We got a small taste of Girlpool’s debut full-length album when the duo released the gripping and profoundly sad first single, “Chinatown.” The song suggested Before The World Was Big would perhaps be a bit darker than the debut self-titled EP that marked Girlpool as a Band To Watch — just as defiant but a bit more contemplative. With only two singles out, it’s already apparent that the record will be more lyrically dexterous. “Ideal World” leads off the 10-track LP, and it follows up on some of the disappointed themes found in “Chinatown.” It begins with Harmony Tividad’s plodding bassline, a heartbeat of sorts, then this moving turn of phrase: “I thought I found myself today/ No one’s noticed, things are OK.” Later, Tividad and Cleo Tucker half-harmonize on the chorus, “Put me on a food stamp, and a Hallmark card/ Tranquilize me with your ideal world.” The lyrics convey a certain kind of coming-of-age narrative, the one where things don’t end in self-fulfillment but rather in the bone-crushing realization that nothing in this world is, nor will it ever be, perfect. Listen to “Ideal World” below, where you’ll also find the Before The World Was Big tracklist.

(via NPR)

Tracklist:
01 “Ideal World”
02 “Dear Nora”
03 “Before The World Was Big”
04 “Chinatown”
05 “Cherry Picking”
06 “Magnifying Glass”
07 “Crowded Stranger”
08 “Pretty”
09 “Emily”
10 “I Like That You Can See It”

Before The World Was Big is out 6/2 via Wichita.