Labels

U.S. Girls


Born: 1985
Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Genre: Pop, Art Pop, Hypangogia, Hauntology
Years Active: 2007 -
Real Name: Meghan Remy
Meaning of the Name: Refers to "American" girls. Can also be read as meaning "us" girls, giving it a collectivist/feminist slant.
Way of Working: She hires musicians for touring/studio work
Associated: Slim Twig
Labels: 4AD Records

Essential Releases

Half Free

Half Free (2015)

A cinematic and haunting album with pop melodies.

In a Poem Unlimited

In a Poem
Unlimited (2018)

More upbeat and accessible, still artistic in theme. Danceable music with depth


The soloist Meg Remy releases music under the plural moniker U.S. Girls, signalling a broad social perspective about American feminism that is refracted through the prism of the individual. Once a soloist, since her sixth album, In A Poem Unlimited (2018), Remy has performed with a heaving live band of up to twenty people. However, she doggedly retains creative control.

While not strictly autobiographical, Remy's music is raw and visceral. Her songs are exposés of trauma left to fester beneath scar tissue. During her troubled younger years, the singer's drone-laden experimental projects, like Introducing... U.S. Girls (2007), were chaotic and dissonant; the fact that these records were made in isolation speaks to their nature, as tortured battles with an abusive past conducted in darkness.

However, in her 2021 memoir Begin By Telling, Remy brought her life as a survivor of multiple rapes to light. In the book, her experiences are juxtaposed with key '90s moments, such as the Clinton/Lewinsky affair (abuse of power) and Operation Desert Storm (killing for profit), to ground them in time and link personal injustice to the wider failure of social systems. Her music operates on the same frequency.

Half-Free (2015), for instance, with its hypnotic loops and claustrophobic synths, explores the tenacity required to survive perpetual cycles of abuse. Externally, women are pressured to meet unrealistic beauty standards ('Woman's Work'); internally, said women repeat the same mistakes as their sisters, dating microbial organisms masquerading as men ('Sororal Feeling').
"I'm gonna hang myself. Hang myself from the family tree."
Evidently, Remy's songs are venomous. While her work is often backwards-facing in a personal sense (she is now happily married), it also represents ever present issues such as religious corruption. For example, the song 'Pearly Gates' depicts an imaginary St. Peter exchanging sex for access to heaven. 'Rosebud' tackles war profiteering, and '4 American Dollars' wrestles with the unfulfilled promises of late-stage capitalism.

Remy’s most-acclaimed work, however, possesses an ethereal quality that uses repeating patterns to hypnotise. It's a seduction of sorts; once heard forever enthralled, exposing the listener to head-nodding realities beyond lyrics.

It's also strange that disillusionment is generally perceived as negative, when to be free of an illusion is to see things as they really are. Comforting lies are still lies. To overcome a problem, first it must be acknowledged. Meghan Remy's barefoot live performances ensure her physical connection to every note that vibrates through the floor, because, ultimately, the body keeps the score.


Skills

*This is a work in progress. Values are subjective.

Emotional Impact

i Does it connect with the heart? What does it make you feel and how much of it?
80

Mental Impact

i Does it connect with the head? Social issues, interesting observations, clever lyrics, similies etc.
70

Originality

i Are they unique? Did they break new ground, use new techniques or create new genres.
75

Artistry

i Using creativity and imagination to present themselves in a unique way. Example, Wu-Tang Clan as Shaolin and Marvel characters etc.
85

Authenticity

i Do they really mean what they say? Is it autobiographical, personal?
75

Live

i Stage presence, working the crowd, performance. Miming, forgetting lyrics reduce this.
80

Production

i Studio techniques. More important for electronic music including hip hop.
75

Musicianship

i Their ability to play individually and as a group. Technical skills. DJing. Freestyling for hip hop.
80

Singing

i Technical attributes.
75

Songwriting

i Storytelling. Cohesive themes. Is the song about something? Stan by Eminem is an example of excellent songwriting.
75

Danceability

i Does it make you move? Do you tap your foot, nod your head or move your whole body?
70

Fun

i Is listening to it a good time? Are the lyrics funny? Depressing themes lowers value.
65

Consistency

i Have they put out good music across their careers. Two good albums and 5 band ones will reduce this value.
60

Range

i Fast, slow, ballads, party jams. Do they go beyond their own genre?
80

Cool

i Laid-back, icy detachment, unflustered.
60

Charisma

i Factors include appearance, force of personality. Elvis making people faint etc.
55

Commercial & Critical Success

Awards >>>

  • Juno Award Nominee x2: Best Alternative Album of the Year
  • Polaris Music Prize Nominee x3

Certifications

Charts

Critics >>>

  • Pitchfork - Heavy Light - The Best Albums of 2020: 15th

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