Girl Tones' 'Precious' Is a Raucous, Big-Hearted Garage Rock Debut
Kenzie Shultz picked the cello in kindergarten. Her sister Laila Crowe trained on piano, with violin as a second instrument. Neither fact is the sort of thing you expect to turn up in the credits of a garage rock debut, and both of them are audible on Precious — Girl Tones’ first full-length, out November 6th on Parallel Vision, the Big Loud Rock imprint, with Cage the Elephant’s Brad Shultz producing.
The Sonic Breakdown
The Production & Mix
The Low-End: Crowe moved from piano to the kit and brought a pianist’s sense of weight distribution with her. The drums here aren’t just keeping a garage record upright; they’re deciding where the songs sit, which is why the quieter material never sags.
The Spatial Dynamics: Shultz’s production leaves the edges rough on purpose. Indie Is Not A Genre described the result as “fiercely alive, messy, and uncompromising,” and the mix keeps the scuzz on the guitars without burying either sister — a harder balance than it sounds on a two-piece-plus-producer record.
Standout Performance
Laila Crowe, and not only because the other half of the band is her sister. Indie Is Not A Genre put it exactly right: “Laila’s work behind the kit acts as the album’s secret weapon.”
Why It’s Certified
“Cherry Picker” and “Glowing Buzz” are the hooks, “Stubborn Mouth” and “Volcano” are the teeth, and the title track — which the band originally called “The Ballad” — is where Kenzie drops the distortion and sings it straight. Alt Revue, scoring it 8/10: “Precious hits hard from the start,” and “they have delivered a debut that demands attention.” Certified great.