Photo: Tonje Thilesen

girlpuppy submits to love’s reckless influence on “I Just Do!”

The latest single from Atlanta musician Becca Harvey — aka girlpuppy — is a grunge-pop eruption that revels in melodic distortion and dense guitarwork. “I Just Do!”, which is taken from her forthcoming album, Sweetness, finds her careening through shoegaze-adjacent spaces while brandishing her voice like a sword and shield. It’s both a method of defense and one of offense, caustic and often guarded in its self-awareness but likely to spill guts in kaleidoscopic rivulets when given room to steady its aim. The song starts softly, a clattering beat making room for the start of Harvey’s story, and then we’re walloped by an oceanic surge of guitars and thumping percussion which carries us through to its dramatic finale. 

I wrote this song after spending 6 days in Los Angeles with a guy I had an all consuming crush on,” she explains. “It’s just about that feeling of knowing you’re wasting your time by developing feelings for someone who is completely emotionally unavailable, but you do it anyway because it feels good. I wrote this entire song and then recorded a voice note of me singing it acapella in my bathtub (where I get lots of inspiration for songs). I brought it to Alex [Farrar] and he built the instruments around the melody I wrote and it turned out so much fun. This is definitely gonna be my favorite song to play on tour.

The song comes with a video directed by Trent Wane and features Harvey as a vampire who goes to a party where a vampire hunter is also in attendance. Sparks, and likely blood, fly!  

I had the idea for the vampire/vampire hunter love interest plot and when I told Trent about it he knew he could make it happen,” Harvey says. “He ended up adding in the detail that the vampire hunter is my ex and his new girlfriend (his girlfriend irl!) is at this party we both are attending. We filmed the video at our friend Kay’s house (which was already decorated perfectly) and had so much fun with all of our friends. Becoming a vampire for this video fulfilled my dream of being a Cullen.

Director Trent Wayne says: “Becca and I created this vampire-themed video as a playful ode to forbidden love, with a healthy dose of camp. Drawing inspiration from the late David Lynch, Pee-wee’s Playhouse, and the charm of Johnnie To’s early 2000s Hong Kong rom-coms. In the story, a vampire hunter hunk crashes a rainbow-hued house party, where a vampire finds herself drawn to him. Becca, playing the vampire, knows she can never truly be with the hunter, who is destined to hurt her. Yet their chemistry creates a bittersweet tension – this storyline doubles as her seeing an ex at a party.

Watch the clip below.

 

girlpuppy will also hold a trio of record release shows in Atlanta (her hometown), New York City, and Los Angeles. See those dates below.

APR 4 | Atlanta, GA @ The Earl – Tickets
APR 10 | Brooklyn, NY @ Baby’s All Right – Tickets
MAY 8 | Los Angeles, CA @ Moroccan Lounge – Tickets

Sweetness is due out March 28 via Captured Tracks. You can pre-order the album here. Follow girlpuppy on FacebookX, and Instagram.