The Beautiful Girls -Learn Yourself

Wed 25th May, 2005 in Music Reviews

Warning: If you are not a fan of the Jack Johnson, Xavier Rudd, Ben Harper et al school of laid-back, reggae-smattered, peace-loving music, steer clear of The Beautiful Girls, for this will not make you change your mind.

Learn Yourself is the new offering from the Australian trio, the follow-up to 2002’s Morning Sun, and it’s all about cruisy, relaxed tunes. Sunny day, beach-going music, if you will. Gently-strummed guitars accompany the smooth vocals of Mat McHugh, with the occasional foray into a sound reminiscent of blues and roots. The problem is that it has all been done before – several times over.

Opener So It Seems commences with a drum roll, before the low-key guitar thrum kicks in. It’s a pleasant enough song and a good introduction to the Beautiful Girls’ gentle sound.

This joyful, upbeat vibe continues through Music and Less, the latter being a slower, folksy tune, stripped back to vocals and guitar.

La Mar is much the same as the above, although this song sees the inclusion of…wait for it…a bongo drum (a sound I don’t think I’ve ever recovered from thanks to the Woodford Folk Festival).

Freedom (Part 2) features Mason Jennings, whom the band supported during their recent five-month stint in North America .

The reggae-inflected vocals of Blackbird (a song that made it onto the 2003’s Hottest 100, as well as the aforementioned track Music) grate a bit, but there is a solid bass groove in this song that makes it one of the best songs on the album.

Learn Yourself is a pretty self-explanatory song (and indeed album) title. The song re-iterates the message of empowerment and self-discovery that the Beautiful Girls impart on much of this album, occasionally with a religious undercurrent:

“Just like the holy scriptures talk,
of a road to redemption in amongst the thorns.
The path is beset by ego and greed,
and if we don’t see then we won’t ever be free.”

My guess is that if you like this type of music, you will enjoy this album. While it continues along the same vein as the works of the above-mentioned American artists, and indeed comparisons can be made, it is a slickly produced album that will do no harm to the Beautiful Girls’ reputation.

This album is also the first to be released in the United States, and the third to be released in Japan, so it seems that the Beautiful Girls have garnered quite an international following for themselves as well.