Girls Names

Belfast, Northern Ireland outfit Girls Names began with raucous indie pop issued via Slumberland Records, yet later releases steered the group along unexpected routes that incorporated sweeping dance textures on the single “The New Life,” twisted post-punk dynamics across third album My Arms Around a Vision, and shadowy grandeur throughout 2018’s Stains on Silence.

The group assembled in 2009, at first operating as a duo of guitarist/vocalist Cathal Cully and beginner drummer Neil Brogan. Their earliest work carried echoes of vintage indie pop outfits such as Beat Happening, Field Mice, and Josef K. The following year bassist Claire Miskimmin—whose rudimentary skills on the instrument Cully had first to instill—joined as a permanent member. Shortly after formation the band’s demos appeared on cassette through the local Belfast label Cass/Flick, while the spring of 2010 brought the mini-album You Should Know by Now on Tough Love and, soon afterward, the 12" EP Don’t Let Me In on Captured Tracks.

Girls Names then joined the Slumberland roster and delivered debut album Dead to Me in early 2011. Following a 2012 split single shared with Weird Dreams, guitarist Phil Quinn (formerly of Charles Hurts) entered the lineup, after which work began on a successor LP. Its lead track, the nearly eight-minute “The New Life” (backed by a J.D. Twitch of Optimo remix), indicated an expanding sonic palette. The resulting second album, also titled The New Life, surfaced in early 2013 via Tough Love in the U.K. and Slumberland in the U.S. Brogan departed soon after and was succeeded by Gib Cassidy of Logikparty. Once touring concluded, the remaining members retreated for a week to a remote cottage to compose material for the next record. Additional roadwork and refinement preceded studio sessions pursued with a bolder experimental stance, yielding the third album My Arms Around a Vision, whose dynamic post-punk stance appeared on Tough Love in October 2015. Cassidy exited the following year.

Tracking for a fourth album occurred across multiple sites—Cully’s residence, rehearsal rooms, and Belfast’s Start Together Studios—yet the initial mixes failed to satisfy the band. Activity paused while members resumed day jobs and stepped away from music. Half a year later they revisited the recordings, dismantling and reassembling the songs until a revised version met their approval. Return visits to Start Together Studios, assisted by Ben McAuley on mixing, produced the finished Stains on Silence. Its drum-machine emphasis, fractured melodies, and deepened lyrical shadows set the record apart from prior work, while influences from These Immortal Souls and Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds surfaced for the first time. Tough Love issued the album in June 2018.