Image by Zac Bayly //

Girl And Girl share their 11-track panic attack.

You hear the word “cathartic” being bandied around a lot in the music industry. Artists, managers, labels – they all love to use that word as a way of communicating that the musician has gone through some shit and now they’re letting it all out in song form.

What’s (really, really) rare though, is feeling it in real time when you are the listener, which is what Brissy’s Girl And Girl accomplish on their debut LP Call A Doctor. It’s like frontman Kai James has cracked open his skull and is standing beside us watching the words spill out into a microphone. Pure therapy, pure catharsis.

Hype around the band has been building over the past couple of years with SXSW appearances, heaps of international interest (hey, Sub Pop), and hundreds of thousands of streams. That kind of attention and pressure will naturally give a seemingly anxious person like Kai plenty to write about too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adAXI2IJCT8

The accompanying video to go along with the title track opens with spoken word and Kai making a personal call to himself to step up. “The spoken word intro speaks to this. It’s about a boy who is only half invested in most aspects of his life in an effort to avoid having to take total responsibility. Half committing to avoid being held fully accountable is absolutely someone I’ve been in the past, so while it’s totally terrifying, I’m very happy to say I fully committed to this record, and you can hold me completely accountable.”

There are plenty of self-deprecating and tongue-in-cheek moments on the record in which Kai’s David Byrne-esque vocals are buoyed by jangly guitars and the odd spasmodic rhythmic change. It’s simultaneously really raw and grand, made to be performed, existing to be witnessed.

“I had this idea of a theatrical concept album for quite some time.” he says. “I grew up going to theatre shows and studying ballet, so kind of had a love for theatrics instilled in me at an early age. It made sense to centre the record around mental health for a few reasons, firstly because it’s been such a prevalent issue for me in my life, but also because it’s a topic I would’ve struggled approaching in a sincere way.”

“For me to speak so openly and honestly about all this I kind of needed it to be dramatic and silly and theatrical and over the top, I guess in the same vein as ‘if you don’t laugh you cry’. I needed to trick myself into deep diving into a lot of these confronting thoughts and feelings. I like the idea of it playing out like that from an audiences perspective too, you don’t realise what’s happening till two or three listens in, and by then its already too late, you’re self-reflecting and growing as a person – haha sucker!”

In honour of this release, the band jet off to Europe, gracing stages at Eurockéennes Festival and Midi Fest, before diving back into more shows alongside Royel Otis in the UK. August will welcome the band home for their headlining dates in the Gold Coast, Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne (on sale now!).

Check the dates below, buy/stream the album here, and be sure to check on your friends this weekend.