There aren’t many bands who release a critically-acclaimed debut album, and then take a complete left turn for their follow-up. Belfast’s Girls Names belong to this select club.

The scuzzy garage-pop of 2011 debut Dead To Me has been kicked to the kerb, replaced with a hazier, more spacious dream-pop that invites comparisons to the post-punk tones of Joy Division and The Jesus & Mary Chain.
“It was just heading that way,” says Cathal Cully as we sit down in the Hot Press office an hour before Girls Names kick off their European tour across the Liffey in the Grand Social. The frontman allows himself a reflective pause to gather his thoughts, before informing me that this musical shift hasn’t been as sudden as it appears.
“It’s taken two years to make The New Life. Dead To Me was a bit of a rush job. Which is fair enough because that’s the way things were at the time. We were still finding our feet. Making an old-fashioned pop record quickly, mostly live, was great but had its limitations.”
Album #2 was assembled at a far gentler pace.
“Rather than rush into the studio, we spent a lot of time in the practice room getting the songs right. We didn’t start recording until last June and had it delivered by October. So it had that space to grow and develop into the sort of sound we have now.”
Since its February release The New Life has been gathering plenty of great reviews. And deservedly so. It’s a cracking record. Cathal tells me that the aim is to tour the album – something they never did last time – beginning tonight, before an 8am ferry journey to the UK. A date that stands out is May 15’s visit to the 100 Club, the legendary London dive where everybody from George Melly and the Rolling Stones to the Sex Pistols and Oasis cut their teeth. Despite this busy schedule, however, the band already have one eye on the next record.
“We’ve been playing about more with synths and electronica,” he reveals. “Handing over a record is a real eye-opener. Afterwards you can kind of do anything. So it’ll be interesting to see what sort of direction we go down next. I like the fact that we’re constantly evolving.”
Having always placed themselves on the margins of Belfast’s music scene, is Cully looking forward to getting out of Dodge for a while?
“We do sort of keep to ourselves,” he admits. “Not because we’re snobby but because, I guess, we don’t have a whole lot in common with most of the other bands. For a relatively small city though there’s loads going on. To have Snow Patrol and Two Door Cinema Club both doing as well as they are internationally is amazing. There are great venues, recording studios, the Oh Yeah! Centre, the Good Vibrations film and David Holmes doing massive soundtracks... It’s a bit of a golden age.”

See Girls Names perform songs from The New Life acoustically on hotpress.com.