Time sure has coarsened All Girl Summer Fun Band. On Looking Into It, the Portland, Ore., group’s first album since 2003’s 2, the tweeful, mash-note cotton candy has turned jawbreaker, power-pop hard. The first few tunes here suggest that drummer/bassist Kathy Foster, guitarist Jen Sbragia and guitarist/keyboardist Kim Baxter (all three sing) haven’t outgrown girlish cares, even though they’re operating in a realm where the High Water Marks’ fuzzed-out guitar-pedal bliss and Weezer’s crisp, melodic mawkishness are equally influential. “Oh No” drifts from blossoming devotion to woe-is-me anxiety on a wave of chugga-chugga guitars and handclaps, while the pastel-crunchy “Not The One For Me” makes a case for letting your significant other go find another soulmate. But the second half of Looking Into It hints, however timidly, at a newfound maturity. “Rewind,” a tribute to Sbragia’s deceased father, slows to a glacial tempo. The cutesy veneer surrounding “Plastic Toy Dream” appears to be one of puerile whimsy, until you slice through the power-puff distortion and realize that the band is castigating sweatshop managers. [www.agsfb.com]
—Raymond Cummings
