Git always struck me as a totally incongruous name, more appropriate perhaps to a filthy punk outfit than the honeyed harmonies of these three women from Melbourne.  A hokey combination of whimsy and sleaze, all stitched together with marvellously embroidered songs and fantastic rhymes, Git sound like an Australian spawn of the Andrews Sisters and the Dixie Chicks, but they take guidance from all in the pantheon of country from bluegrass to gospel to create their  “hillbilly harmony heaven.”

‘Flowers’ is Git’s first long player after a couple of well received EPs. They're warmly loved by a dedicated fan base that has seen them progress from their kitchen to residencies in local pubs to a showcase at Austin’s South By Southwest and Nashville’s Folk Alliance earlier this year.  By all accounts the Yanks love what the Aussies are doing with their music, but it would be hard not to swoon at the sound of their interleaving harmonies and savvy take on heartbreak. 

Right from the knees up start of the title track, Git’s soft, heartbreaking harmonies are infectious, whether in the touching When You’re Gone or lovely lust songs such as Car Outside The Bar, while Smoky Roses is a good natured salute to a one night lover.  Their penchant for witty rhyme is evident in nearly everything; witness just one couplet from Smoky Roses “I stepped into a corner bar with half a neon sign/ and saw the man I dreamt about since I was 29”. Amid the swarthy, spunky blokes in the shadows there is some pathos in odes to forgotten heroes such as rockabilly heartthrob James Intveld (Lucky Girl from Benson AZ) and the eternal woman left by the bastard in This Old House.

Ms’s Trish Anderson, Suzannah Espie and Sarah Carroll take songwriting credits for five, three and three songs respectively, plus the decidedly Appalacian sounding Street Sweeper by upright bass player Matt Ryan, which finishes with a traditional Hawaiian War Chant.  Git take many clichéd aspects of the genre and breathe a clarity and a modern savvy into them.  They have kept the fun and the feeling in a style of music that is too easily reduced to caricature.

Narelle Walker