Girlyman

If you haven’t heard the band Girlyman yet, you’re in for a treat. I heard they were touring with the Indigo Girls for a while. I haven’t seen the Indigo Girls since, well, the last century, so I was glad to hear Amy and Emily were still doing their thing. Girlyman seems a really good choice of a warm-up band for them.

Girlyman consists of two women–Doris Muramatsu and Ty Greenstein–and a man Nate Borofsky (hence the name). I’m not going to go with the “part so-and-so, part whosewhatsit” paradigm here. I’m just going to tell you that they’re folky and good and young and cute and you should listen to them if you like the Indigo Girls or The Roches. (”Huh?” you say, if you’re under a certain age. OK, I’ll blog about them next) or any number of really good folky and original bands who are also cute.

When my friend first brought over a Girlyman song for me to listen to I was quite impressed. I’m saving up for a CD, but what I heard so far incorporates electric and acoustic guitar, drums and mandolin. Their three-part harmonies are refreshingly juicy and their lyrics are heartfelt. I especially like the song “Viola”. I really dig lyrics that are about someone’s specific life experience yet somehow convey a universal thought or feeling, and they manage to do this. Overproduced they are not. Their sound is great. I expect they’ll gain in popularity and start touring heavily. (Currently they play at smaller venues, such as The Iron Horse in Northampton, Mass.an old haunt of mine. Try and hear them in one of these intimate places before they get all big.) Oh, sorry, but I haven’t seen any evidence that they have anything on actual vinyl.

Kristin Kirby

(photo credit: mirandala)

April 13th, 2009 by admin | Posted in Artisits | (0)