The return of All Girl Summer Fun Band after a five year layoff with their excellent Looking Into It album got me to thinking about great all-girl indie pop groups from the Pacific Northwest. This post could also have been titled “Two Degrees of Rose Melberg” since Rose seems to be at the epicenter of it all. Whether as a part of the awesmoe Tiger Trap, half of the Softies or as a member of Go Sailor or Gaze, Melberg and her sensibility of sweet love songs sung sweetly (or alternately, sad heartbreak songs sung sadly) casts a huge sweater-clad shadow over the girl pop scene of the 90s and beyond. If you can’t handle sweetness, cuteness and realness, stop now and don’t listen to any of these songs. The rest of you may proceed gently….

The Softies

“It’s Love” (from It’s Love)
“Me and the Bees” (from Holiday in Rhode Island)
 
 
 

Tiger Trap

“Super Crush” (from Tiger Trap)
“Supreme Nothing” (from Tiger Trap)
 
 
 

All Girl Summer Fun Band

“Lipsmacker Kiss” (from Summer of ‘98)
“Rewind” (from Looking Into It)
 
 
 

Gaze

“Sunday Night Waterworks” (from Shake the Pounce)
 
 
 
 

Cub

“I’m Your Angel” (from Come Out, Come Out)
“Someday” (from Betti-Cola)
 
 
 

The Lois

“The Trouble With Me” (from Strumpet)
“Shy Town” (from Bet the Sky)