REVIEW: Dum Dum Girls 'He Gets Me High' EP

LA based Dum Dum Girls are an all girl, all goth four piece who dress all in black. And it shouldn't matter, but they're all rather pretty. You'd happily let them drag you off to the woods and draw pentagrams on your chest in lipstick. They've just announced a new EP, He Gets Me High, a follow up to their fuzzy debut I Will Be and it's not bad.

It seems ever since California loosened their rules on weed distribution, Los Angeles has been banging out these grungy low-fi stoner bands left, right and centre. Dum Dum Girls typified that skuzzy garage sound with their first album, but their new EP tones down the scuzz in favour of a more polished sound which has the girls sounding more like a Goth Bangles.

Short but sweet opener, Wrong Feels Right is a busy little song with the structure jumping between a building drum roll to haunting vocals and then back into hip shaking up-tempo bits. The harmonies are spot on and there's a great lilting guitar solo that Johnny Marr would be proud of.

Take away the dirty riff and single He Gets Me High could easily be a Bangles song. It's very boppy and sunny. That's not a bad thing, especially if you like 'Walk like an Egyptian'.

To remind us they can still be dark and moody, there's Take Care of My Baby, a sparse Cat Power-like song with lilting shades of 60s pop thrown in. It's slow and hazy and sure to inspire waving of lighters at concerts. A great song to schedule a toilet break to as it's a little boring. Unless you're a fan of bands with boring songs, like Deerhunter.

Tackling any Smiths song is a ballsy move. Mark Ronson got death threats when he tried it. But this cover of There Is a Light That Never Goes Out is done extremely well. It's odd to hear a Californian girl singing about being killed by a double-decker bus but it suits their style perfectly, especially with their sweet melodies and that lingering guitar line. This is easily the best thing on the CD. Too bad they'll not be able to play this in public for fear of being struck down by an army of Smiths loyalists waving rolling pins, or some other Morrissey-inspired household appliance.

RICHARD SCOTT

Dum Dum Girls He Gets Me High EP out now through Inertia.