BETWEEN FRIENDS Capture the Fleeting Joy of Summer in 'I Love My Girl, She’s My Boy'
Photo: The Cobrasnake
Summer may be coming to an end but the rush of the wind against your face, fireworks lighting up the night sky, and secrets whispered between friends and flings burst forward from every corner of BETWEEN FRIENDS’ long-awaited debut album, I Love My Girl, She’s My Boy. The 14-track project feels intimate yet universal in nature, largely thanks to the palpable bond shared between brother and sister duo Brandon and Savannah Hudson that has allowed them to create a collection of songs that is unafraid to go wherever life's ever-changing emotional tides bring them.
Opening on the sun-soaked grit of “Stalker,” the kinetic energy of BETWEEN FRIENDS’ is instantaneously infectious. Propelled by guitar riffs that speak to both The Beach Boys and the Venice boardwalk, Savannah’s feverish vocals take on a hypnotic effect, commanding you to take her hand on the sonic joyride just beyond the horizon. Even when the duo isn’t moving at a mile a minute—like when they take a moment to catch their breath and reflect on their interpersonal relationships in the wistful, previously-released “Bruise” and Bakar-assisted “Haircut” or on the standout “Bb,” featuring EDEN—each left-field production choice and vocal lilt transforms any lingering moment of uncertainty into a daydream you can’t help but float along to.
That charming, perfectly happy/sad balancing act informs the pure magic of I Love My Girl, She’s My Boy. In an interlude that breaks up the project, we’re thrown headfirst into a voicemail signaling the end of a relationship yet in the very next moment, we shift perspectives, turning that emotional deluge into an indie bop in the form of “What’s Up.” It’s an effortless sway from coming-of-age highs to poignant insecurities that speaks to the duo’s nom de plume—each track that comprises the sonic daydream that is I Love My Girl, She’s My Boy feels like the crystallization of precious memories shared between those closest to us, little and grand moments we treasure between friends.
I Love My Girl, She’s My Boy may be the debut album from BETWEEN FRIENDS, but, if anything, it feels like the culmination of the uninhibited, carefree brand of pop they’ve so carefully crafted over the last five or so odd years of singles, EPs, and mixtapes. It may have been some time in the making, but we’re just happy they were kind enough to share it with us and let it soundtrack the tail-end of our summer and the changing seasons to come.
Listen to I Love My Girl, She’s My Boy below:
