Biography
San Francisco duo Girls crafted hazy, narcotic-tinged pop that echoed the atmospheric haze of Spiritualized alongside the nostalgic pastiche of Ariel Pink. Born in Florida to parents entrenched in the Children of God cult, Christopher Owens endured a peripatetic childhood that carried him through Puerto Rico, Asia, and Europe. Early street performances came via a Children of God children’s choir singing carols, yet exposure to American pop culture on television prompted his disillusionment and eventual departure. At sixteen he scraped together funds from busking with guitar to purchase a plane ticket, relocating to Amarillo, Texas, to live with his older sister. Lacking formal schooling, he took a grocery-store stocking job and soon aligned with local punks known for shoplifting; he adopted a Mohawk and joined the hardcore outfit Hubris.
Four years afterward an affluent older music patron who became his mentor supplied part-time work and facilitated his relocation to San Francisco, where Owens intended to focus on painting. There he encountered Liza Thorn, with whom he formed the band Curls. Through the city’s nightlife she introduced him to Matt Fishbeck, leading to performances with the rising Holy Shit!, and subsequently to JR White. White, raised in Santa Cruz under progressive educators, had played in punk bands, studied recording techniques, and spent his twenties working days as a cook while leading a nocturnal slacker existence in San Francisco.
Bonded by shared affinities for substances and sound, the pair began recording together and secured a contract with Matador’s fledgling imprint True Panther Sounds. Their debut, the 2009 album Album, drew widespread critical acclaim and landed on year-end top-ten lists from Spin, Rolling Stone, and Pitchfork. Buoyed by that breakthrough and by large-scale tours supporting Smashing Pumpkins and Julian Casablancas, Girls channeled earnings into studio gear. Owens and White amassed more than seventy new compositions, selecting six for the half-hour EP Broken Dreams Club, issued by True Panther in fall 2010. The label promptly returned them to recording for the full-length Father, Son, Holy Ghost, released in September 2011. Owens’s announcement of his departure for personal reasons dissolved the group in summer 2012. Chet JR White died on October 18, 2020, in Santa Cruz, California, at the age of forty.
Four years afterward an affluent older music patron who became his mentor supplied part-time work and facilitated his relocation to San Francisco, where Owens intended to focus on painting. There he encountered Liza Thorn, with whom he formed the band Curls. Through the city’s nightlife she introduced him to Matt Fishbeck, leading to performances with the rising Holy Shit!, and subsequently to JR White. White, raised in Santa Cruz under progressive educators, had played in punk bands, studied recording techniques, and spent his twenties working days as a cook while leading a nocturnal slacker existence in San Francisco.
Bonded by shared affinities for substances and sound, the pair began recording together and secured a contract with Matador’s fledgling imprint True Panther Sounds. Their debut, the 2009 album Album, drew widespread critical acclaim and landed on year-end top-ten lists from Spin, Rolling Stone, and Pitchfork. Buoyed by that breakthrough and by large-scale tours supporting Smashing Pumpkins and Julian Casablancas, Girls channeled earnings into studio gear. Owens and White amassed more than seventy new compositions, selecting six for the half-hour EP Broken Dreams Club, issued by True Panther in fall 2010. The label promptly returned them to recording for the full-length Father, Son, Holy Ghost, released in September 2011. Owens’s announcement of his departure for personal reasons dissolved the group in summer 2012. Chet JR White died on October 18, 2020, in Santa Cruz, California, at the age of forty.
Albums
Singles
