BLIND GIRLS - “An Exit Exists”
Written by: Tom Wilson
Monday 1st July 2024
“… A Whirling, 21-Minute Cyclone of Raw Emotion and Sonic Hostility …”
I am not easily startled, but Gold Coast noisemakers BLIND GIRLS absolutely knocked me on my arse when I first saw them open for Scottish bruisers FRONTIERER in 2022. A berserk mathcore onslaught punctuated by the emotive shrieking of vocalist Sharni Brouwer, they sounded like a mutant hybrid of BOTCH and Jane Doe-era CONVERGE. Their live performances have all the subtlety of a car bomb, and I have not shut up about them since. All this is to say that I was positively giddy when An Exit Exists arrived in my inbox.
A battering volley of guitar and kick-drum opens Dissonance, pounding the listener over the head, and before you’ve got time to register what’s going on, we’re already onto the next song. Out of twelve tracks, only four are over two minutes, and none make it to three. BLIND GIRLS are not ones to labour a point. It’s halfway through track three Blemished Memory before the band take a breath, slowing the tempo to a crawl to showcase Sharni’s tortured vocals. Less Than Three sees them ramp back up, and Ben Smith’s furious drumming propels them forward once again. Make Me Nothing slows things down again, and Sharni battles a whispering voice. Pallid Mask is hauntingly atmospheric, and guitarists Julian Currie and Luke Sweeney trade plinking notes that wouldn’t have been out of place on the quieter parts of MESHUGGAH’s Catch Thirty-Three. Of course, the quiet doesn’t last, and Closer to Hell sees them plunge the listener back into the vortex before introducing the coolest guitar part on the album – a heartstring-plucking Jane Doe-style noodling that I do not recommend listening to while driving, lest you be tempted to close your eyes. It’s only on Lilac that the band make a misstep, though only for a few moments, when some spoken word segments interrupt the chaos and seem to sit strangely in the mix. Death of an Unsung Thought is another atmospheric interlude, featuring some neat distortion on the percussion, before …It’s Starting To Rain sees the chaos return, with Ben beating the everloving shit out of his kit. Home Will Find its Way builds and builds to the album’s climax, with Sharni screaming her heart out over Mark Grant’s bass, before the song collapses into feedback and fades out.
BLIND GIRLS’ follow-up to 2022’s The Weight of Everything is every bit as potent and abrasive, and manages to convey everything it needs to in almost exactly the same album runtime. An Exit Exists is a whirling, 21-minute cyclone of raw emotion and sonic hostility, and their fans are absolutely going to love it.
An Exit Exists is out digitally on July 5th, with vinyl and cassette formats to follow. Pre-order below.
