Rich Girls - Black City

New York City art-rock band Rich Girls has just released their full-length debut, Black City. It’s a blend of rich, angsty melodies and Luisa Black’s reverb soaked vocals, a blend of soothing, screaming, and seductive. Moreover, it represents an expansion of Black's songwriting craft, involving a richer tapestry of instrumentation, as well as the welcome help from Travis Harrison (Guided by Voices) as recorder. 

Kicking off with a great single, “In The Street,” a bit of 80s alternative music that wouldn’t have been out of place on a John Hughes soundtrack from his golden era. Follow up and first single “Hit” slouches along with echoed vocals and a sparse percussion and organ, and favorite “Laid Eyes” has a sweet alterna-pop sound that is catchy and lovely, and which rises above the larger swooning yet gorgeous gloom. “Vintage Playah” brings things to a noisy close, completing the bookend from the first song.

Chock full of the kind of gothy, sulking in the corner dressed in black melancholia-tinged pop, Rich Girls have a solid foundation to build on. At less than thirty minutes that span nine songs, Black City is over before you realize it, and might just have you hitting “repeat” a few times.