Pitchfork

You had to figure from the title that this would be less XTRMNTR and more Give Out But Don't Give Up, and you'd be right. If a computer were to write a quintessential American country-rock song, this is what it would sound like. It has the rousing chorus, shouty verses, anodyne lyrics like "Country girl/ got to keep on keepin' on," and a mandolin thrown in as the honey mustard to the guitars' fried chicken. Which is all to say that "Country Girl" is generic to the point of pastiche, and its "what can a poor boy do"-isms feel second-hand if not third- or fourth-. Bobby Gillespie does a competent vocal turn, but these days he sounds better with some distortion and a crunching bass line. As Gillespie goes, so goes Primal Scream, and it's hard to imagine this direction leading them much of anywhere.