The Vivian Girls charm Brooklyn with girl-group spunk

September 2, 2008, at Death By Audio

By Eleanor Whitney
Published: September 4th, 2008 | 10:45am

It was late on the Tuesday after Labor Day when the Vivian Girls, looking elfin with long hair and gangly limbs, took the stage at Brooklyn’s Death By Audio. After an unfortunate squawk of feedback from the vocal mic, they announced their presence with straightforward confidence: “We’re the Vivian Girls, we’re from here, let’s play.” With that, they crashed into “Never See Me Again” from their self-titled album.

The Vivian Girls were the last band of the evening and the small show space was hot and airless. As a testament to the curiosity that surrounds the Girls, despite their frequent appearances in Brooklyn, the space was nearly full and buzzing with excitement. Throughout the set they continued to ratchet up the raw punk-rock attitude and toss out angelically blended vocal harmonies via songs awash in feedback.

As she powered through “Surfin’ Away,” guitarist Cassie Ramone looked toward the venue’s low, crumbling ceiling tiles, as if searching for a message. Unfortunately, the otherwise straightforward set was pockmarked midway by squeals of feedback from the PA system, but the band shrugged off the sound problems and quickly began “Tell the World,” eliciting jerky, punk-rock dancing from the sweaty crowd. Their droney singing and rhythmic strumming built the excitement to the song’s sudden halt as they intoned “Tell the world about the love that I have!” all together.

Before playing “I Can’t Stay,” they remarked that while the track was off their recently released 7”, they had yet to see the record. “It’s real somewhere,” they joked. “It was on eBay, but we don’t have it yet.” It was a small reminder of the band’s buzz status. With that they tore through it, sounding more like a DIY punk band than Brooklyn’s indie-hype darlings.

Next they played a new song written only a week ago, and remarked, “But Sonic Youth played a song they wrote earlier that day, so they really have us beat,” referring to their recent gig opening for Sonic Youth at McCarren Park Pool on August 30. The new song’s girl group–esque drum lines and harmonies were successfully executed as they exclaimed, “We did it!” with sincere charm. They closed with “Wild Eyes,” and after some plaintive begging from friends in the audience they gave in to playing “Going Insane” as well, with a mumble, “This is the only other one we know.”

The blend of mystery and precocity the Vivian Girls retained throughout their set revealed their appeal. With a packed show schedule and upcoming tour, the question for much of the Death By Audio audience was inevitably, “Where they will go next?”