It’s always a party when U.S. Girls comes to town, and that’s exactly what went down on Thursday, June 26th at the Rockwell in Somerville. For those unfamiliar, the moniker is ironic for two reasons, as U.S. Girls is the solo project of now-Canada-based singer Meghan Remy. She’s been going strong since 2007, and stopped by to promote her ninth (!) album, the excellent Scratch It. 

Kass Richards opened the show, with possibly the most nonchalant entrance; she simply sauntered on stage with no fanfare and donned a guitar. This set the tone for her whole set, as Richards never had any accompaniment of any sort. Although fans continued to file in in between songs, everyone was so quiet during Richards’ set that you could hear a pin drop. Richards was captivating in her sparseness, just her beautiful voice and minimal guitar work. She did a cover of John Prine’s “Angel From Montgomery,” and dedicated her final song to the people of Palestine. She had a cute moment where she said of one song, “I wrote that song when my daughter was born, now she’s old enough to tattoo my hands” and held up some temporary tattoos. It was a soft, precious, and engaging opener. 

But Remy was soon along to bring the volume up a bit. The beauty of her music is the way that she builds traditional pop songs with intentional quirks or rough edges baked into them. This is apparent on Scratch It, a mostly traditional indie-pop record that is permeated by an 11+ minute song. It was also apparent throughout the show, with Remy segmenting some fun music with some gallows or just bizarre humor. She was barely ten minutes into the set when she made a joke about what nuclear runoff would do to Boston. “Any welders here?” she asked unprompted, to predictably no response. These quips kept the mood light, even though the music held its own too. The room was packed but everyone spent the set on their feet. 

Remy and her band – which featured Raconteurs & Dead Weather bassist Jack Lawrence – burned through 21 songs on the night, touching seven albums and one cover song. They played seven of the nine songs on Scratch It, with the highlight of the night being an extended jam on “Emptying the Jimador,” during which the band was joined by a surprise trumpeter while Remy danced through the crowd (and even caught this reviewer sleeping, as she stood next to me while I checked photos on my camera). Richards came back out for one song to duet with Remy, and even at the end of a tour the two were still having fun. A fan asked who was older to which Remy replied, “we’re both twelve.” The night ended with back-to-back renditions of fan favorites “4 American Dollars” and “M.A.H.” before everyone was released into the night. It was a hot night at the Rockwell, registering 82 degrees in the room, but it did not deter anyone from dancing and singing to Remy and her band for nearly two hours. Nine albums and nearly 20 years in, and U.S. Girls are still packing an incredibly fun, energetic and groovy show. 

Check out some photos from the show below!