” (or even “California Girls”, for that matter). While the influences of these pop acts are certainly felt, Stay Here Where It’s Warm has a dreamy, fuzzy sound more reminiscent of fellow Canadian act Alvvays.

The opening track, “Take Me Back,” is an apology song said to be inspired by classics like The Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” or The Temptations’ “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg.” With lyrics like “Careless when you were mine/So half-hearted and so short-sighted/Kept on toeing the line,” it certainly has a timelessness about it. It feels like it could have been written yesterday or 40 years ago. But unlike the Motown tracks that inspired it, it has a much slower and murkier sound. Lead singer Kiki Frances’ vocals are layered with endless reverb, jangly guitars, and plenty of background vocals that make the song feel bittersweet and downhearted.

“Dancing With Her,” the third song on the album, is another dreamy pop number about looking back on a failed relationship with nostalgia-tinged regret. Underneath the hazy production, it has a pulsing rhythm that makes it feel like the type of song that would play over a pivotal scene from an ‘80s teen movie where the protagonist sees her ex-boyfriend in the arms of a new girl at prom.

“You’re the Difference” is a more hopeful track that features country-like slide guitar, while “Buzzed” is slightly sludgier than the rest of the album. “Can’t Be Friends” speaks to the universal experience of developing romantic feelings for an ostensibly platonic friend and features the memorable lyric “Beneath this polyester jacket/My heart beats/Makin’ a racket.”

Overall, Stay Here Where It’s Warm moves at a pleasantly languid pace and doesn’t demand your attention the way its pop influences do. Instead, it quietly asks you to let Babygirl’s sound grow on you. It’s like if Sofia Coppola compiled a soundtrack to accompany a make-out session in an OCAD dorm room: familiar but clouded with the haze of nostalgia.

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