FEATURE: Spotlight: Girl Tones — Music Musings & Such

FEATURE:

Spotlight

Girl Tones

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THE terrific Girl Tones…

have a string of U.S. dates ahead. The South Central Kentucky sister duo of Kenzie and Laila Crowe are amazing. Both classically trained musicians, Kenzie transitioned from cello to guitar and Laila from piano to drums. I know they have played in London and spend time here. Their video for Leave the City shows them in London visiting tourist attractions. Quite a grainy video, the song is pummelling, punchy and angular. Grungy and grumbly, it also has this spring and lightness in places. It is an incredible single from a duo who released a fair few last year. Among them was Cherry Picker, and Blame. In order to get to know the better, I am going to bring in some interviews. Like I do with a lot of Spotlight features, I will go back to a slightly older interview before coming to those that are more recent. In December 2024, Girl Tones spoke with Culture Flux about ensuring that they keep their edge and make sure the music is both raw and honest. I think that this combination comes through on everything they do:

“The sisters grew up classically trained- Kenzie played cello and Laila was a pianist before transitioning to drums. “The emotion’s more attached to just the beauty of the piece itself and not really the personal attachment. It’s just an appreciation of the art,” Laila says about her connection to classical music. “For our stuff, it’s definitely way more personal, because we’ve put so much time and effort into this, it’s like, intrinsic in my life at this point.”

The two singles so far, “Fade Away” and “Again,” utilize fuzzy guitars, pounding drums, and emotive vocals to rip into infectious melodies and punk attitude. For the new album they’re working on, it felt natural to instill a variety of tracks, considering their listening palette is now so diverse. The goal is to not be tied down to just one genre, but still be cohesive. Kenzie has a tad bit of paranoia surrounding that subject.

“We’re so paranoid that all of our songs are going to sound the same to everyone (laughs).” She has this inner worry that all of the songs sound the same or their doing the same thing over and over, but that the fact that she’s thinking about it means she’s conscious of making an album with ebbs and flows. “I’m very excited for everyone to hear all of the songs,” Kenzie says. “I’m just so curious about how people are going to like it or relate to it.”

Given the lyrical vulnerability of Girl Tones, there is a lot to relate to. “Usually it comes from deep within me,” Kenzie admits. “The lyrics are very vulnerable. Sometimes it comes out of you when you don’t know where it comes from.” From the anger of being let down in the raging “Again” to immature and uncommunicative partners in “Fade Away,” there’s a fury of emotions being spilled out of the two tracks that can feel like an honest release of pent-up feelings.

“It definitely is cathartic… all of the BS we might’ve had to go through to get here, it doesn’t matter, we’re here,” Laila says. Clarifying why they connect so much with the rawness of their sound and lyrics, Kenzie feels that it has always been a part of them. “That’s just who we are. We like to be honest and raw. I mean, isn’t that life? Life isn’t produced. We’re just existing”.

I want to include parts of this interview with Northern Exposure Magazine from early last year. Some important U.K. press, it is interesting how the highlight the visuals and aesthetic qualities of Girl Tones. Their press photos and very colourful and interesting. Even if their most recent video is quite grainy and lo-fi, there is this interesting colour palette one might not associate with their sound:

“And making the most of it they are, Girl Tones are making a name for themselves on their visuals alone, using bold primary colours that electrify their sound – seen specifically in the ‘Fade Away‘ music video. Kenzie said that they felt like they wanted an “aesthetic for the project that people would immediately grasp or connect to.”

“Sometimes you have to put yourself in a box to be able to create something different, so we decided to go with the primary colors. I really don’t know where that idea came from, but I’m really glad we stuck with that because I think it’s a really cool thing.”

The new track, ‘I Know You Know‘, is a more subdued and airy in comparison to the bands previous work, but they are keen to stick with their aesthetic.

“It is going to be interesting to kind of play with the song and see how [visuals] kind of changes, I think that’ll be really fun to see the difference.”

On the note of the new tunes’ newer tone, the girls said that they wanted to set people’s expectations to the unexpected, to show that they “dabble in a lot of different sounds.”

The sisters are both classically trained musicians, saying: “We really didn’t want to pigeonhole ourselves into a specific genre, because that’s just not who we are as musicians”.

“We have always kind of done, you know, classical jazz, all those kind of different stuff and I just think it’s amazing that we’re able to kind of like that in the album to kind of show, hey, we like doing all different types of things.”

The track, out today (14th February) has a Mazzy Star/Radiohead vibe (Girl Tones covering ‘High & Dry’ in the past) and when asked about any new inspiration Laila said that Bjork has been a current favourite of hers.

“I’ve been watching a lot of her music videos and I think her visuals are really cool and creative. It’s hard to branch out and explore new things and to connect with it, so it’s really satisfying when you find artists, new, old or new to you that clicks and you’re like, okay, I get this this is interesting”

“I feel like we’re both constantly kind of searching for that; just go and try on different hats of genres.”

‘I Know You Know’ is an interesting track lyrically, a relationship laced with betrayal and lies with lyrics like “your delusions stuck like glue”. Kenzie wrote the song a couple of years back about a friendship that sadly ended, a twist on the conventional romantic breakup song.

“I have noticed people are relating it romantically to things. When I wrote it, it was more about a platonic friendship, a falling out of that friendship. In addition to that the person was a self proclaimed pathological liar and Ii was so like I don’t know this person… I don’t know what to believe anymore.”

“I love this song because there’s a longing; you love this person and you’ve had such an amazing relationship with this person – but you don’t know that person.”

Kenzie explained that the song sounds like a sad song, but when you properly listen it’s almost a bit eerie, tasteful revenge: “How can you tell someone to let go of this wonderful relationship that you thought you had?”

“I 100% agree that a friend breakup is just as painful as a romantical breakup, or it can be.”

The new tune is produced by Cage’s Brad Shultz, who the band say is “always very insightful and a great outside perspective.” Saying that he definitely brought out and helped achieve the girl’s vision”.

There aren’t that many long or in-depth interviews with Girl Tones, so I am taking a lot from the selection available, rather than fewer that are more detailed. However, I think we can get a sense of them and what they ere doing last year. MUSE. spoke with Kenzie and Laila Crowe about going from being at university to embarking on world tours. It happened so quickly. Testament to the quality and popularity of their music. I think that we will see Girl Tones booked for some U.K. festivals in the summer (I hope so, anyway!):

“M: “Where was your favorite place to play or to visit [across Europe while touring]? Did you get to do much wandering around?”

GT: “We got to do some. It was kind of hard, because there's a lot of show days that were also travel days, but we did get to spend some time in Glasgow, which was really cool. That was one of my favorite places. I think the best crowd was in Cologne, Germany. The crowd was like, super engaged and really rowdy. And like they they were loving it, and it that energy was really good to feed off of and it was so much fun. That was, I think, the best crowd. And then I think Paris was really fun to play too, because it's just so… it was just crazy to be in Paris.”

M: “So how did this come about? I saw that you worked with the Cage The Elephant producer on some of your music as well. How did this all come into fruition?”

GT: “So basically, we started playing music in the same town as where Cage The Elephant is from. And Brad Schultz had heard through a friend about us playing at like these shows or whatever. And I was on campus one day just, you know, walking into school or whatever, and I looked and I saw Cage The Elephant followed us. And I was like, what is happening here? It was just crazy.”

“And then he messaged us, and was like, we should record something. And that's kind of where it started. Unfortunately, that was like right before Covid. So it delayed everything for about two years. But it kind of worked out for the best. You know what? And, yeah, that is crazy. That's like a story that no one else could possibly have. Wow. It's like, sometimes it's like, bro, our life's a movie!”

M: “I bet. That must have been terrifying, though, too. What was it like knowing that you'd be kind of suddenly blasted out in front of this massive audience?”

GT: “It was scary at first, but I feel like we rose to the challenge, because we’ve played music our whole lives. We had not experienced playing in front of like 3000 people, but we've always been performing in front of audiences, and I think that helps you prepare for the next step up. And of course, we were scared shitless that first show we played with them in Atlanta – it was at a 6000 people amphitheater”.

I am going to end with an interview from later last year. I will finish off with an interview from Baylor Lariat. They spoke with Girl Tones after their incredible and truly unforgettable set at Austin City Limits Music Festival. I love this interview because they shout out a Beck album that is my favourite of mine. They also say that a debut album is on its way. That is going to be the most anticipated of this year:

“Q: There’s such a raw, like expressive quality to your sound and tone. Where do these emotional threads come from?

Kenzie: “I would just say life in general … I mean, I was an angsty teenager, so these are kind of older songs. And then we have a song that’s not out yet, that is just about grief. It’s kind of heavy, but I mean, that’s kind of what we write about. I think it’s in a fun way, where you’re able to still enjoy the music without being like, ‘Wow, this is kind of sad.’ So yeah, in life in general, of course, there’s up there’s highs and lows.”

Q: Which bands or records would you say have shaped who you have become today?

Kenzie: “The White Stripes for sure.”

Laila: “I would say also, we love Beck, like specific albums. ‘Guero’ was a good rock one, and ‘Odelay,’ that’s the other one.

Q: What has been y’all’s biggest “rockstar” moment so far?

Laila: “The most surreal was definitely playing Red Rocks. We were like, ‘What have we gotten ourselves into?’ before we went on that stage.”

Kenzie: “That’s a pretty big moment, I would say that. And then after Lollapalooza, when we were walking around town and people came up to us.”

Q: How would you say you guys describe success for yourselves right now, not so much in a career sense, but like as artists?

Laila: “I would say that seeing people in the crowd, seeing it always feels like that’s a success, because this person has listened to the song and likes it enough to listen to it enough to know the words, and it most likely means something to them. And that’s just always so crazy, because I know how much music that I love means to me, and the thought of someone else having that feeling for our music is just like, that’s pretty cool, larger than life”.

I will finish here. There is a lot of hype around the brilliant Girl Tones. They have toured widely and their singles are all incredible. They are this fully-formed duo that I feel are only going to get better and better. Having spend a bit of time in the U.K., I hope they come back at some point this year. What else do they have planned? I guess a debut album is going to take up a lot of time, plus they ae busy on the road. Girl Tones are an act that you have to ensure you do not…