Despite Let's Eat Grandma and Girlpool hailing from opposite corners of the world — the former from the U.K. and the latter from Los Angeles — both groups share similar trajectories. Two creatively partnered duos occupying the same late millennial and early Gen Z age bracket, both Let's Eat Grandma and Girlpool make music that pushes against the boundaries of indie rock and pop, and each has seen its members go through massive life changes in the years since their debut records. And two new albums out from both, Two Ribbons and Forgiveness, respectively, reflect a similar message: a sort of wistful acceptance of the inherent grief that comes with growing older, as both mark the passage of time through a self-reflexive form of maturity.
For Let's Eat Grandma, 2018's stellar I'm All Ears found artists Jenny Hollingworth and Rosa Walton reaching adulthood, on the heels of a similarly acclaimed debut that was written when the duo were in their early teens. But as the two continued to record and tour, they started to grow apart as most childhood friends do. They spent time away from each other, Walton moving to London for some time, and the songs ache with the desire to be understood by anyone in the wake of losing those that do. "Levitation" pleads over a sprightly, '80s-inspired instrumental, "Are you here or somewhere else?" followed by "Watching You Go," a synth-pop track in the vein of Chvrches, anchored by a bittersweet lament for watching someone important in your life fade away, the vocals carried away into a glittery ether.
