JPNSGRLS’ sophomore album is a balls-to-the-wall rock-fest of an album that just wants to have fun and party. Divorce kicks off with “Oh My God,” which is basically a giant slab of Hives-influenced rock energy and a great template for the rest of the record. Shouted vocals, punchy riffs, and a style that’s all over the place. JPNSGRLS is saying guitar rock has to unspool to do something new.
That’s how, despite guitar rock feeling increasingly like a washed out genre, JPNSGRLS retains the ability to surprise. It’s because they thumb their nose at convention, and shrug in the face of doing the same things everybody else is invested in. They want to be different.
That’s not to say they sound like Radiohead — they certainly don’t — but they just don’t care if they make conventional music sense. Riffs appear, disappear, change, appear again, and pop up seemingly whenever it suits the band’s motus operandi, which is to rip things up.
A key example for me is one of the album’s more laid-back songs, “A Comprehensive List of Things I Love.” It’s discordant on purpose, with a chord that repeats through the chorus that’s purposefully an uncomfortable mix of notes. It’s clearly influenced by Spoon, but with total disregard for being as commercially viable. And the bridge takes the verse riff and decomposes it until it’s nearly unrecognizable. Finally, to top it off, there’s a chorus of background singers who seem like they belong in a totally different song. Yet, despite itself, it’s one of the best tracks on the record.
The only way you can make music like this is if it’s completely intentional. And JPNSGRLS is intentional and confident with this approach.
This is the way of JPSNGRLS: not unlike GØGGS, they just want to mess things up. Whether it’s on a rollicking rock track like “2009” or the single “Bully For You,” the band is intent on being loud and irreverent. You know whether or not an album like this is for you. If you’re into The Strokes, The Hives, or Spoon, this is going to do you well — but it’s a purposefully sloppy mess that succeeds because it’s confident enough to know that’s exactly what it wants to be.