Stains On Silence

It stands to reason that many vital albums come critically close to never being made. The eight-track upshot of doubt, upheaval and financial strain, Stains on Silence by Girls Names is one such release. Following 2015s blitzing Arms Around a Vision, and the parting of drummer Gib Cassidy just over a year later, the Belfast band suddenly found themselves facing down a looming void. There was a finished and then aborted mix of the album, which was shelved for six months, reveals Girls Names frontman Cathal Cully. We then took a break from all music and went back to full-time work. We chilled out from the stress of rushing the record and not being happy with it, as well as being skint with no impending touring on the cards and constantly having to worry about rent. The stumbling blocks that proved a strain became the albums defining breakthrough. Recorded in various locations including Belfasts Start Together Studio with Ben McAuley, Cully's home and the bands practice space, spontaneous creation, cut-up techniques and self-editing took centre-stage for the first time. "We started tearing the material apart and rebuilding, re-editing and re-recording different parts in my home in early Autumn last year, says Cully. When we got them to a place we were happier with we went back into Start Together Studio with Ben McAuley to finalise the mixes to what they are now." Where AAAV proved a brazen statement of intent, Stains on Silence bounds forth as it's feature-length comedown. What could have seen the band buckle became an opportunity for approaching things tabula rasa. During it's two-year transmutation, Cully, bassist Claire Miskimmin and guitarist Philip Quinn had a single aim for their fourth album: to make an old-fashioned record clocking in around 30 to 35 minutes in length that made the listener reach straight for repeat. From the Bang Bang bar-summoning swoon of opener '25 and the submerged disco doom of Haus Proud to the rapt, dub-leaning Fragmen1. 25 4:50, 2. Haus Proud 5:08, 3. The Process 3:39, 4. The Impaled Mystique 4:59, 5. Fragments of a Portrait 4:38, 6. A Moment and a Year 2:33, 7. Stains on Silence 6:12, 8. Karoline 5:10.