Before the World Was Big

Girlpool show how punk a band can get with just two women, a guitar, a bass and two raging hearts. Cleo Tucker and Harmony Tividad come from the Los Angeles underground scene, working a vibe that goes back to the Softies or Marine Girls — raw, minimal, yet emotionally fierce. After an excellent debut EP in 2014, their first full-length is loaded with moments of offhand intimacy (“We sat on cold concrete/I could only stare at my feet”) and caustic wit (“You are the yellow paint holding onto fire escapes”). “Your lonely is loud,” they tell a poseur in “Crowded Stranger” — but though Girlpool keep the volume low, their lonely comes through loud and clear.