Review: U.S. Girls “In A Poem Unlimited”

Image: U.S. Girls (credit)

In the midst of the experimental pop age, it’s an arduous task to find an artist that can discuss socio-political deception and the ongoing battle to exercise power that women of today face, all stitched within a dark but equally as beautiful soundscape. But the sixth studio album In a Poem Unlimited by U.S Girls, the alias of outspoken Meg Remy is a perfect amalgamation of exactly that.

When listening to the album, no song seemed to stand out above the pack as an idiosyncratic masterpiece, only because each song in its entirety has an individual but an equally relevant point to raise. The introductory song ‘Velvet 4 Sale’ has a warped combination of tremolo guitars and clean melody that attribute a soundtrack of a David Lynch dream sequence, but the lyrics depict a tale of repressed anger and revenge that brews in the dead of night. “You spend hours in the mirror hating but you can get that power.” Remy seems to capture the imbalance of the fight in the first few minutes of listening and doesn’t lessen in intensity throughout.

Other songs such as 'Why Do I Lose My Voice When I have Something To Say” and 'L-over' are self-explanatory tales of repression, but delving further into the lyrics, there is a hidden poetry in her sorrow and rage. The lyrics are so captivatingly woven together, that it makes you want to thank Remy, as her words articulate what we never could.

This album arrives punctually in a transitioning patriarchal society, her violent reflection of horrid men as heard in the sonically charged ‘Rage of Plastics’- “The backside of a skirt in some old man’s dream” is one lighter example which challenges the notion of morality, a pallet of philosophical debate that darkens in shade with ‘Incidental Boogie’, a story in which a domestically abused woman muses that she could still go to work because she has no visible marks.

Each song moulds together to form a truly intriguing argument, is it better to be proactive in the fight for power or to just have the enlightenment of consciousness? Both have the capacity for grave consequences, so what exactly is the best plan of attack? A question that I could review for hours and struggle to find the answer for. 

To speak of the plan of revenge which brews, In a Poem Unlimited is without a doubt the boiling point of Remy’s work to date. A topical, disconcerting, socially poignant masterpiece that we can only hope propels her to both philosophical and musical stardom, right where we need her.

Find U.S Girls tickets below.

Birmingham - Hare and Hounds, Thursday 17th May

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Manchester - Soup Kitchen, Friday 18th May

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