Five Star Songs: Girls- Morning Light

Been meaning to this post since last July but now may be more appropriate......Recently, I watched a couple of great movies which had plots that were focused on being in a cult.

A couple of weeks ago Paul Thomas Anderson released his latest film, The Master, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Phillip Seymour Hoffman. The excellent film is loosely based on Scientology and features Hoffman playing an L. Ron Hubbard type character who meets and is attracted to an alcoholic drifter characterized by Phoenix. It is a great comeback film for Phoenix after his disastrous mockumentary with Casey Affleck, I'm Not There. Phoenix probably deserves an Oscar nomination for his role.

The other movie I caught was the brilliant Martha Marcy May Marlene which was the breakout role for actress Elizabeth Olsen (sister of the Olsen twins). The movie's plot dealt with a girl who escaped from a weird sex cult and her pains trying to re-assimilate with her sister and brother-in-law. This is a must see and is now playing on Netflix.

After watching these flicks it got me thinking about the break up of the band Girls and it's enigmatic front man Christopher Owens. If you don't know Owens story, he grew up living in the Children of God cult in Slovenia where the members lived without technology and believed that the end of the world was near. He escaped the cult and became an assistant to a billionaire in Texas for four years. After he quit that job, he moved to San Francisco, formed a relationship with a girl and became a drug addict. Then he met bassist Chet "JR" White and formed the band Girls, made two excellent albums and an EP, and recently split the duo up back in the summer. The story of Owens is great biopic material and could rival the two featured films above if done right. Somebody make a movie about this guy!!! Owens announced the break up of the band via Twitter, but also stated that he was not quitting music. I'm hoping that whatever musical endeavours he pursues will be equally as great as the artistic output of Girls, and hope the same for White.

Of the three records they made, their eponymous 2009 debut album is my favourite. The Father, Son, Holy Ghost record may have gotten better reviews but it's influences in classic rock made it a little less appealing to me. I remember when I used to run, I would play the debut LP on my iPod over and over. The one song that was tailor made for my long runs was the dreamy Morning Light track as it would re-energize me every time it played.

R.I.P. Girls. You will be missed.

Girls debut self titled album is available on Amazon or download from iTunes.