Despite landing themselves with a ridiculously top-heavy handle, EARTH THE CALIFORNIAN LOVE DREAM are becoming a name synonymous with quality and "Girls Fighting" is their third intriguing-going-on-very good single in the past nine months or so.
The Nottingham/ Manchester trio are still actively searching for a full-time drummer, but fan and stand-in Mark Richardson (Feeder, Skunk Anansie) does a fine job here in harnessing Chris Middleton and Sam Hempton's swaggering'n'searing riffing. Inevitably, The Stooges are in there, but so is the Glam-my chest-beating of T-Rex and the heaviosity of Blue Cheer. Huw Costin's curiously voyeuristic lyrics ("Girls fighting, I really like it when you get on top") don't exactly leave a lot to the imagination, but the strange phenomenon of girls scrapping appears to be becoming an urban problem of some scale, so maybe we should applaud ETCLD for getting in at the ground floor here. The band are clearly caught up in the sonic mayhem anyway, as they refuse to let go until the umpteenth false feedback ending finally dies away and they're drained. Good gear, all told.
The two attendant B-sides are arguably more interesting, though. "Pink Pink Skin" showcases Earth's softer, more melodic side and the sensitve, spangly guitars and Costin's fine vocal are to the fore all the way. It's cool, but even better is the closing "Butterfly Girls", which is a slow, sparse acoustic number with a gently, lysergic undertow. Guests Johanna Woodnut (Seachange) and Helen Maltby add ghostly strings and the end results are closer to something from Julian Cope's wonderful "Fried" album than anything associated with Iggy Pop or Thee Hypnotics. On this evidence, it seems ETCLD ought to hang out in such pastoral places more often.
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Anyway, these three tracks again prove ETCLD are a band with inherent talent and enriched by possibility. Where it will lead with their debut album is tantalisingly difficult to suss from a distance and may only be solved when they finally get a drummer on board they are happy with. Until then, this is a third good single and arguably their best yet. Vive la difference.
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