Interview: Vivian Girls

There’s a lot to be said for reverb. A veil of mystery, a lacuna in which anything the listener chooses might be written. The cavernous echo of white-hot Sixties pop, the Flying Nun groups, Galaxie 500, My Bloody Valentine – consciously or not, the Vivian Girls follow in this proud heritage. “Our songwriting is pretty straightforward, so shoegazey production is the only tool we have to make our music more of a struggle for the listener”, says singer/guitarist Cassie Ramone.

On their early singles, honey-sweet melody and classic girl-group harmonies bleed through the wall of burning-red guitars, like a vengeful spirit. The initial vinyl run of their debut album sold out its edition
of 500 in ten days, to be reissued by In The Red, alongside new seven-inches on their own Brooklyn-based Wild World label.

What is it about girl-group and classic pop that affects you?

“We really like the harmonies and what the songs are about. Girl groups sang about dudes in a way that few girl bands do anymore, nowadays it’s all ‘I’m gonna have sex with him’ or ‘Men are scum’.
I personally can’t relate to either the sex vixen or the extreme feminist, but girl groups from the Sixties deal with men in a way that makes sense to me. Burt Bacharach is a huge influence on my songwriting, and I listen to oldies radio a lot, which is also a big influence.”

Since I have it on good authority that your songs are about “Ex boyfriends, new boyfriends”, what’s your worst break-up/first meeting anecdote?

“I can tell you what ‘No’ is about. One time I started going out with a guy that I had been good friends with for a little while, and kinda fell in love with him really quickly. Then he broke up with me –
a week before my birthday – and later I heard that he went on a date with another girl the night after
we broke up. I had a birthday party and he brought her with him. Then before he left he was like
‘Happy birthday Cassie, I love you’, and left with her. So devastating. It took me a while to get over
that one.”

The record is extremely short – what is it about that length of songwriting, for you?

“There is nothing worse than listening to a great song and then towards the end it’s just the chorus going on and on forever with nothing else happening. Short songs get straight to the point – it’s harder to get bored of listening to them.”

Punk modernism and mid-century pop nostalgia aren’t incongruous here, they’re two sides of the same coin. In their world, imbued with some of the magic of the Henry Darger Gesamtkunstwerk they take their name from, postmodern exhaustion, breeding such chimeras, is no excuse; fun and wonder are your only options.

www.myspace.com/viviangirlsnyc

Originally published in Plan B #39: back issues available here.