Caturday with Girlpool

As they kick off their UK tour on the 6th of September, we catch up with Harmony Tividad and Cleo Tucker from Girlpool to talk about friendship, growing up together and their new album, Powerplant as well listen to the weekend playlist they put together for us.

You started a band as two kids with two voices and two guitars – a concept that sounds raw, magical and organic. What is the key feeling you extract from each other when creating your music? There really is not one “key feeling” we extract, the words and discussions we have in our music will always be changing. We each bring our own emotional climate, and we make something out of the way the two of us interact at that time.

For this new album, Powerplant, you felt like adding a bigger array of sound sources to your essence. How would you explain that? Harmony and I finished writing Powerplant together (on bass and guitar) and we were exploring how we wanted to arrange the songs to make an album. We both felt like a lot of the songs could sound big if we experimented with more instrumentation. It’s been exciting for us to play with the juxtaposition of loud and quiet. With just bass andy guitar we can access a type of vulnerability and also create explosive loud sounds. More instrumentation is a new interesting way for us to explore our dynamics.

Is there any particular emotion you want to inject in your listeners’ minds and bodies? No, not so much. We strive to feel true and intentional in what we make. I find it powerful that our separate and intimate intentions can transcend into someone else’s own experience with music.

What can you tell us about growing up, personally and artistically, with your best friend always by your side? Growing up, Harmony and I met while going to shows and playing in bands at a DIY venue in Los Angeles called The Smell. We have grown a lot together. Our relationship feels very powerful and encouraging of change and creation.

Speaking of growth, how do your early 20s selves envision themselves entering the 30s? Hand in hand still? I hope so!

girlpoolmusic.com