DIY, February 2021 (1 of 4)

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Four bold voices standing their ground in 2021

FREE • ISSUE 104 • FEB 2021 DIYMAG.COM

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DIRT Y HI T

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QUESTION! Following on from Years & Years frontman Olly Alexander's already iconic turn in recent drama It's A Sin, we ask: what other pop starsturned-actors have we most enjoyed gracing the silver screen?

SARAH JAMIESON • Managing Editor While, as a child, I was utterly besotted with Brandy and Whitney Houston in Cinderella, I’ve gotta give credit where credit’s due: Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz appearing in One Tree Hill will never quite be beaten.

EMMA SWANN • Founding Editor As I’m still yet to watch Dunkirk, Janelle Monáe was so good in Hidden Figures I literally forgot she was a pop star, so probably that.

LISA WRIGHT • Features Editor Yeah yeah, loads of musicians have turned out to be genuinely brilliant, Oscar-worthy talents, but will there ever be a better pop/ film crossover than Spice World? My nineyear-old self would tell me to stop right now with any other suggestions.

ISSUE PLAYLIST

LOUISE MASON • Art Director With hand on heart, I can say David Bowie plays one of my favourite giant metal teapots to date, in Twin Peaks: The Return.

ELLY WATSON • Digital Editor The correct answer is quite clearly the Jo Bros in the iconic timeless classic that is Camp Rock.

Scan the Spotify code to listen to our February playlist now.

FEBRUARY LISTENING POST

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Sarah Jamieson, Managing Editor

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And on the subject of trailblazers, everyone at Team DIY would like to send their love and support to the family and friends of SOPHIE, who tragically passed away as this issue was going to print. An icon of liberation, may SOPHIE’s artistic spirit live on for all of us.

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Our February issue sees us take a closer look at some of the artists fighting their corners and using music to tackle everything from politics to sexuality, vulnerability to identity, and so much more. Featuring Rico Nasty, Goat Girl, slowthai and Pale Waves, our four cover acts are trailblazers in their own right, and we’re incredibly excited to share this issue with you.

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While things in 2021 may not have gotten off to the start we’d all been hoping for, the new year has made good on its promise of bringing a slew of incredible new records. And with so many artists putting out brilliant music out right now, we wanted to celebrate; so celebrate we have, by releasing four different covers this month.

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lle ct iv e DEATH FROM ABOVE 1979 IS 4 LOVERS Toronto noiseniks DFA return with their fourth slab of delightfully abrasive dance punk and an aim, they say, to show that “the format can be more than what we’ve made it previously, that we’re not trapped stylistically”.

Set your speakers to ‘LOUD’.

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GENESIS OWUSU - SMILING WITH NO TEETH Mutating from an opening instrumental that’s Death Grips-like in its intensity through future funk, smooth hip hop, riffy punches and more, the debut from Australia’s Genesis should see him rightfully hailed as an early breakout star of 2021.

SERPENTWITHFEET DEACON A concept album of sorts exploring themes of Black, gay love, LA artist serpentwithfeet’s incoming second builds on 2018 debut ‘soil’, taking its name from the orderly church figure “to create something that felt calm and restrained,” he explains.

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NEWS 6 FOO FIGHTERS 10 BICEP 12 HALL OF FAME 15 NILÜFER YANYA 16 HELLO 2021 NEU 18 CLAUD 20 YARD ACT 22 IVORIAN DOLL 24 LAUREN AUDER FEATURES 26 RICO NASTY 32 GOAT GIRL 36 SHAME 40 PALE WAVES 46 ARLO PARKS 50 SLOWTHAI REVIEWS 56 ALBUMS

Shout out to: Union 206 and Jesse Draxler for his superlative efforts in making our Rico cover shoot happen, Studio 101 in Deptford, all at slowthai's Northampton HQ, our buddies at The state51 Conspiracy for helping make Hello 2021 such a glorious success (rewatch it on YouTube now!), Tony at House of Vans for keeping us in fresh creps, and every single Netflix trash show, Deliveroo order and glimmer of sun that’s kept us going throughout the last testing month. Roll on, Spring…

Founding Editor Emma Swann Managing Editor Sarah Jamieson Features Editor Lisa Wright Digital Editor Elly Watson Art Direction & Design Louise Mason Contributors: Alex Cabré, Aliya Chaudhry, Ash Cooper, Bella Martin, Ben Lynch, Ben Tipple, Brian Coney, Charlotte Gunn, Chris Hamilton-Peach, Dave Beech, Ed Miles, Eloise Bulmer, Felix Rowe, Gemma Samways, Holly Whitaker, Jack Doherty, Jack Johnstone Orr, Jenessa Williams, Jesse Draxler, Joe Goggins, Louis Griffin, Olivia White, Ollie Rankine, Sean Kerwick, Will Richards.

Cover Photos: Rico Nasty by Jesse Draxler, Pale Waves and slowthai by Ed Miles, Goat Girl by Holly Whitaker.

This page and page 3 photos by Ed Miles.

For DIY editorial: info@diymag.com For DIY sales: advertise@diymag.com For DIY stockist enquiries: stockists@diymag.com DIY HQ, Unit K309, The Biscuit Factory, 100 Drummond Road, London SE16 4DG

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All material copyright (c). All rights reserved. This publication may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, in whole or in part, without the express written permission of DIY. Disclaimer: While every effort is made to ensure the information in this magazine is correct, changes can occur which affect the accuracy of copy, for which DIY holds no responsibility. The opinions of the contributors do not necessarily bear a relation to those of DIY or its staff and we disclaim liability for those impressions. Distributed nationally.

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e h t t u o b a ll a is s r te h Foo Fig hang factor. It’s our own

fuckedup little family.”

- Taylor Hawkins

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Celebrating 25 years in the game with a tenth album intent on treading new ground, Taylor Hawkins opens the door to ‘Medicine at Midnight’ and the wild world of being a Foo Fighter.

Words: Charlotte Gunn.

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n the absence of stadium tours, adoring fans and rocking out on a nightly basis, Taylor Hawkins - one sixth of Foo Fighters and one of the world’s most accomplished drummers - has found a new way to get his kicks.

“I just walk around with a giant cup of fucking PG Tips, man,” he says slightly manically on the phone from his home in Hidden Hills, California. “I call it English speed. By the end of the day there’s like, five bags in there. It’s awesome! That’s the way The Beatles made music.”

medicine

magic &

Fans are in for a few surprises when they eventually get their ears ‘round ‘Medicine At Midnight’ this month.

While unmistakably a Foo Fighters record, it pushes their sound into new realms, with soulful backing vocals, groovy riffs and a whole lot of percussion making it more akin to Sly and the Family Stone than, say, Taylor’s faves, Queen.

Whether The Beatles were referring to a nice cuppa cha when they sang, “I need a fix, cos I’m going down” is a debate for another time, however, because Taylor Hawkins is here to talk about the new and very long-awaited tenth Foo Fighters album, ‘Medicine At Midnight’: an altogether funkier affair than anything we’ve heard before from the globally-massive rockers, and a record fans were expecting nine months ago.

The band is still very much Dave Grohl’s baby, he explains, and these days making a record is not dissimilar from how Foo Fighters started out 25 years ago, when Dave WAS the band. “For the most part, he has stuff pretty mapped out,” Taylor admits of the process, which sees demos of nearly all the songs laid down by Dave before they’re taken to Taylor, bassist Nate Mendel, guitarists Chris Shiflett and Pat Smear and keyboardist Rami Jaffee to record their individual parts.

“I can’t really whinge about that too much,” Taylor says of the band’s 25th anniversary celebrations and album launch being unsurprisingly paused. “Owww, our plans to put out our record got spoiled, waaaah,” he says, adopting a comically nasal tone.

“There’s too many other people out there having an actual real hard time, so fuck it, you know?”

“We do have a bit of collaboration sometimes - ‘Waiting On A War’, ‘Chasing Birds’ and ‘Love Dies Young’ [from the new record] were born in the old-school way - but Dave knew exactly the type of record he wanted to make: something groovy and less hard rock. We’d never done disco before, so why not?”

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With that in mind, then, were there any elements of Album Ten that Taylor was unsure about on first listen?

“When we started making drum loops, I definitely had my hesitations, and in some way I still do,” he nods - not unsurprising from a musician who loves to play hard and fast. “But in order to get that metronomic, mind-numbing, you-can-just-dance-to-it groove, you have to use a loop.”

Lead single, ‘Shame Shame’ makes use of this technique (“It was the shortest day at work I’ve ever had...”) and the result is a moody earworm - made great, in part, by its repetitive beat. So what convinced our man behind the pedal that Dave was on to something?

“Well, you start to remember that ‘Don’t Bring Me Down’

by ELO is a drum loop; ‘Jane Says’ by Jane’s Addiction is a drum loop; ‘Another One Bites The Dust’ is a fucking drum loop...”

Ah, Queen, of course. Taylor Hawkins really loves Queen.

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onsidering that ‘Medicine At Midnight’ was pretty much finished by the end of 2019, that’s a whole lotta downtime for a band who should have been at least once around the world by now. “I’ve been doing little musical projects,” Taylor says of how he’s been occupying himself.

“My buddy Dave Navarro from Jane’s [Addiction and formerly Red Hot Chili Peppers] asked me to be the drummer for some things that

he was doing, and then we started writing some songs together as well, which will probably eventually turn into some sort of record.”

Jam sessions with famous friends aside, however, much like us normos, Taylor has been spending a lot of time at home and, after buying his 11-year-old daughter a record player for Christmas, is delighting in sharing his vinyl collection with her.

“I gave her ‘Ziggy Stardust…’ and I gave her The Who ‘Who’s Next’ and Queen’s ‘The Game’. She listens to a whole record while she's putting up LED lights in her room and making her own little rock‘n’roll sanctuary.”

Taylor pauses: “I don’t mean a HOLE record. She wouldn’t listen to a Hole record,” he chuckles. “Well I don’t know, maybe she would! The first coupla Hole records are pretty good - especially the one Kurt Cobain wrote...”

Since our call, Foo Fighters played at the inauguration of President Biden, the weight of which was not lost on the band (“We couldn’t do four more years of that fucking clown”). It’s not your average album launch, but then Foo Fighters aren’t your average band.

“You know Dave doesn’t really need me to play drums - he could play everything himself,” Taylor admits.“But Foo Fighters is all about the hang factor. It’s a culture, almost, and it’s our own fucked-up little family.”

Stick the kettle on - after 25 years, there’s still some magic brewing.

'Medicine At Midnight' is out now via Roswell / Columbia. DIY

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2021:THEBIGONES

As well as Dave and co’s newest, 2021 looks set to welcome a haul of other big hitters. Here’s how the year’s megastar output is shaping up so far.

LANA DEL REY

Chemtrails Over the Country Club Due: 19th March

BLEACHERS

LDR’s been racking up more column inches around her controversies than her actual, y’know, songs of late - not least following the unveiling of the artwork for the singer’s forthcoming seventh LP. However with next month’s ‘Chemtrails…’ just around the corner, and having raised her own bar sky high with 2019 predecessor ‘Norman Fucking Rockwell!’, Lana’s still got the potential to come through and flip the narrative yet again.

‘TBA' / Due: TBA There’s making a comeback, and then there’s making a comeback by casually dropping a track featuring Actual Bruce Springsteen.

A baller move by any standards, but November’s ‘Chinatown’ single shouldn’t really have been that much of a surprise; having produced albums for - among others - Taylor, Lorde, Lana and FKA Twigs in recent years, Jack Antonoff’s phonebook is hardly lacking. It makes the prospect of a new Bleachers album (confirmed in December for 2021) an even more enticing prospect. In terms of star pulling power, this could be the motherload.

KINGS OF LEON ‘When You See Yourself’ Due: 5th March Two years off the 20th anniversary of their debut, and gearing up to release their eighth, the Followills are veterans of the game these days. They’ve gone from feral family band to stadium-selling superstars and/ or sell-outs (delete according to viewpoint), and now on ‘When You See Yourself’, Caleb, Nathan, Jared and Matthew claim to have penned their “most personal” effort to date. See what that entails at the start of March.

ST VINCENT ‘TBA' / Due: TBA “The rumours are true. New record ‘locked and loaded’ for 2021. Can’t wait for you to hear it,” tweeted St. Vincent in December, thus giving fans of both riffheavy art rock and albums with pictures of neon arses on the cover (shout out 2017’s superlative ‘Masseduction’!) a very exciting Christmas present. She’s already stated that the record is indebted to Stevie Wonder, Sly and the Family Stone and “the colour palette of the world of Taxi Driver”, but you’d be a fool to second guess any of St. Vinnie’s next moves until she deploys them herself.

KANYE WEST ‘Donda' / Due: TBA Slated for release in July 2020, Kanye’s upcoming tenth named after his late mother - is still yet to land. June’s lead single ‘Wash Us In The Blood’ is on it; ‘Nah Nah Nah’ (his, ahem, Presidential campaign song) might be on it.

Let’s see how this one unfurls…

BROCKHAMPTON ‘TBA'x2 / Due: TBA Back last May, Brockhampton’s de facto leader Kevin Abstract declared that the self-styled ‘best boy band since One Direction’ would be releasing two full-length LPs before the year was out. That, much like everything in 2020, turned out to be a load of shit. Don’t leave us hanging much longer guys.

ADELE ‘TBA' / Due: TBA Alan Carr’s said it’s “amazing”. What more do you need to know, eh!

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TOGETH ER

I N E L E C T R O N I C

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“We can’t be fighting amongst ourselves when we’re fighting the government as well.”

- MATTHEW MCBRIAR

DR

BICEP’s second record ‘Isles’ is the ultimate anti-2021 release: an electronic record made for the club that celebrates cultural unity and diversity. As such, it’s exactly the album to give us all a slice of much-needed hope. Words: Joe Goggins.

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icep are reflecting on the last time they knew normality - back in March 2020 when, having been forced to cancel a Brixton Academy show that had been a year in the planning, they were applying the finishing touches to the writing of second album ‘Isles’.

The Belfast duo, Andrew Ferguson and Matthew McBriar, had spent the entirety of 2019 working on the record, finding out the hard way that they’re not the kind of songwriters to find themselves struck by divine inspiration, able to pump out a track in an afternoon. Instead, the ten songs that make up their second came together as months-long construction projects, born out of countless hours of jamming and experimentation.

That’s true of both the reflective side of the record (opener ‘Atlas’ is an exercise in Technicolor introspection) and the clubbier cuts. “We need to spend half a day on a song, on eight or nine different [occasions], over a long period,” explains Ferguson.

“And we have to be in the right mood; you don’t want to end up associating a track with a time you were pissed off or hungover. It’s not an approach that’s conducive to finishing an album very quickly...”

Accordingly, ‘Isles’ arrives more than two years after the pair began its creation. It’s an album entirely contradictory to the world it’s being released into; an electronic record radiating vitality at a time when clubs are shuttered, with a global, forward-thinking outlook that jars in an era of both Covid-enforced border closures and the UK’s self-inflicted isolation from the rest of Europe. ‘Isles’ is defined by its dichotomies, and was inspired particularly by the pair’s realisation that they’ve split their lives pretty much down the middle between two very different environments.

“The difference between Belfast and East London is stark,” says Matthew of the two cities Bicep have called home. “Northern Ireland is very conservative; London feels very open and liberal by way of comparison. That informs the music that’s made there. In Belfast, there’d be a window to play electronic music, which was between 11pm and 3am, and it meant there’d be this concentrated, four-hour explosion of high energy. Things are a lot more chilled in London, where you could see a DJ any time of the week; things just felt deeper, longer somehow. We noticed those differences and how much they’ve shaped us. Those contrasts are on the album - sometimes they fight against each other, and other times they work together.”

After two solid years on the road in support of their self-titled 2017 debut, its follow-up has the feel of an international affair. The duo closed themselves

off to nothing and, as such, the record’s samples run the gamut from traditional Malawian singers to 1950s recordings of Bulgarian choirs. The influence comes not just from their travels, but from their adopted home’s enormous cultural diversity. “We’d go to the record store and the one thing we wouldn’t dig through would be the house section,” notes Matthew. “Instead, it’d be straight to the Bollywood soundtracks, or trying to find something similar to the Turkish pop song we just heard in a kebab house.”

On a day of interviews with European press, Bicep have found themselves fielding constant questions about Brexit which, on the part of most journalists, seems to stem from a morbid curiosity as to how the whole mess could have happened in the first place. It’s served as an uncomfortable reminder to them as to how badly the situation reflects on the UK, and makes you wonder whether the outwardfacing nature of ‘Isles’ was meant as a response.

“There comes a point at which you have to try to use the whole thing to set a positive example moving forward,” opines Andrew. “We were just responding to how inspired we were by living in London, and by all the things we were exposed to travelling the world. But the reality now is that you used to be able to go to any major city in the UK on any given night and there’d be an international DJ playing.

There might be three or four in Leeds, five or six in Manchester, who knows how many in London.”

“Guys from Poland who had one release out would be flying in to play,” Matthew continues. "For years, we DJed for very small fees and the freedom of movement made it easy; we were able to live that creative lifestyle very cheaply. The visas, as they’re going to be now, would have killed us. Combine it with the pandemic and the problem of gentrification in London, and the electronic world is really going to have to pull together. We can’t be fighting amongst ourselves when we’re fighting the government as well.”

Dear Kena zi THE DIY DRAG-ONY AUNT

Dear Kenazi, All I want to do is play slap bass like Flea but my bandmates shame me every time I get my thump on. How do I get them to accept my true artistic calling? Gareth Johnson, LICE Dear Gareth, Does your slap bass sound like Larry Graham or Seinfeld? You have Paul Rudd to thank for the general shame (watch that scene in I Love You, Man) (it's not that funny, but he’s my ideal sugardaddy) (Paul Rudd I love you, man). However, to me, this sounds like a deeper issue within your band dynamic. Bass players are lower down the food chain and to be honest it needs to stay that way. Flea is the exception, not the rule. My advice: stick to the stuff you know. Root notes, no point trying to add anything more to the sonic field. Stay in one place. The bass is too heavy to be wielding it around.

You can take your shirt off if you really want to, but you are meant to stay in the background. Bassists are there to be laughed at, so suck it up and forget your fantasy of true artistic calling. If you want to do something useful, you should have learnt guitar.

While they’re optimistic that, post-Covid, the demand for live performance will be higher than ever before, Bicep are also increasingly of the mind that we might just have lived through a golden age for electronic music without even realising it. “People complained about camera phones and wished they could go back to the ‘90s or the ‘70s,” says Matthew, “but it’s possible we’ll look back at the decade between 2010 and 2020 as an incredible time for electronic music. We could travel so freely, there were so many festivals, there was just so much variety. I wonder whether we took it for granted.”

‘Isles’ is out now via Ninja Tune. DIY

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Fame

PJ Harvey - ‘Let England Shake’

10 years on from winning the Mercury Prize, Polly Jean Harvey’s astute delve into global conflict and identity still remains almost peerless. Words: Gemma Samways. Photo: Seamus Murphy.

here have been many scene-defining albums celebrated in the DIY's Hall of Fame but ‘Let England Shake’ isn’t one of them. Examining conflict, grief and the complexities of national identity through the prism of war, Polly Harvey’s truly exquisite eighth studio album feels every bit as starkly unique and eerily timeless today as it did on its release, back in February 2011.

Having spent the first two decades of her career interrogating interior life, on ‘Let England Shake’ Harvey shifted her songwriting focus outwards, conducting hours of painstaking research on WWI as well as the ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. While these songs were ostensibly rooted on the battlefields of northern France, the beaches at Gallipoli and in a bygone England, their themes resonated just as acutely with the political issues of the present day.

Performing the role of narrator, Harvey was unflinching in her descriptions of brutality - from the soldiers that fall unceremoniously “like lumps of meat” on ‘The Words That Maketh Murder’ to the legacy of “deformed children” as outlined on ‘The Glorious Land’ - and yet careful never to moralise. Likewise, reflections on Englishness were deliberately bittersweet, finding her expressing feelings of shame for her country on ‘England’ (“You leave a taste / A bitter one”) and foreshadowing Brexit by adopting a

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FACTS THE

Released: 14th February 2011 Key Tracks: ‘The Words That Maketh Murder’, ‘Let England Shake’, ‘The Glorious Land' Tell Your Mates: In December 2011, a collection of short films by acclaimed photojournalist Seamus Murphy best known for his work in Afghanistan - was released as a visual accompaniment to the record.

Eurosceptic perspective for ‘The Last Living Rose’ (“Goddamn Europeans / Take me back to beautiful England”).

Working in conjunction with long-time collaborators Flood and John Parish, Harvey’s real masterstroke was to offset the often unbearably heavy subject matter with some truly transcendent arrangements.

Where its 2007 predecessor ‘White Chalk’ revolved around minimal piano, ‘Let England Shake’ largely favoured a nostalgic mix of autoharp, colliery band-inspired brass, and brushed percussion, plus a few inspired samples. The title track interpolated the melody of 1950s easy-listening staple ‘Istanbul (Not Constantinople)’, while ‘Written On The Forehead’ sampled the apocalyptic reggae of ‘Blood And Fire’ by Niney The Observer. Best of all was the plaintive, outof-time bugle interwoven throughout ‘The Glorious Land’ to haunting effect.

Officially the most critically-acclaimed album of that year, ‘Let England Shake’ was subsequently awarded the Mercury Prize in September 2011, making PJ Harvey the only artist ever to win the award twice. A decade on, it remains a powerful treatise on the human cost of war, and arguably one of the greatest albums of the century so far. DIY

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U O Y E V HA H E A R D?

BIL LIE EIL ISH AN D RO SA LÍA LO VA S Y OLVIDA R TOM JONES - TA LKING R EA LITY TELEVISION BLUES There isn’t much Tom Jones hasn’t done by now, musically or otherwise, but if you’d been told in advance the first single from the legendary crooner’s next record would sound more like Radiohead than the Oxford band do themselves some days, you’d think 2021 madness had finally gone too far. But that’s just what ‘Talking Reality Television Blues’ does. The 2019 original by US singer-songwriter Todd Snider is sonically pure countryfolk, but Tom’s take has him using his instantly-recognisable burr for ominous effect on this spoken-word number. “Reality killed by a reality star,” he proclaims, as the tension-filled track crashes around him. Expect the unexpected is a mantra by now - but this one really has taken us by surprise.

(Emma Swann)

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After first teasing a collab back in 2019, Billie Eilish and Rosalía have finally delivered the goods, unveiling new track 'Lo Vas A Olvidar'. Written for HBO's hit show Euphoria, the haunting song is mostly sung in Spanish, and follows a poignant tale of a break-up, with Billie's final line of "If I wasn't important, then why would you waste all your poison?" hammering home the heartbreaking story. With the duo's vocals intertwining effortlessly over the simple yet chilling backing, get ready for goosebumps. (Elly Watson)

ROYAL BLOOD TYPHOONS In these most distinctly un-lairy of times, sometimes a dose of back-tobasics rock’n’roll turned up loud is just the tonic to another evening spent trying to pretend that doing a jigsaw is genuinely how you wish to use your precious young life. Welcome back then, Royal Blood. Because if the question is, will ‘Typhoons’, with its big, escalating riffs and absolute lack of nuance, change the minds of historical RB haters? Then the answer is, of course, no. But if the question is, will Mike’n’Ben’s unapologetic dedication to pouty, stompy, pints in the air earworms give you an injection of muchmissed silliness? Then well, we’ve just Deliveroo-ed ourselves a 12-pack. (Lisa Wright)

SQUID NA R R ATOR While the Brighton-based group are in fact, very capable of penning an immediate ear worm (hello, ‘Houseplants’) there was never any chance they’d be debuting a threeminute pop banger as the first teaser of album ‘Bright Green Field’, was there? Clocking in at an eye-watering eight minutes, even without the openworld imagery of its video, ‘Narrator’ is a trip. Winding its way around hypnotic repetitions, there are softer, more melodic parts than we’re used to from Squid, but at any point it threatens to get a bit too mathy, on cue is a hearty roar from singing drummer Ollie Judge. (Bella Martin)

FK A TWIGS, HEADIE ONE, FRED AGAIN.. DON'T JUDGE ME Sprung from an interlude on Headie One’s ‘Gang’ EP released last year, ‘Don’t Judge Me’ takes the FKA twigs-sung hook, subtle in its delivery but undeniably a grower, pairs it with a more emphatic beat than its more spacey forebear, and hammers home its point via a powerful monologue (“I can’t trust the police and I can’t trust the media / Learned more about my people from the streets than from my teachers”). Add to this the gorgeously-shot video with a rotating cast of Black excellence, and it’s potent. (Emma Swann)

What’s Going on With…

NILÜFER YANYA

Following the release of December’s ‘Feeling Lucky?’ EP, Nilüfer Yanya is heading into 2021 with LP2 on her mind. Interview: Jemima Skala.

What was the process of creating ‘Feeling Lucky?’?

I started writing ‘Crash’ maybe two years ago. I didn’t do anything with it for a while until I was working with [singersongwriter] Nick Hakim in New York in 2019, then I gave him this idea that I had and we did the song in one or two days and finished it off in March last year. It was kind of a similar process with the other songs. I felt that it would be nice to release something last year when everything was crazy and I wasn’t really doing much music-wise; I wasn’t touring or anything, and I hadn’t really started working on my second album. It was just nice to put something out, otherwise you feel like you haven’t done anything! It just felt necessary.

Second album! What can you say about that?

Well, I haven’t written it! I’ve got two demos. I’m just trying to take everything in that’s happened - in the world and personally - and trying to create something. I think with a second album, it’s like, how are you going to make this relevant to what’s going on? Your first album is more of a personal statement. And maybe it should always be like that, but I feel like with the second album, it’s a bit more like, OK what else do you have to say?

Has that affected how you’ve approached writing?

I’m finding it quite hard to get back into writing; I’m really

happy when I write anything, even if it’s really basic. I would like there to be more of an overarching lyrical as well as visual theme - for it to be more cemented and pulled together. With the last album, I did that as a last resort at the end because I was trying to weave everything together and it felt like there were a lot of things happening. I’d like to plant that seed from the beginning and grow a tree.

By the time this issue is out, you'll have just been on US TV, on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. That's exciting!

It feels good! Except I just saw this thing on Instagram, or someone tweeted it, and Jimmy Fallon was patting Trump’s head on the show. So it’s a bit like, ugh! Why is nothing safe?! It’s crazy. I literally saw that today and it kind of ruined it a bit. Otherwise, I’m obviously really excited, but I don’t know how to feel about it... It’s just crazy.

What other things have you got coming up for 2021?

I’m currently designing the artwork for the EP vinyl that will be available soon, and a remix EP is coming out as well. I’m also reissuing my old EPs and all my profits will go to Artists In Transit, which is the collaborative non-profit organisation that I work with and that I started with my sister four years ago now. All the profits from that will go towards art workshops and bringing creative projects to children who need it most in London and wherever else we end up working.

on the

‘Gram These days, even yer gran is posting selfies on Instagram.

Instagran, more like. Everyone has it now, including all our fave bands. Here’s a brief catch-up on music’s finest photo-taking action as of late.

‘Feeling Lucky?’ is out now via ATO. DIY

You’ll be cursing those nails when you’re trying to input your Tesco delivery order though, won’t you Billie? (@billieeilish)

Venus de Lizzo (with arms) (@lizzobeeating)

That Ashnikko: she’s completely consumed by herself. (@ashnikko)

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Hello 2021

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ormally, DIY would have spent the cold Tuesday nights of January crammed into the upstairs of London’s Old Blue Last with 200 or so of the earliest birds to the door, all craning their necks stage-wards to see some of the artists destined to make the coming 12 months a brighter place.

This year, unsurprisingly, our Hello... shows had to take a different form. But we’re not ones to be beaten - oh, no! So instead, we teamed up with the good folk over at The state51 Conspiracy to record 12 sets and stream them straight to your devices. Missed them? Then head to youtube.com/state51 to rewatch headliners Oscar Lang, Master Peace, Sinead O'Brien and Matilda Mann doing their thing.

Plus, alongside our bill-toppers, we also welcomed a stellar supporting cast who might be less familiar to you now, but we’re certain won’t be for long. Here are some of the newer treats that you can expect when you clickety click on that ‘watch’ button…

Courting Liverpool historically has good form when it comes to four young lads playing guitars, and while Courting are more ‘melodically anarchic moshers’ than floppy-haired mop tops, they’re a more-than-worthy addition to the city’s musical exports. Want that ‘edge of your seat, anything could happen’ feeling that makes a truly brilliant gig so delicious? Check out their chaotic run through of ‘Popshop!’ at the end of their Hello 2021 set: a hedonistic climax, that finds singer Sean Murphy-O’Neill rolling around the floor like he’s headlining Brixton Academy.

Pixey Our second Liverpudlian, and this time we’re heading into ridiculously catchy alt-pop territory. Think an acoustic, stripped back set means you can’t get vibey? ‘Just Move’ - recent Chess Club records signee Pixey's 2020 debut for the label - will prove otherwise. New track ‘Electric Dream’, meanwhile, hints at other soaring, piano-led strings to her bow (with a lil hint of ‘Praise You’’s joyous free spirit thrown in for good measure).

Osquello On a wintery lockdown evening, you’d be wise to turn to the soulful jazz of Londoner Osquello to help fend off the blues. Getting behind the baby grand piano, welcoming in the soothing sounds of a saxophone and generally conjuring up the kind of intimate, warm atmosphere of a low-lit, classy Soho jazz bar, press play on this, pour yourself a glass of red and breathe a sigh of relief.

Yard Act

Head to p20 for our full Neu chat with this lot, but you’d also be a god damn fool to sleep on their Hello set. Despite having literally only three (3!) gigs under their belt, Leeds' Yard Act arrive as the sort of tight, sparky, confident proposition that could walk straight into the big leagues. They’ve only got four songs out; they play them all; they nail them all. And if the closing black-humoured monologue of ‘Peanuts’ doesn’t have you hailing vocalist James Smith as the best new frontman on the block then, well, you’re wrong.

16 DIYMAG.COM

Didn't get to tune in?

No worries! Watch it all back at youtube.com/state51

17

NEU 18 DIYMAG.COM

This is a declaration of honesty.�

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The first signing to Phoebe Bridgers’ label Saddest Factory, Claud Mintz makes relatable, intimate indiepop about growing into yourself. Words: Will Richards. that did that was a really close friend right away. They were calling me something that basically only my mum called me.

“Sorry...” says Claud Mintz with a smile, flipping their laptop around to show a postcard-worthy panorama of the glistening California ocean as DIY phones in from a sodden South London. “I haven’t left the house for weeks,” Claud tells us - and, with that view, it’s not hard to see why.

"Claud felt like the right option for the name, because then all these people on the internet would also feel like my close friends,” they add. And the intimacy and openness that defines their debut makes certain that this closeness will be felt both ways.

Living a nomadic life for much of their teens, moving between their parents’ homes in California and Chicago with stints in New York and beyond as well, the stasis of 2020 probably came as more of a shock to the system for Claud than most of us. “My dad kept telling me I needed to slow down a bit anyway,” they say, “so it probably came at a good time for me.”

‘Super Monster’ is an album of great contrasts. On ‘Pepsi’, Claud manages to craft a yearning song of romantic regret that welcomes its chorus with the sound of a can of the titular drink being cracked open, delivered with the playful swagger of a full-blown pop star. Elsewhere, the bruised ‘In Or In Between’ is set in the giddy-yet-frightening uncertain early days of a newfound romance, while ‘That’s Mr Bitch To You’ is a surf-pop gem as silly and fun as its title suggests.

Though debut album ‘Super Monster’ - out this month as the first release on Phoebe Bridgers’ Saddest Factory label - tells stories of romantic fumbles and late-night adventures (all largely non-pandemic activities), lockdown has been a particularly fruitful time for Claud in terms of songwriting. 50 songs were originally on the table for the record, and the pile is stacking up once again for what comes next.

Before they recorded under their own name, Claud played music as part of the duo Toast, formed with Joshua Mehling, their classmate at Syracuse University. When the pair’s priorities clashed - Joshua stayed studying while Claud craved the touring lifestyle - the songwriter went out alone, taking on their first name. While simply a logical step for many solo songwriters, naming the project this way stood as a deeper, more symbolic move for them.

"I had started going by Claud in my personal life shortly before I made it my artist moniker," they explain.

"Claud was only something that my family and really close friends called me, and when I started asking people to call me that, it felt like everybody

While largely crafted in bedrooms across America, the album was mixed at Electric Lady Studios in New York - an experience that was at once a personal dream come true for Claud, and one that gave the album its title.

The night before they were due to leave Electric Lady, Claud was presented with a sketch by the late, great Daniel Johnston from studio manager Lee Foster, who handles the songwriter’s artwork in wake of his passing.

Johnston had named the piece ‘Claud the Supermonster’. "I write about feeling like a creature or a monster a lot in my own work, and so did Daniel," Claud explains, taking the title for the album and creating their own artwork from Johnston's inspiration.

Already falling into a lineage of great American songwriters past, present and future, Claud then linked up with Phoebe Bridgers, becoming the first signing to her new record label, Saddest Factory.

and especially to stray from the often dangerous major label path ("It's really awful the way labels take advantage of smaller, younger, less experienced artists,” they say), Claud says they only signed due to wanting a team of like-minded people around them, and for Phoebe’s understanding of the artist’s side of these relationships. "The first time we met, we got breakfast and she wore a suit,” Claud remembers.

“Very much a businessman vibe!"

Though ‘Super Monster’ is a supremely exciting and revealing first step, Claud is keen to point out that it is indeed just a first step. "Your first album is as raw and shaky as your first words,” they say, and the loose genre restraints on the album leave the door wide open for the singer to choose whichever path they want as they continue to grow.

“This is a declaration of honesty,” they confirm, “and I want it to be an introduction to me, more than anything else I’ve ever released.” Nice to meet you, Claud. DIY

Your first album is as raw and shaky as your first words.”

With initial plans to stay independent,

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Leeds quartet Yard Act are offering up a glimpse into the complex characters we share our lives with; now’s the perfect time to get acquainted with their world. Words: Sarah Jamieson. Photo: Emma Swann.

A new neighbour called Graeme, a proud graduate of the University of Life; a woman named Grace, who’s just killed her imaginary husband via a peanut allergy; the mysterious Trapper, who flogs fur pelts on a Monday afternoon. These are just a few of the curious characters that Leeds quartet Yard Act have given us a glimpse of in their singles so far.

Having formed in 2019 when bassist Ryan Needham moved in with vocalist James Smith and the pair decided to make good on countless promises of working together, it didn’t take long for Yard Act to solidify themselves as a band with a knack for curious character studies. First came ‘The Trapper’s Pelts’, a stomping stream of consciousness which introduced their world, before its follow-up ‘Fixer Upper’ - in which James embodies the aforementioned Graeme - arrived in all its spiky post-punk glory.

“I did an interview with someone and they said, ‘Oh, Graeme’s a horrible person and I hate them and I’d never want to meet them’,” notes James, when digging into the subject of his characters. “I got really defensive,” he laughs.

“He’s this amalgamation of men I grew up with and knew, and I was like, ‘No, they’re not! They’re an idiot, but they only have the resources that have [made] them into the person they are.’”

For James, his satirical storytelling arrives as less of a political statement and more an exploration of the grey areas within society. In their four tracks so far - see also: ‘Peanuts’ and ‘Dark Days’ - he’s invited listeners into the stories of a distinctly eclectic group of individuals. And while he manages

to do so in a deft, tongue-in-cheek manner, this is not about pointing and laughing at people’s lives.

“Even though the songs can sound really specific,” James explains, “I think it’s really important that you can still take different things away from it, and there’s never necessarily a statement being made. That’s not something I’m particularly interested in; putting my own opinion on things to a point where I’m telling people that I’m right. Life itself is such a complex thing that people should just let [the songs] wash over them, and take what they want from it.

“Writing in different characters has been really liberating,” he nods. “But you have to remind yourself, and everyone else, that these people do exist and the world isn’t this place where people are perfect. People are fundamentally flawed and that’s really important. It doesn’t make them bad people.

Everyone has their issues, or their problems, and we can detest them or laugh at them, but it’s just part of life and cracking on with it.”

It’s this potent narrative that has already marked them out from the crowd; despite having only been able to play three shows to date, they’ve already bagged spots on the 6 Music playlist and have “been selling t-shirts to Brazil and America.” James is even working on a companion book, which began life as a 2,000 word short story and has now grown into a 30,000 word novella. Safe to say, they’ve gained an opportunity that - thanks to previous musical endeavours in Post War Glamour Girls and Menace Beach - isn’t lost on them.

“I think part of the reason that Yard Act has been doing quite well quite quickly is because we’ve learned from past mistakes,” James agrees. “Even after ‘Trapper’s Pelts’ came out, we knew it was different to anything that either of us had previously done. Something was registering, and both Ryan and I made a pledge to each other of, ‘Yeah, we’ve been doing this for years, we clearly wanna do it so let’s make sure we do it properly and not fuck it up.’ So far, so good…” DIY

People are fundamentally flawed and that’s really important.” The boys of Yard Act in the yard (milkshake not pictured).

20 DIYMAG.COM

James Smith

FLO MILLI

Fierce Alabama-raised rapper making non-stop bangers.

PIXEY

The new Chess Club signing encouraging us all to just move.

NYC art punks adding a whipsmart new voice to the fold.

Bands from New York making sharp, angular music with one lyrical eyebrow raised are hardly a new thing. Throw back several decades to Talking Heads or cast your eye merely around the current crop (see: Public Practice, Bodega and more) and you’ll find a legion of welldressed clever kids deploying razor-sharp guitars and even sharper tongues. That Gustaf have already become a firm 6 Music fixture and indie one to watch after only two songs, then, shows just how good their first moves are: not just rehashing the past, the quintet are already finding sparky new routes within it.

Listen: Just try wrenching the see-sawing bassline from debut ‘Mine’ out of your head.

Similar to: That effortlessly cool music playing in a Brooklyn secondhand record shop.

MOA MOA

Warped psych-pop wonderlands courtesy of the South London five-piece.

If Unknown Mortal Orchestra was five mates from the UK instead of one guy from New Zealand, you could anticipate the result sounding a bit like moa moa’s first two singles: far-reaching psych-pop nuggets that delve into the burbling fantasy lands of UMO and the like, but with the added blessing of multiple vocals and inter-band chemistry.

Last spring’s ‘Yellow Jacket’ introduced a smooth psychfunk-R&B hybrid; November’s ‘Spinning’ proved it was no fluke.

Listen: Those crunching synths on ‘Spinning’ - phwoar.

Similar to: Music nerds who also know how to throw a party.

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GUSTAF

Not many artists can claim that their big musical breakthrough came after being hospitalised with a near-fatal virus, but that was certainly the case for Liverpudlian multiinstrumentalist Pixey, who used her 2016 life incident to propel her into picking up instruments and learning how to write and make music. And thank goodness she did - because the new Chess Club signee is really rather wonderful. Offering up liberating, multi-faceted pop songs like she’s been doing it her whole life, if good vibes are what you’ve been searching for, look no further.

Listen: The addictive ‘Just Move’, which blends together Primal Scream grooves with the kind of swooning vocals ‘Ray Of Light’-era Madonna would be proud of.

Similar to: The Verve, The Prodigy and De La Soul are all on her inspo list.

As soon as she spit the instantly iconic line “Flo Milli shit, bitch” over breakthrough single ‘Beef FloMix’ it was clear that Flo Milli was destined for greatness, further backed up when debut mixtape ‘Ho, Why Is You Here?’ arrived in its full ferocious glory last year. Teaming hard beats with her bubbly delivery of cutting lyrics, the rapper has established herself at the forefront of the new rap scene, and her bad bitch empowerment anthems will have anyone and everyone feelin’ themselves. ` Listen: Debut mixtape ‘Ho, Why Is You Here?’ is a no-skip masterpiece.

Similar to: The bangers you listen to at pre-drinks to psych yourself up for a killer evening.

PRIYA RAGU

Fusing Sri Lankan roots with Western electronics to create an irrepressible blend.

Billie Eilish has Finneas behind the scenes, and now Zurich-based Priya Ragu has Japhna Gold: her producer brother who, alongside the singer, has helped to craft an already-recognisable signature sound that you sense could take Ragu global. Debut ‘Good Love 2.0’ - with its warm blend of R&B-infused pop and nods to the music of her Sri Lankan heritage - has already been jumped on by Little Dragon, Honey Dijon and Joe Goddard, who’ve all remixed the track. It’s only a matter of time before even more eyes start turning in her direction.

Listen: New single ‘Chicken Lemon Rice’ builds on the insatiably earwormy foundations of her debut.

Similar to: A vibrant fusion to help squash the 2021 wintery sads.

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From online personality to drill superstar-in-themaking, Ivorian Doll is charging forward and taking no prisoners.

Words: Elly Watson.

Making the leap from YouTube to music has long been slightly frowned upon (we’re looking at you, Jake Paul), but more and more artists from unlikely beginnings are proving they’ve got the skills to cut it in the music game, and Ivorian Doll is the latest to stake her claim.

Having made her name revelling in online drama with her story time videos, the East London artist was always interested in music, pretending to be part of The Pussycat Dolls with her pals at school and idolising the likes of Nicki Minaj and Missy Elliott. However it wasn’t until she linked up with fellow rapper Abigail Asante in 2018 to drop tongue-in-cheek first single ‘The Situation’ that it all clicked.

Although the friendship went “kind of left,” Ivorian Doll was hooked on music, deciding to give it a proper go while honing her craft by listening to Foxy Brown and Lil' Kim, and trying to replicate the distinctive voices of the “old school” greats. “I was holding myself back [before],” she emphasises. “A lot of people were telling me that YouTubers were seen as a gimmick and not really seen as true artists, so I made the decision to come off YouTube and focus solely on music.”

People like that unapologetic person and that’s what I put out every day.”

It was evidently the right decision, and since that first single Ivorian Doll has gone from strength to strength. She calls herself the “queen of drill” - a lofty proclamation perhaps, but one that she’s backed up with a string of fiery singles that see her spitting cut-throat lines over magnetic beats. Take hater-baiting banger ‘Rumours’ for proof, which sees IVD calling people out for talking shit. All together now: “I don’t top small dicks, full stop."

“I think maybe in the UK they feel like they haven’t seen something like that in a while,” she says of the reasons behind her explosive blow up. “I try and make my music really fun, and people like that unapologetic person the person who doesn’t really care. That’s what I put out every day. I’m doing me!”

With an EP on the way that she promises will show just how much she’s grown since going viral, now Ivorian Doll is ready to conquer the next big milestone. "I wanna be getting awards!” she laughs. “I want all of them! I want every single one! I think it’s possible if I just keep my head down and keep going.”

Now, that’s an idea we can get behind. DIY

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Having holed away for the majority of the past year, now Brighton eccentrics and Class of 2020 stars Squid have finally announced news of their long-awaited debut. ‘Bright Green Field’ lands on 7th May via Warp and, judging by our recent check in with singer Ollie Judge, it’s gonna be a curveball!

“Maybe not consciously, but we have ended up making a really fucking weird record. My mum said it’s ‘a grower’, which I didn’t initially know how to take, but it’s grown on her now…” Ollie told us back in December.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed that we can hear its weird and wonderful wares in some actual bright green fields by summer, eh?

5+))*'&("*66+Paul Jacobs, drummer of Montreal faves Pottery, is getting ready to step out from behind the wheel… er, we mean, skins, and release his debut solo album. ‘Pink Dogs on the Green Grass’ is due in April via Blow The Fuse, and comes preceded by debut single ‘Half Rich Loner’ - a shuffling, ‘60s-indebted affair complete with an animated video also drawn by Jacobs.

“For ‘Half Rich Loner’ my only rule was that the character needed to be alone, and for the visuals to reflect the feeling of the music. Also I always visualize the drum part while listening to this song, so I was sure to animate some drums,” he explains.

1$<<( =**%

Every week on Spotify, we update DIY’s Neu Discoveries playlist with the buzziest, freshest faces. Here’s our pick of the best new tracks:

)#)*(,!'#*(0('$11*'1#-% Where last year’s ‘you broke me first’ dominated with its throbbing drops and fuck-you chorus, Tate’s first offering of 2021 is comparably more unassuming. Built around the simple but effective idea of snapping the titular rubberband ("on her wrist, on her wrist") in the aftermath of recent heartache, it’s another slick but pulsating effort that shows her talent for creating modern heartbreak anthems.

#.2+()+,.(0(!#-3)()+$!4(,* All the buzziest new music happenings, in one place.

&#66(;$**They say you should never meet your heroes, but it looks like Class of 2021 star Baby Queen would probably be just fine if she ever had an IRL encounter with Hole singer and all-round legend Courtney Love.

Posting a lengthy Instagram caption declaring her new obsession with BQ (aka Bella Latham), Courtney declared, “Lyrics SO good.

Choruses SO good. Visuals SO good. Compositions… Better than anyone else’s lately. Fuck YES.” If someone’s not already making that collab happen behind the scenes then we’ll be FUMING.

)4* 5"#&".6)

Want to stream our Neu playlist while you’re reading? Scan the code now and get listening.

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We can never say no to a new hybrid-pop bop, and Toronto newcomer Aiko Tomi is here to deliver the goods.

‘Can’t Touch Me’ is part pop, part rap, part hip hop, part dance, and all parts fab. Described by Aiko as “an unconventional banger for creatives-at-heart,” this ever-changing ear worm will be going round and round your head all day.

#-+'#2(5#)!4(0(.'#)* Whilst it would be easy to fixate on Anorak Patch’s ludicrously young age (their drummer is 14, the others 16), the Colchester quartet’s first offering for tastemaker label Nice Swan stands up as a vital, visceral cut from a band of any demographic. Pinned around a see-sawing, mathy bassline, and climaxing with a big Wolf Alice cathartic pay-off, there’s little here - contrary to its title - to be mad about.

"&-26(0(7*/*'&+-*36(4+)( 8#-%(.3,(-+)93 Continuing to blaze his own trail of outsider queercore bangers, ‘Everyone’s Hot (And I’m Not)’ is the tongue-incheek flip-reverse of every motivational self care Instagram post doing the rounds. Taking a sideways approach to selfdeprecation and turning it into hilarious lyrical quips (“My bread roll doesn’t taste good to the ducks / And the kids don’t want the candy in my truck”), the punchline is, of course, that right now Lynks is actually pretty hot property indeed.

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Equally attuned to the modern and the mystical, 22-year-old Lauren Auder is carving out an artistic space in her own image.

Words: Lisa neu Wright.

“It would be dishonest to claim we don’t have these extremely at-odds experiences with the world. As much as I love my Renaissance bullshit, I can’t pretend I’ve never seen a car or I don’t go on my phone first thing in the morning, because I definitely do,” chuckles Lauren Auder. “Things coexist constantly.”

Zooming in from her East London bedroom, her background wall decorated with ribbons and a pentagram (“It’s not a satanic pentagram!

It’s just a nice star!”), the 22-year-old musician’s conversation nods to these contradictions with nary a thought - at one moment referencing the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung, the next enthusing about her favourite scenes of SoundCloud rappers.

Spending her teenage years in the medieval French town of Albi, she explains, “forced [her] to be more creative with [her] mischief”; with no real local music scene available to her, save for a slightly-too-late indie rock revival (“a lot of skinny jean action going on”), Lauren's only option was to go digging - both around the internet and back into the past - for inspiration.

“We’ve got so many centuries of human culture that have led to where we are today; the intertextuality of everything means I can look at anything and have a reference point,” she enthuses. “It’s always been appealing for me to lean into that.

It feels right for me to explore the world in a way that’s at least attempting to make more sense of it.”

24 DIYMAG.COM

Personally, meanwhile, this month’s EP ‘5 songs for the dysphoric’ marks Lauren’s first material as an out trans woman. Featuring collaborations with Celeste, Clams Casino, Danny L Harle and more, the period of intense personal growth has, she says, nourished her creative relationships too. “It was very hard for me before to work intimately with people that aren’t my close friends, because whatever I talk about is gonna be hyper personal.

So from that perspective, it’s really hard when you’re not fully out or even just fully comfortable with yourself in general to then go into a space when you’re obviously going to be extremely vulnerable,” she nods. “But now it kind of feels right and fine to do that; I don’t feel intimidated by that idea, and I have more confidence in my own singing and lyrics and capacity to be in a room with someone as a musician and make things.”

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Musically, that attitude has led to a rich sonic palette that sprawls between styles, its dense yet beautiful layers landing somewhere between the cathartic exorcisms of Wu Lyf and the classical-nodding majesty of Moses Sumney, with some evocative Lanaesque sad romance thrown in for good measure. “It’s always been in the DNA of my music to have all these influences and to make a space for all these disparate worlds to go,” she explains.

“There are metal tracks I’ve made and a bunch of rap songs I’ve produced and hidden away; I guess it’s just paying homage to all the things that have created me as a little being.”

I’m probably very irritating in that way,” she grins. “Discussing my political beliefs feels like an important thing to do on record and figuring out a way to do it has been a big journey. I just want it to not be vapid and in vain or virtue signal, but to truly talk about the emotional repercussions of living in this capitalist hellscape. You know?!” she laughs again. “I guess that’s what I’m going for! To try and give a space to how that affects you on a very human level. I think it’s a worthwhile pursuit, so let’s see if I achieve it.” DIY

I want to truly talk about the emotional repercussions of living in this capitalist hellscape.

You know?!”

Directly referencing her experiences on the release’s title - “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that word on a record? And I guess that’s something that I would have wanted [to see growing up]” - ‘5 songs…’ nonetheless focuses on “the collateral of this experience, of how that influences the way you navigate the world and relationships - not necessarily the experience itself”. A snapshot of an incredibly formative period, its tracks are personal and vulnerable, their often-gorgeous lyrics (“With you, I grew big and mighty / Small and infinitely yours,” opens ‘quiet’) cloaked in swells of expansive sound that are begging to fill majestic church venues across the land.

Next, Lauren will continue work on a debut LP. Currently obsessed with the Manic Street Preachers and their combination of earworm melodies and dense intellectual reference points, the aim is “to Trojan horse a lot of political and extremely personal and brutal things into something that can be immediately understandable and resonant on an emotional level”.

“Music is an exorcism of a lot of things I don’t want to necessarily have to touch on all the time - although I probably do; if you ask anyone I know

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26 DIYMAG.COM

nasty girl A self-proclaimed weirdo, Rico Nasty

has always embraced her otherness, creating her own unique world

that’s informed debut studio

album ‘Nightmare Vacation’. Now,

using her uniqueness to raise up others who she’s

feel like they’ve got no one else to turn to - and looking fucking great while doing it.

Words: Elly Watson.

Photos: Jesse Draxler.

27

A

t what point do you know that you’re approaching superstar status? Perhaps when you find you have a critically-acclaimed debut album, millions of adoring fans, a musical style that you’ve pioneered, and near-universal acclaim under your belt?

“Oh my god, I don’t feel that shit at all!” laughs Rico Nasty. “I fucking wish that I could say that I feel this shit because I’m not an artist who’s like, ‘Oh, I’m so cool’. But I actually watch people’s interviews and be like, ‘Damn, they feel it? They feel famous? How the fuck!’ I don’t feel anything. I just feel like a person who has a real poppin’ Instagram…”

However, though she may not quite be feeling it yet, Rico is well on her way to becoming an icon (outside of looking killer on the ‘gram, of course). Having buzzed about on rap's sidelines for several years, delivering a handful of fiery mixtapes that showcased her self-coined ‘sugar trap’ style and signature growling vocals, her debut studio album ‘Nightmare Vacation’ arrived in its full unfiltered glory late last year, proving that if you didn’t already know who Rico was, it was time to crawl out from under that rock and get informed.

Born Maria-Cecilia Simone Kelly in Maryland in 1997, Rico was always surrounded by music; her parents, she notes, would even put headphones on her mum’s stomach while she was pregnant. Yet though she’d always wanted to give music a go herself, the young Maria-Cecilia’s insecurities and need to provide for her family and young son held her back at first.

“I just didn’t even know what that sounded like coming out of my mouth. Like, ‘Hey guys, I wanna be a rapper!’ I couldn’t take myself serious,” she recalls. “I always felt like I wasn’t good enough. So it wasn’t until I graduated high school when I was like, even if I’m not good enough I could be good enough to get a little bit of money? I don’t have to be good enough to be a fucking superstar or nothing like that, but I could be good enough to take care of my family.

“I feel like that was what made me take myself serious; coming home to my son after I’d worked all day and not made any fucking money, and I hate my job and all the energy that I probably would have for him - being happy to see him - is wasted by being exhausted at work. Coming home, catching Ubers, catching the bus, waking up early; I couldn’t really enjoy having a kid. And don’t get me wrong, when you’re 19 you shouldn’t really enjoy having a kid. Like, you shouldn’t have had a fucking kid. But you should at least have a moment when you come home from work and you appreciate your life and I wasn’t having that. I started getting scared

that I would grow up hating my whole life and hating my kid and everything just because I didn’t do what I wanted to do.”

After getting in trouble for constantly writing bars on her phone at work, ultimately Rico was inadvertently pushed into following her dream.

Being fired from a job that her mum helped her get, she was provided with just the push she needed. “I got fired from the job. It was just like I HAD to get the fuck out,” she explains. “And all this was going on and I was writing [debut single] ‘iCarly’. I wrote ‘iCarly’ at work, and I took the last cheque that they paid me and I used that for the music video and it went viral, and I just figured like nothing in my life has ever gone this seamlessly. Nothing in my life has ever been this easy, so I might as well take the bull by the horns.”

D

ropping back in 2016, the track acted as the introduction to Rico’s sugar-trap world, melding cartoonish influences with impressive musical flow. Soon, the track was followed by more viral moments: 2017’s ‘Smack A Bitch’, ’Poppin’ and ‘Key Lime OG’.

The fans came flocking in their hordes (Rico’s Instagram is pushing towards the two million mark by the day), equally drawn in by outstanding wardrobe choices that could see the rapper fit seamlessly on a Fashion Week front row or get down and dirty in the grottiest mosh pits. “I’ve always

“

been an exhibitionist and I have always worn shit because I like the way people look at me when I wear it, and I’ve always gotten in trouble for not wearing the uniform because I wanna wear my own shit,” she says.

“It kind of got to that point where I was like, if I’ve got all these eyes on me I should look the way that I wanna look, right? And if they’re gonna talk shit about it, at least I know that they’re paying attention.”

Any outfit in particular that you’re talking about? “It was always my boots!” she laughs. “Girls would do fucking interviews and be like, ‘Yeah I just hate those big ass boots that bitches be wearing! I hate those big boots!’ And that’s how I knew they were talking about me because I’m the only person who wears those type of boots anymore but I don’t care, bitch!

Fuck you! I will step on your bitch ass!

Move out the way!

“There’s so many other women who are beautiful and amazing and dress like everyone else, and everyone still gives them shit! So it’s like, what the fuck?! But it’s always just the wardrobe shit though; people can’t really talk shit about the music because it’s music and I take a lot of pride in that. The worst part about me is probably the way I look to people.”

Using her individuality to her strength, Rico has since established herself as a voice for the “weirdos”, having always felt like an outsider herself. It’s this ballsiness and unfiltered energy that

I started getting

scared that I would grow up

hating my whole life and hating my kid just because

I didn’t do

what I wanted

28 DIYMAG.COM

“

to do.

“

“

I’d tell all my fans, ‘It’s okay - you’re weird now, but they’ll

your dick later, I promise'.

suck

Thrice as Nasty > twice as nice.

29

30 DIYMAG.COM

“

If they’re gonna talk shit about the way I lo ok , at least I know

th ey’re paying

attention.

has been difficult to navigate whilst coming into the still-male dominated world of hip hop. “I was just making music and then it was like, ‘Oh you’ve got to be fucking pretty and perfect too!’. I was like, ‘Fuck this’,” she emphasises. “I kind of just stopped trying to please people. That was really the moment. When I started seeing my fans gravitating to my shit and I was like, well if they like this then why the fuck do I have to give in to all this pressure of what a female rapper or any female artist should be?

“As of now, I don’t really feel connected to any of my male counterparts or peers,” she notes.

“I’m not sexualised enough for them to be comfortable with me because I genuinely feel like they’re just thrown off by me. When you’re in the position of ‘You’re the rough one. You’re the aggressive one. You’re the fucking dark one', it’s kind of just alienating.

People don’t really talk to you. But I like it that way.

“When I feel this uncomfortable way that I feel, I don’t try to fit in,” she confirms. “I always remember that whenever I’m feeling uncomfortable like this, that it’s only for a moment and I get to go home to my kid and my friends and my family and they don’t think that I’m weird. As long as there’s never a time when my friends pull me to the side like, ‘Bitch, you’re really weird as fuck’ then I’m fine! Fuck these people! I always try and keep myself happy by knowing that there’s no

“

th at

one else that does what I do. So that makes me happy. I don’t have to fight to be who I am, I just am.”

I

t’s this message of remaining 100% true to yourself and fucking off the haters that has seen Rico’s fanbase swell.

With fan group chats “on Instagram, on Twitter, on WhatsApp, everywhere!”, she considers her Nasty Mob as some of her best pals. Her shows, she hopes, act as chances for them to be unapologetically themselves.

“I’d tell all my fans, ‘It’s OK - you’re weird now, but they’ll suck your dick later, I promise',” she laughs. “I’ve been at festivals and seen girls in spikes and I just be like, I KNOW they’re my fans! They’ll be fans of other people [too], don’t get me wrong, we’re not a cult! But they came dressed like me! You know who they’re here for, god damn it! That shit is kinda cool. I look at that like the Nicki [Minaj] influence, bro. I remember as far as women go, I had my bangs bitch, I had my Nicki bangs. If Nicki ever reads this interview: Nicki, my hair been fucked up ever since! Ever since, bitch! I’ve had permanent bangs ever since fucking 2008!”

Although unable to make those safe spaces happen IRL right now, December’s ‘Nightmare Vacation’ delivered a much-needed new shot of Rico bangers. A snarling debut that hops from hyper-pop to punk, to hip

hop and back again, it’s a biting and confident record that hits hard from start to finish, showing Rico’s love for experimentation all over it. “I definitely think that’s something I’m drawn to,” she nods, “Even when I used to paint, I’d mix mediums. I would always mix shit up. It’s just how my brain works!

If I hear something that I like, I don’t like to create a boundary that it can’t go where I think it should go. Music is about hearing something and saying this might not be where it belongs but this could be a home for it. This could be a new home or a little apartment, you know?

“When it comes to experimenting, I just feel like everyone in my generation, because of the internet, doesn’t have a timeframe of our own music. The people from the ‘70s, they had ‘70s music because they couldn’t get on the internet and listen to shit from the ‘50s or the ‘60s unless they knew people who had that shit. With the internet, I grew up not having a genre. I was listening to Amy Winehouse at eight years old; I was listening to Nirvana at 13. Then, in the middle of that, I’m going down to the country with my cousins and we’re listening to Destiny’s Child, singing it word for word. I’m listening to Rihanna, I’m listening to Nicki, I’m listening to Gaga, I’m listening to Adele. It’s everywhere, bro!”

Now continuing that experimentation, Rico already has a new project on the way, which she describes as “a bunch of different moods - happy pills, if you will”. “I just think it’s like, this is probably the only artist you could put on and you’re gonna have fun.

snake mom

Rico’s latest addition to the family comes in the form of a scaly new son.

“He’s called Voldemort! I was getting bashed a lot from the snake community like, ‘You’re getting a snake just to be cool, you don’t know nothing about them’. And I did get a snake to be cool and I’m trying to learn every single day and I’m trying my best, so sorry that I’m not a fucking snake expert… He must be entering his adolescent stage now because every time I look in his cage he’s getting bigger. He’s meant to get to four or five foot, and bro, he’s big as fuck! When I first bought him, the rock that he be sleeping in, he was like a little worm, and now he’s like a whole thing under there. I’m scared!”

I guarantee it or your money back,” she grins. “If you get the stick up out your ass and stop worrying about why I don’t sound like anyone else, you gonna have some fun bro, I promise.

That’s what it really is, breaking it down. Like, ‘Bitch, you’re gonna have fun OK. We’re here to kick ass, we’re here to rage, we’re here to boss up!’

The music I make is for the people who tend to get shit on for being different in whatever way. They feel a little powerless, and that’s probably why they fuck with me because I wanna give them power just as much as I give myself power and make myself feel confident.”

Not only wanting to provide a voice for the outsiders, Rico now wants to expand her reach even further, aiming to use the free time that she’s found herself with in 2021 to give back and help others. “I wanna make a difference this year,” she emphasises.

“I wanna do something that isn’t just a good deed but something that’ll live with me forever, something that I can do forever and continue to do, whether it’s a programme or a charity or something like that. I feel like 2020 more than anything taught me that I genuinely don’t think in any way, shape or form possible that God could have blessed me like this for me just to use all of this shit for myself. All these resources for myself, all these things that I know just to know them; I feel like I’m supposed to share with people.

"With all these female rappers, I feel like if we started something like that and they were willing to work with me on something like that, it would inspire a lot of other girls who are probably in college to reach out and I would fund some shit like that! I would invest money in that to keep that legacy going and keep that going. We’ve got to have each other’s backs, bro. I’m really starting to see that. The phrase has always been ‘It’s every man for themselves’ but really it’s every woman for themselves.

“There’s a lot of women that get put on their ass for not being the type of woman that people want them to be and that shit’s heartbreaking,” she sighs. “It always hits me the same because I feel like I was right there.

I was right there, my mom kicked me out and I had a baby and I didn’t know what I was gonna do, and I had to figure that shit out. Imagine if I had somewhere to go in that time, to not feel like I was a burden on anybody but just genuinely like, this is what they’re here for? That’s what I want to do this year. I want to make a fucking difference.”

Becoming a voice for the outsiders musically and, critically, through her actions too, it looks like Rico Nasty’s legend status is closer to being unlocked than ever.

‘Nightmare Vacation’ is out now via Atlantic. DIY

31

In the Rico vs Goat Girl scare-off, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re sorry to say there was a clear winner.

GANG Examining the personal within the political via a second album that cements their special sonic alchemy, against

32 DIYMAG.COM

of

W

hen Goat Girl signed to Rough Trade back in July 2016, they ticked off a career milestone just as the UK was sealing its fate with the Brexit referendum.

Two years later, their self-titled debut landed against the backdrop of #metoo and a seemingly never-ending slew of crimes enacted against women. Now, the four-piece have just released follow-up ‘On All Fours’. In terms of global events, it’s a choose your own adventure of chaos as to how the history books will remember the start of 2021.

It’s perhaps inevitable then that the band - vocalist Lottie ‘Clottie Cream’, guitarist Ellie ‘L.E.D’, drummer Rosy Bones and bassist Holly Hole, who joined ahead of the writing of their second - have always leant in to addressing the injustices around them.

Growing up, both as people and as artists, during one of the most consistently turbulent periods of modern history, the shadow of a world out of balance, destroying itself from the inside out, hangs over their entire outlook - from the seething lyrics that populated their debut to the protest signs that fill the window of Lottie and Rosy’s London house. “Build a bonfire, build a bonfire / Put the Tories on the top / Put the DUP in the middle / And we’ll burn the fucking lot,” sung Lottie on 2018 track ‘Burn The Stake’.

“This lockdown’s shit,” begins Ellie bluntly today, as the usual Zoom introductory niceties disperse. “They should have just kept it locked down for longer the first time. It’s so fucking tactical, opening it up a little bit before Christmas so everyone will go into town and spend fuck loads of money.” “With the schools going back for one day as well; I swear that’s just so people went to go and buy new school uniforms and pencil cases and things,” agrees Holly. “Otherwise

the backdrop of a world on the brink of implosion Goat Girl are holding on to each other more than ever.

Words: Lisa Wright. Photos: Holly Whitaker.

33

why would anyone in their right mind make all the teachers and everyone go through that? Make people arrange for childcare and then go in for one day and cancel. It’s all to get the money in, it’s just mad.”

The four, Lottie explains while attempting to slyly eat a bowl of baked beans (the singer is nursing a slight post-birthday sore head, but claims to perversely “function best when hungover”), have been turning to comedian and all-round legend Daisy May Cooper’s piss-taking Instagram clips - “What if I’m a cat trainer but the cat lives in Berkshire but I need to train this cat?!” - for lockdown relief.

But while the farcical decisions being made by BoJo and co are ripe for the mocking, the main conversational mood today still lands between disbelief and rage.

“There’s a sense of helplessness and hopelessness, but there’s also people holding the government and these outsourcing companies accountable, like with this latest scandal with free school meals, which is fucking disgraceful. The only way you can make change now is by making people feel embarrassed and outed, which is so fucked up that they can’t do it just because it’s evil not to,” Lottie asserts. “Then you look at someone like Elon Musk. He’s now the richest man on the planet and he’s trying to use that money to create a society on Mars that you fly to and you work off your debt by working on Mars for the rest of your life. This man is fucking delusional, he needs help, and yet he can have so much impact.”

“These people that have so much wealth and power - there’s no test to make sure they’re decent people,” continues Holly. “When Donald Trump was suggesting that people inject themselves with bleach [to stop Coronavirus]... That someone with such little knowledge can be the most powerful person in the world is just beyond fucked.”

G

iven their passionate opinions and willingness to wear them on their sleeves - or, in the case of the ‘Fuck Tory Scum’ T-shirt Lottie was sporting when DIY last checked in with the band, on their chests - you could easily expect Goat Girl’s second to unleash an even more direct blast of lyrical fury. And yet, explains Ellie, ‘On All Fours’ arrives as a more “internal reflection” on it all. “The first album was very centred in social commentary but almost quite factual and quite reactive of what’s going on, whereas with this album it’s like, ‘This is happening - how is it making me feel? How can we change how we feel?’ Knowing what’s happening in the world and seeing how that affects us internally.”

Written across 2018 and 2019, in various hyper-collaborative stints that would find the four members swapping instruments and

34 DIYMAG.COM

experimenting with things they didn’t technically know how to play, the record is undeniably still rooted in the turbulent modern world, but comes cloaked with a more meditative, inward-looking focus. Lottie explains that, during much of the writing, she was going through a period of poor mental health. “I remember suffering from depression and anxiety quite a lot and not being able to get out of my head space. I felt like I wasn’t being creative enough and just putting loads of different pressures on myself,” she recalls. “[The album] ended up being really reflective because I was going through the process of getting counselling and exposing a lot about my emotions and why I was feeling these things. So there was an internal dialogue that reflects in the lyrics; it’s a snapshot of quite a dark period of time.”

Today, Rosy is absent from our interview due to their own personal health reasons, and the band acknowledge that these are issues they’re all prone to dealing with.

“We’re all quite anxious people, and so we have a mutual understanding about a lot of things,” Holly says.

Indeed, there’s a noticeable symbiosis between the band on record, in the four-part harmonies that run throughout and the unexpected melodic left turns they’ve become known for, that you suspect comes from this high level of interpersonal awareness and empathy.

“I think it’s important to mention that obviously we’re a band and it’s a kind of working relationship, but we’re friends and we care about each other and we really get on as people,” Holly continues. “In a way it’s quite an intense relationship because it’s more than a friendship and more than a work relationship - it’s the two combined so you need to be completely up to scratch with how people are feeling,” Ellie picks up.

“We’re all our own individual people but we’re also a collective and a unit, so in order to make decisions you have to be super compassionate and understanding all of the time. It can be hard at times, but on the whole I think that’s why we make the music that we do and why we’re able to create not only the music but everything that surrounds it to a degree where we’re all so happy with it. Because of how understanding we are with each other.”

M

oving from brutish imagery set against soft, hypnotic swirls on opener ‘Pest’, through wonky Metronomy synths (‘P.T.S.Tea’), cantering basslines and ravey outros (previous single ‘Sad Cowboy’) to the meditative self-analysis of ‘Anxiety Feels’, ‘On All Fours’ is a record that somehow manages to be both sensitive yet ambitious, gentle yet experimental. It’s a record undoubtedly centred around Goat Girl’s relationship as a unit, but

buoyed by the different flavours each member brings to the table.

“I think we’re quite different musically.

We literally don’t have the same music tastes at all, but we can agree on things,” Ellie chuckles. “It’s a very complicated Venn diagram with a few things that overlap, but when we’re all in a room together, that seems to dissipate but also shine through.”

“Our characteristics come together to create that little bit in the middle of the diagram, and between the four of us it morphs into something quite beautiful and crazy,” Holly agrees.

“I’m most proud of how we’ve managed to let all four of our personalities shine through. We come from different backgrounds of music and loves for different things, and we’ve combined that together. Our personalities are all quite different but we all get along, and I think that’s kind of what the album’s about as well,” Lottie nods. “I’m really proud that we were able to do that because I think

These people that have so much

wealth and

power -

there’s no test

to make sure they’re

decent

people. Holly Hole

it’s a really tricky thing to collaborate but this was so collaborative. It felt like we managed to get rid of our egos and really think about what was gonna make the song as good as it possibly could be.”

Having written their debut as teenagers, and released it having just broached their twenties (“It’s weird when you feel like you’ve changed as a person quite a lot and you’re still living in the [mindset] of a 15 year old,” Lottie explains of touring its wares for so long), the jump from the charming, rickety naivety of ‘Goat Girl’ to ‘On All Four’’s fleshed out, bright and brilliant palette perhaps shouldn’t be a complete surprise. “I realised that in the four years since we wrote the first album, I’ve learnt a lot as a guitarist and I should utilise that. I think all of our personal playing styles have developed loads and solidified,” Ellie notes.

WHEN WILL WE SEE EU AGAIN? The recent revelation that UK musicians will have to pay for visas to tour Europe has left the music community up in arms. How will it actually affect bands on the ground, we asked?

“The other day when we were all together, we never do this but we sat down after practice and shared a bottle of wine and I was thinking how mental it is the amount of interviews that we’re doing for this album and how many people are genuinely into our band,” Ellie smiles. “That was the moment for me where I was like, 'Oh shit - people actually like us'.

Before I didn’t really think we were anything, I thought we were just a small band on Rough Trade that no one knew, whereas it turns out maybe more people know and like us than I thought.”

“It’s quite a special thing, to be able to make music with people where you really enjoy it. I was in a band before that didn’t work out and I left and it was awful and I’ve not spoken to her since, and I just don’t think that would ever happen with us,” Holly continues.

“It’s a special thing to be able to make music with people that you care about

It’s a special thing to be

able to make

music with people that you care about and that’s not to be undervalued.

- Holly Hole and that’s not to be undervalued. It’s hard to find that creative connection.” “We were discussing one of the songs being played when we were all 70, these ancient people, our silver hair blowing in the wind…” Lottie grins.

They may be a long way off that milestone, and lord only knows what world we’ll be living in by the time we get there, but you can imagine Goat Girl still jamming in the old folk’s home. Still making some weird and wonderful sounds. Still friends.

‘On All Fours’ is out now via Rough Trade. DIY

re present

!

Holly: I think it’s still a bit too early to say, because we still don’t know what the rules are. Maybe we’ll be in a position where we’re getting fees that cover it, but before, any band could hop on the Eurotunnel and play a gig in France. It’ll be a lot more expensive than it was, and it’s too early to say about the ins and outs of it yet but it’ll have an impact for sure.

Lottie: In this moment that we’re living in, there’s a lack of care for the arts and a lack of nurturing it. But it’s always gonna exist, whether the government wants to fund it and nurture it or not.

And that drive creates the momentum to set up great spaces, great venues like the Windmill or DIY Space where musicians are thriving. There’s always gonna be that, and I think we just need to work with our times rather than feeling lost within them.

And yet the true skill of Goat Girl’s second album is in the humanity of it.

It’s a record that’s just as angry with the world around it, but that’s learnt to take a beat and work out how to process it all - one that understands you can only start to make waves in the wider world if you tend to and nurture what directly surrounds you first.

35

Ground C When the perma-party around their incendiary breakthrough debut stopped, Shame had to look inwards and work out their next steps. In followup ‘Drunk Tank Pink’, however, they’ve turned them into massive strides forward. Words: Lisa Wright. Photos: Ed Miles.

“

Normally people don’t want to talk about their feelings, let alone sing about them.” - Charlie Steen

36 DIYMAG.COM

Control “W

e’ve been blue-balled with Brixton Academy for a year now,” guitarist Eddie Green huffs, as various groans of agreement come from his four bandmates, sprawling on sofas beside him on a wintery pre-Christmas afternoon. “We were meant to put out the record in September and then play [the venue] in November,” informs vocalist Charlie Steen. “All of it would have already happened.”

The reasons for the delay hardly need explaining, yet the fact remains that Shame - entirely ubiquitous around their 2018 rise and that year’s debut ‘Songs of Praise’ - have been away for far longer than they ever intended. Having stomped their way around the globe, totting up more than 400 shows in support of the album and picking up end of year accolades and

stacks of music press column inches as they went, the surprisingly slow return of ‘Britain’s most exciting new band’ could have spelled trouble: the curse of the difficult follow-up rearing its head.

Yet, instead, ‘Drunk Tank Pink’ (finally released almost three years to the day after its predecessor) lands as a huge leap forward of a second album, full of playful Talking Heads-esque rhythms, personal examinations and an audibly strong relationship between its creators.

Turns out they’ve been sitting on it since last spring all along, the cheeky little tinkers, and far from a testing period of creative uncertainty, they actually spent its recording in the French countryside, eating foie gras in the bath. “The recording was such a wonderful thing to do,” recalls Eddie fondly. “It all started kicking off a bit with coronavirus and I remember Sean [Coyle-Smith, guitarist] being like, ‘I think this could be quite bad?’ And we were all like, ‘Nahhhh, more wine?’”

B

ack in the halcyon days of early 2019, however, the quintet - completed by bassist Josh Finnerty and drummer Charlie Forbes - had decided on some more purposeful time off.

Despite the band’s communal tendency to downplay their successes (“Even though there were lots of big exciting things that happened, I still remember lots of tragic things happening - ‘tragic’ as in ‘pathetically bad’,” notes Eddie of their game-changing year), Shame had undeniably been on a whirlwind ride.

And so, following their final ‘Songs of Praise’ show in Paris, they upped-sticks to various corners of the world for some down time. Or at least, down-ish…

“Sean and Steen went to Cuba and you fell asleep in a club,” Eddie howls, pointing at the singer. “And they wouldn’t let you in because they thought you were underage, so the guy they were with got up the Shame Wikipedia page to show the bouncer.” “That was the night I saw the best tattoo,” Charlie chips in with a trademark throaty cackle. “I was trying to have a conversation with this girl and she just turned her back to me and showed her neck which had the middle finger tattooed on it.”

Yoga retreats and mindfulness meditation it may not have been, yet it was when the band then regrouped in South London that the crash back down to reality really began to occur. All barely 21 when they’d released their debut, the five old friends had spent their formative years in a bubble of hedonism and hours-long van drives; for the first time since those early days, they’d stopped.

Now: the check back in to normality.

“When we were touring, everything was always new - new city, new person, new country - whereas when you’re back here, things are familiar, and we grew up here too so that familiarity was a weird thing to adjust back into. It all seemed

37

quite stale,” Steen explains. “When you’re touring you have a constant cause for celebration, whereas back here you’re not gonna get a coffee and then get a round of applause; you have to just get on with your life like everybody else.”

Did he miss the adrenaline of the applause? “I did hire someone to clap at me when we got back…” he jokes. “But I think the main thing is, on tour, you’re able to distract yourself from a lot. All the normal things that happen in life regardless of what you do - break ups, general anxiety, highs and lows - are a bit muddled when you add them together with touring. You don’t have to confront them, they can be delayed for long periods of time, so then you come back and realise you have a large chunk of your adolescence you’ve probably been ignoring for the past few hundred thousand miles.” “And that’s why everyone in a band is emotionally immature,” Eddie concludes.

Writing in the specifically-hued, self-described “womb” of his bedroom that would go on to inform the record’s title became a way for the singer to make sense of this new reality. “It was the only way I was gonna deal with that moment, through writing; it’s cathartic,” he explains. And from the seeds of ‘Human, For A Minute’ - the first track penned for the record, with its self-examining closing refrain (“I’m half the man I should be / Can’t you see”), began to unfurl a record fuelled equally by the doubt and questioning of their present, and the sonic excitement and increasing musical skill they’d gained from their many adventures before. Or, as Charlie puts it, “The world ends tomorrow, you might as well use the synths!

There was one comment on an Instagram photo we put up saying ‘PLEASE dont use any synths’, though…”

T

oday, as ever with the quintet, Shame interact in the way that only a bunch of still-young men who’ve known each other since they were pre-pubescent can. Perpetually ripping the piss, they all agree that any potential for ego would swiftly be batted down by the rest.

“We don’t take each other seriously enough,” Eddie shrugs. “If one person was to start throwing their weight around a bit we’d just laugh.”

It’s a dynamic that’s clearly ideal for touring (the capacity to have a good night out is clearly a talent that none of the five are lacking), but perhaps less suited to being vulnerable in the writing room.

“I think it’s a different challenge, knowing you’re gonna have to sing these songs live and they’re very revealing,” Steen begins of the more personal nature of ‘Drunk Tank Pink’’s lyrical arsenal.

“It’s a different thing, because you’re exposing

When it’s first come first served at the open bar…

38 DIYMAG.COM

yourself to strangers…”

“Don’t expose yourself to strangers, mate!” the others all variously chime in on cue.

Opening up, then, has evidently been a test - as much, if not more, between the members of the band as to the wider world. “The first people who hear it are your bandmates, who know the context of you and every experience you’ve had,” the singer nods, “so it’s a lot more revealing.

Normally people don’t want to talk about their feelings, let alone sing about them in a fucking room. Without a doubt, for me [showing the band the lyrics] is the most intimidating thing - and any lyricist I know says the same thing.”

Yet, within the album’s tales of restlessness (“In my room / In my womb / Is the only place I find peace,” goes ‘March Day’) and separation (“They say don’t live in the past / And I don’t / I live deep within myself / Just like everyone else”, ‘Snow Day’), are phrases that manage to cut quickly to the core. And it’s not only the singer whose shaken off any fears of pushing out of his comfort zone; across the record, guitar lines ping and dance around each other, while the rhythm section teeters on the line between tight and loose, allowing for a spectrum of different shades to emerge from the more linear foundations of their debut.

“When you’re touring you have a constant cause for celebration, whereas back here you’re not gonna get a coffee and then get a round of applause.” Charlie Steen

of being greeted by personal chefs and slipping off for away days against the backdrop of Paris Fashion Week. Toto, we’re not in Brixton anymore.

LET’S GET LYRICAL

On ‘Drunk Tank Pink’, Charlie Steen’s been using his pen to look inwards, but he’s still got other ideas...

Eddie: There’s still humour in the lyrics - maybe even more humour on this album in some parts.

Charlie: I think because of the period of time that both of the records have been written in, there are themes throughout them but it’s more about a process and an adjustment.

It’d be interesting to write an album in a month.

Eddie: Or just do a Joe Talbot and don’t write any lyrics until you go to the booth.

Charlie: That’s how people like Migos do it cos they have so many songs so they’re not gonna spend hours working on each one. More streams, more dreams.

Eddie: Stop trying to coin terms!

It all paints a picture of an album born, gestated and birthed in a wholly different way to their visceral, purposefully rough-around-the-edges debut. Written as more of a unit than ever before, with the benefit of hundreds upon hundreds of shows under their belt to keep them razor sharp, ‘Drunk Tank Pink’ conversely arrives as a studio album one that’s only ever had half its wares played live (“That feels mental,” says Eddie, with a disbelieving shake of the head. “That spins me out”), and whose whip-smart tracks have been polished into shape by the best of the best.

To those who’d written Shame off as a one-trick hype band, their second is the equivalent of that dodgy Cuban tattoo, shoving a firm middle finger up to anyone that gets in its way. “It’s weird to think all last year, people still thought we sounded like ‘Songs of Praise’,” Eddie muses, now the quintet are finally able to lift the curtain on phase two. “But the songs feel fresh again now they’re released; when people start engaging with them, they feel new again. I’ll die on this album’s hill!”

‘Drunk Tank Pink’ is out now via Dead Oceans. DIY

“We were trying to be ambitious with it, but there’s always a bit of uncertainty because there’s a pretty broad preconception of what we sound like.

In most people’s minds we still sound like ‘Songs of Praise’, but the good thing about the way people consume music these days is that people are a lot less territorial about what they listen to,” Eddie posits.

“So I think a band being more experimental or pushing the boat out a bit is nowhere near as much of a risk now as it would have been 20 or 30 years ago when you had armies of kids that only listened to one thing. So that gave us more flexibility to be carefree.”

“Maybe we just got better?”

Josh shrugs. “I think when we did ‘Songs of Praise’ we were trying to push the boat out, but we just got better at being able to do it. I think we thought ‘Songs of Praise’ was groundbreaking at the time.”

And if there’s a clearer visual that the passing of time has level-upped Shame from all directions, it’s their aforementioned French sojourn.

Decamping to La Frette studios at the very beginning of 2020 to work with super producer James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, Foals, Florence + the Machine), they spin tales

39

girl to the

front 40 DIYMAG.COM

On

Pale Waves'

forthright second album,

Heather Baron-Gracie

up as the vocal, dominant

is stepping

leader she’d always hinted she

could be. ‘Who Am I?’ - turns out the answer is perhaps more complicated than the

Manchester gang first suggested.

Words: James Balmont.

I

t's midday on a January Monday and Heather Baron-Gracie is 25 minutes late to her Zoom meeting with DIY. We don't complain, and for good reason - she'll later admit herself that she's "like a little lion cub that will rip someone's face off" if you catch her in a bad mood. "I was having trouble with my eyebrow," she offers on this occasion. "It was getting frustrating, I was throwing a bit of a tantrum."

It's a vague indication of what Pale Waves might have become since the release of their Top 10 album 'My Mind Makes Noises' nearly two years ago: something like The Heather Show. With that debut record, Pale Waves were Manchester's premier BFF band; proteges of The 1975 in both sound and tenacity. But like their older brethren, they’ve also demonstrated that transformations are simply a part of growing up. In the case of Pale Waves' frontwoman, it’s manifested in myriad forms: she's been notably more outspoken in publicly triumphing her queerness, but she's equally unapologetic for having seized the reins of her band to drive her own vision forwards.

When Heather decided to decamp to LA to write second record 'Who Am I?' without her bandmates, few could be blamed for wondering if some feathers had been left

Photos: Ed Miles.

ruffled at basecamp. Such concerns were hardly allayed when the album's cover art, which finds drummer Ciara Doran, guitarist Hugo Silvani and bassist Charlie Wood blurred into the background, was revealed. They don't even feature in the music video for anthemic second single 'She's My Religion' - replaced, apparently, by Heather's girlfriend, Kelsi Luck.

With the general public's eyebrows firmly raised, Heather and Ciara are here to clear the air.

Fortunately, it turns out there's more to 'Who Am I?' than meets the eye.

"I

t just wasn't working out," Heather barks, reflecting on the two years of non-stop touring that had left the band creatively stifled. Attempts to write a second album in tour buses, dressing rooms and hotel rooms had ended up lacking, and Ciara rues what came next. Formerly a stronghold of the band's creativity, theirs and Heather's collaborative songwriting was now circling a drain - a whole album's worth of demos were shelved, the drummer laments.

This fractured creative relationship would be mirrored by one of the most shocking events in the band's history: a serious bus crash in Europe that left Ciara, Hugo and Charlie shook.

"We honestly thought we were going to die," Ciara later told BBC News.

Heather was absent from the near-disaster, though, having travelled between shows by plane with her girlfriend; it was the most visible sign to date of the band's creative factions

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“

“

The confidence wasn't there before, and I'm not

good enough actress to fake it.

- Heather Baron-Gracie 42 DIYMAG.COM

a

being splintered. By that point, she was already writing Pale Waves' follow-up album in LA without Ciara and co. involved. Even today, in London, the frontwoman admits: "I only really came back for the music videos."

Despite her candour, however, Heather is steadfast: decamping to LA was not intended to be a slight. "I went to LA to see Kelsi," she says, referring to her partner, who has lived on the West Coast for nine years. "I wasn't happy. I had to go on that journey - it allowed me to breathe, and to naturally write music."

Stockholm Syndrome

Heather found her muse in Kelsi (and Pale Waves found Muse in the recording studio), but where did all these new sources of inspiration leave Ciara? "Me and Heather are both music writers," says the drummer. "I can't just stop that part of me."

Salvation was found in Sweden, of all places. "I came across this guy called Theo," Ciara recalls, just days before the band's pivotal bus crash. "I was actually just buying weed off him, but he's a musician, and he introduced me to [pop artist] Taphia Mi. We met up the next day in Stockholm, and we just connected.

Some things are just meant to be.

Kelsi's presence is hardly subtle on an album that is effectively a love letter to her.

'Easy' makes Heather's emotions clear ("Being in love with you is so easy," goes the chorus), while 'Tomorrow' even calls her by her name. The '90s-style video for 'She's My Religion', meanwhile, stars the couple as loversentwined in a blooming romance ("Ladies and gentlethems, stand for the lesbian anthem," one YouTube comment reads), and the duo are now co-directing the follow-up video for 'You Don't Own Me' together.

She's not so much a creative influence, then; she's Heather's muse. "Oh my God, completely," the singer exclaims. "It's like I was a seed in the ground and then she watered me, and I became this flower!"

What might sound like a case of the Yoko Onos, though, was not all black and white.

As Heather explains, the road to Pale Waves' second album was really one of self-discovery; it took someone like Kelsi to "subtract the toxic things out of my life," she

“

affirms, but the journey also took inspiration from elsewhere.

"O

n a daily basis I receive messages that are [often] very intense," Heather begins, before pausing in thought. "Me and Ciara are in the LGBTQ community. We attract people who feel like outsiders, [especially] younger kids who are struggling to come to terms with their sexuality, or coming out to their families."

It's a position that comes with a lot of responsibility, even pressure - and it's occupied a great deal of space on Heather's mind for some time. “It's a blessing and a curse," she says. "I get this validation from people online all the time, and that's incredible, [but at the same time] there's a sense of responsibility on my end to not fuck things up for the people who want our support."

One fan relationship was pivotal to Heather in reaching that conclusion. "She sent me a few messages, told me that she's gay.

She came out to her mum and her mum completely disowned her, hated the fact that she was gay, kicked her out of the house.

This girl was sleeping in the back garden, and now child support is getting involved and trying to take her to a new home."

"It broke my heart," Heather continues, earnestly. "And so I knew that going into the second album I needed to find a voice for those people a lot more."

across the 11 songs of 'Who Am I?' - from the fierce bark of "sexuality isn't a choice" on 'Tomorrow' (a lyric Heather had plastered across her jacket at the band's gig at London’s Forum in late 2019), to the cooing refrains of 'Run To'. But it took time to feel comfortable being "the person the fans wanted me to be," she admits. "The confidence wasn't there before, and I'm not a good enough actress to fake [it].

"It took being in a relationship with a person that I'm in love with," she declares. "[I wanted to do it] in a healthy way, rather than 'I kissed a girl and I liked it'."

Heather's creative bee-lining may have rocked the boat, but this, at least, was a message Ciara could get behind. They, of course, had been through a considerable transformation themselves recently. "It started with the bus crash," Ciara says, tentatively. "When something like that happens, it wakes you up. I started dressing more like how I felt inside afterwards, cutting off my hair, stuff like that. A lot of people have had those self-discoveries this year with the pandemic going on, and for me, mine happened to be that I'm not a girl.

"That was a huge thing for me," they continue. "Being uncomfortable with having breasts and a womanly body, working out that I had gender dysphoria… It was like discovering that I was gay all over again."

In 2021, Heather has found that voice. She sounds stronger, more defiant than ever

I had gender dysphoria…

It was like discovering that I was gay all over again.

- Ciara Doran Working out that

"I'm working with Ariel Beesley, too, and she's awesome," Ciara concludes.

"Working with other people is going to help Heather and me to write together in future. You learn how to get someone's art across the way they want, in their vision."

43

C

iara's pounding presence on 'Who Am I?', then, feels like a true hammering home of the album's values. But a musical transformation was needed to communicate that message honestly as well. For Heather, that would require a greater sense of control on her part after initial demos ended up sounding too much like what had come before.

It meant taking inspiration from the artists Heather grew up with: Avril Lavigne, Courtney Love, even Liz Phair - ‘alternative’ female artists each defined by their determination and emotional transparency. The '90s post-grunge, alt-rock sound felt throughout 'Who Am I?', then - from the acoustic strums of 'I Just Needed You' to the propulsive drums of 'You Don't Own Me' - feels decisive, and genuine. "I love that music too," Ciara is quick to point out. "It's about attitude, about screaming the lyrics out loud, rather than 'everyone, let's get in a circle and dance'."

"Alanis Morissette was a key influence on the songwriting," Heather explains. She cites smash 1995 single 'You Oughta Know' as a direct lyrical influence on lead single 'Change' ("Would she go down on you in a theatre?" mirrors Heather's "But you still wanna go down on me" on the latter). But there was more to the relationship than just a creative spark. "We actually got Alanis Morissette's guitarist to play some of the lead guitar parts on the album," Heather enthuses, citing producer Rich Costey as the well-connected middle-man who helped piece things together in the LA studio.

The album's recording - which brought the rest of the band into the fold - might have taken an even more unconventional turn in those strange days if it were not for the wonders of technology. "Every day Matt Bellamy would just come into the studio," Ciara recalls. "He was actually going to play bass after Charlie and Hugo went back," adds Heather, referring to her bandmates' return to the UK after things got ropey with the pandemic. "It would have been a cool story, but we managed to do it over the internet with the guys in the end."

"In the end, we've all gone through massive changes in our lives," concludes Ciara of the various bumpy rides of the past year. "But we're more honed in on who we are as individuals now."

"It's the title of the record," notes Heather. And you'd feel she's quite sure of the answer now.

And as for the future of the band? "Me and Heather have been through a lot together," says Ciara. "This isn't the worst thing that we've been through."

Heather, meanwhile, has no problem admitting that she's heading back to LA after the album is released - but this time it's because she's eager to get onto the next chapter.

Whether that's making music with Kelsi ("We probably will, you know. Just like Taylor Swift and her boyfriend, it's inevitable") or making a head start on another Pale Waves record is unclear. But for now, 'Who Am I?' carries the most important message.

“Normalising same sex relationships and speaking up about matters important not just to us, but our fans too, was a long time coming,” Heather concludes. “[This album] has done it justice. I'm glad I waited."

‘Who Am I?’ is out 12th February via Dirty Hit. DIY

44 DIYMAG.COM

“

There's a sense of responsibility on my end to

not fuck things up for the people

who want our support.

- Heather Baron-Gracie

The new album

Gadzook records

In print. Every month.

diymag.com/subscribe 45

With her gorgeous debut ‘Collapsed in Sunbeams’, Arlo Parks is offering up a glimpse of hope in the darkness, just when we need it most.

Words: Sarah Jamieson. Photos: Alex Kurunis.

46 DIYMAG.COM

“I

t all feels a little bit overwhelming because I’ve just been sitting at home, playing Scrabble and just vibing,” laughs Arlo Parks.

On surface level, her January sounds much like any other unassuming 20-year-old getting to grips with the new year. And yet, over the last twelve months, the London singer has managed to tick more off her bucket list than she ever could’ve imagined.

Take her recent collaboration with fashion powerhouse Gucci, for example - an experience that saw her work with director Gus Van Sant and appear in one of their ‘Ouverture Of Something That Never Ended’ shorts, starring alongside the likes of Billie Eilish and Florence Welch. Or perhaps her performance with Phoebe Bridgers, in which the pair offered up a haunting piano cover of Radiohead’s ‘Fake Plastic Trees’ for a Radio 1 session. Or even just the small matter of having Harry Styles like her posts on Instagram. “That was a special moment,” she almost-whispers giddily, “because I am such a

big fan.” The list of special moments for Arlo Parks right now seems endless. “It’s definitely been strange,” she concedes.

Away from her multiple celebrity admirers, meanwhile, some of the singer’s other achievements already include winning the Association of Independent Music’s One To Watch prize, becoming an ambassador for Independent Venue Week and being one of only three artists alongside Laura Marling and Nubya Garcia to play as part of Glastonbury 2020’s downsized edition.

“The beautiful thing about it is that I never expected any of it, so any of the incredible things - like working with Gus Van Sant, or singing with Phoebe - when those things have happened, I’m just kinda like, ‘Wow’. It’s so exciting,” Arlo smiles.

“I’m just really grateful because I remember at the beginning when the lockdown was announced and I hadn’t really written much of the album yet. It was like, am I gonna be creative? Is this project gonna become stagnant? Are people still going to be interacting with my work? The fact that people have been [doing that] on a greater scale than I ever could’ve imagined is incredible.”

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A lot of it is about stepping away from negative situations and setting up boundaries and prioritising oneself.

48 DIYMAG.COM

E

explains.

ven more remarkably, Arlo has done all this before even releasing her debut album. But pressing play on debut 'Collapsed in Sunbeams', it’s hard not to feel an instant sense of peace settle over you.

Whether it be the soft crackle that lies underneath the winding guitar line of its first track, like stray flecks of dust on a vinyl, or the gorgeous poem that begins the record - an introduction, of sorts, as to where the album will travel - there’s something intensely comforting about being welcomed into its hopeful warmth.

“It was actually the last thing I did,” Arlo says of the album’s title track, which was written in the same bedroom as she’s speaking from today.

Unsurprisingly, the literary-minded singer was always keen to weave a poem into her debut, but it was only after the spoken-word track was written that it found its place to open the whole show. “It just felt like a piece that invited people into my private world. Because it is so quiet and spacey and almost ethereal, it felt like quite a soothing way to transition into this world of vulnerability and all of these intimate stories,” she explains. Much like one of Shakespeare’s infamous prologues, it’s this opener that sets out the stall for the rest of the record: “Collapsed in sunbeams, stretched out open to beauty, however brief or violent. I see myself ablaze with joy.”

A deft journey that sees Arlo delve back to her younger years and explore some of the darker moments of her life, ‘Collapsed in Sunbeams’ nonetheless also strives to celebrate the simpler, more beautiful times we live through. Though breakthrough tracks ‘Hurt’ and ‘Black Dog’, both of which tackle the debilitating impact of depression, are present, Arlo assures us that they’re very much not the whole picture.

“It would be easy to colour the album with this brush of general melancholy and darkness,” she admits. “[But] a lot of it is about stepping away from negative situations, setting up boundaries and prioritising oneself - taking care of others, building relationships and learning from losses and negative experiences. It’s supposed to be bittersweet and I think part of being a human being - especially as a teenager - is going through those losses and those first big moments. What do you learn from that and how do you move forward, and process traumas and turn them into something positive?

Even the fact that I made this album - although I’m talking about painful things, hopefully this a project that people will hold dear and feel comforted by in those dark times.”

B

orn in the early throes of March 2020’s first lockdown, when Arlo and collaborator Gianluca Buccellati began work in a rented Airbnb, the challenging situation at hand allowed for Arlo to truly absorb herself in the process. “The fact that I was in lockdown and had nothing else to do other than sit and ponder what I wanted to say, and just pore over my journals, read and watch movies… I really felt like I was inhabiting the world of the record completely rather than having other external distractions. I think that it’s definitely an album that was written in a place of stillness and reflection.”

It’s this sense of reflection that runs throughout the album; across its 12 tracks, Arlo feels like our observant narrator, colouring in each song’s scene with her vivid imagery. No detail is left unmentioned, no character unnamed. “I was, at first, quite daunted by [the question of] what is the thread here? How am I gonna join all these experiences together, which are across different times in my life, different physical places, different people? But honestly, I just wrote the songs one by one,” she

“The way that I am, I operate from a very gutbased, instinctive place and I don’t really mull over things for a long time, for better or worse.

For me, I just try not to get in the way of myself.

It’s interesting but while I was making this album, it was as though something was writing through me. I know that sounds very kinda hippy-ish, but sometimes I felt like I was almost just a vessel and all these subconscious thoughts were flowing out of me. I didn’t want to get in the way of that, and I think there’s something quite beautiful about those unfiltered thoughts.”

From working with Paul Epworth to her own writing styles, here are a few insights into the different elements that went into making ‘Collapsed in Sunbeams’.

… Her style of writing

I’m somebody that’s always gravitated towards more sensory writing. I love talking about food and nature and flowers, or the physicality of someone. I like talking about eyes, I like mentioning music and pop culture references; that’s all just part of my tastes and that’s just how it comes out.

… Working with Paul Epworth

And while some of the more painful moments of life do very much rear their head here - whether it’s struggling with overcoming hardship in ‘Hope’, or the coming to terms with others’ views of your sexuality that runs through ‘Let Go’ - the process also became a liberating one for the singer. “When you’re looking at difficult experiences, there’s that feeling of, ‘Oh do I really wanna dredge this back up again?’” she agrees. “But through the process of writing some of these songs, I gained a sense of closure surrounding certain things. I think that whenever I write a song about something, I move a little way forward in releasing that difficult situation’s hold on me in a way. Especially when I can find the words to encapsulate a very complicated set of emotions. I always feel afterwards like yeah, a bit of a weight has been lifted from my shoulders.”

U

nsurprisingly, there’s something apt about such a thoughtful, consoling record as this being released right now. At a time where our worlds feel smaller and more limited than ever, ‘Collapsed in Sunbeams’ offers both a sense of comfort, and a reminder that good times will soon return.

It was a lot of fun. I’ve always gravitated towards people who have quite a free way of making music.

When I was working with Paul, a lot of the music that we made just came from jamming. I could tell how much he loved music, and that’s something I look for in collaborators.

There was no sense of ego there.

It felt very easy and natural.

“I want people to realise that traumatic or difficult experiences are ones that you don’t have to inhabit, you can work through them,” Arlo says of the message she’d like to leave listeners with. “I want people to feel like it’s OK to be vulnerable, it’s OK not to feel excellent 100% of the time. And I just want people to enjoy it and feel warmed by it.

It doesn’t necessarily always have to be accepted with a level of ‘This is life-changing’. I just wanted it to make people happy, for people to cook to it, to hang to it, and just feel good whilst listening to it.”

… Arctic Monkeys’ debut album

As for how she’s feeling about things in the lead up to the album’s release? “I feel differently about it every day,” she laughs. “Sometimes there’s a sense of nervousness, sometimes there’s just unadulterated excitement. Sometimes I forget that it’s happening and then I remember in the shower and I get really like, ‘Ahhh!’.

I love that album! It felt like a very fluid series of vignettes, but for me, the experience was of playing it in one go and feeling like it was a full picture rather than a series of disjointed moments. That’s something that I wanted to do with my record as well.

… Lockdown V3

I’ve been doing a lot of writing and making beats, just trying to stay productive. I’ve been feeling quite inspired too, weirdly; I think for me a lot of inspiration comes when I’m still and when my mind is kinda empty.

I’ve been getting this thing where melodies are coming out of the blue to me, when I’m just walking around the house or making coffee, so that’s been amazing, just to have that spontaneous creativity is really nice.

“I think that whenever an artist embarks on a journey, you set intentions and you have goals and hopes for what might happen. The thing about art is that you never know how it’s gonna be received or what’s gonna happen on the other end,” she summarises eloquently. “The fact that I have always been - and will always be - completely myself, and that people are accepting my songs and myself as I am, it’s just so beautiful. The other day, I was reading my journal from when I was 14 or something, and I was like ‘I really want one stranger to say that my music has moved them in a way’, and that’s happened times a thousand.”

Even after a year like the one Arlo Parks has just had, with accolades and acclaim thrown her way from all corners, you can tell this one means the most.

‘Collapsed in Sunbeams’ is out now via Transgressive. DIY

49

PHOENIX from

THIS TIME L AST YEAR,

SLOWTHAIâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S NAME WAS IN THE HEADLINES

FOR ALL THE WRONG REASONS; FROM BREAKTHROUGH CHAMPION TO ALLBUT-CANCELLED

O VE R N IG H T, TH E

FUTURE LOOKED BLEAK.

50 DIYMAG.COM

NOW, ON SECOND LP ‘TYRON’, WE FIND AN

AR TIS T FAC ING HIS DEM ON S BUT COMING

OUT FIGHTING. “LIFE’S

BIGGER THAN A TWIT TER

CONVERSATION,” HE TELLS DIY. W O R D S : P ATR IC K C L A R

K E.

PHOTOS: ED MILES.

the

FLAMES 51

fuck what people think of you, just do your thing, but also you want to clear your name because people are talking.

In two seconds, you’ve painted me with a brush that’s made me into a monster. Anyone who knows me has an understanding that that’s not what I am. I had to get my head around the fact that most of the time, people are waiting for you to fail.

If slowthai had his time again, he wouldn’t change a thing.

“If I did, I wouldn’t be in the position I am. I’d still be on SoundCloud releasing fully distorted songs,” he says with a sleepy grin on a Zoom call from his home studio in Northampton. “Through every part of my journey, I’m thankful for the people I’ve met, I’m thankful for the people I’ve worked with.

Everything. I never would have believed I’d be in LA at Camp Flog Gnaw, eating mushroom chocolate, rolling around meeting Mos Def and being like, ‘I’m fucked, bro!’”

His beaming expression belies the fact that Tyron Frampton’s rapid rise has been tumultuous, to say the least. After a string of assertive self-released singles, brutal 2017 EP ‘I Wish I Knew’ and its follow up ‘RUNT’, his thunderous debut album ‘Nothing Great About Britain’ was a catapult to colossal acclaim. Its dynamism and bite had him hyped as the voice of a generation, and slowthai was more than happy to ride the wave. After the inevitable Mercury shortlisting, he caused a national furore by holding up a fake severed head of Boris Johnson while shouting ‘Fuck the PM!’ during a blazing televised performance at the ceremony. ‘HORROR’ exclaimed the Daily Express.

‘FURY’ blustered the Daily Mail. Precisely the desired effect, you imagine.

“In life you have a couple of things you leave behind and that’s your legacy. The way you treated people and the way you’re remembered. I never wanted to be remembered as someone that’s just in it for themselves; I’ve always tried being selfless, to give people something they can hold on to and lift them up. So the moment when people shine you in a light where you’re one of the people sucking the life out of things and making it negative… yeah.

It’s gonna be a long day.”

T

hough he only just turned 26, slowthai often returns to the subject of how he’ll look back on his life, how others will remember him after he’s gone, and how to make the most of every opportunity. He’s keen to put last

He bristles when we ask him to describe the morning after. “It was a LONG day man,” he says before a lengthy pause for thought. “My thing’s always been like,

52 DIYMAG.COM

That said, when conversation turns to the standalone track he put out in response to the controversy, ‘ENEMY’, what feels like a lingering rage rises in his voice. The song, which arrived as the most antagonistic thing he’s ever produced, littered with seething bars - “Find out where you live / When's the timing's right, I forget, don't forgive” came with a feverish video of slowthai’s gurning face leering in and out of darkness in sickly green light.

“That track is like, I know what I am, and I took things on board that I needed to do with myself, but you ain’t the judge, jury and executioner,” he says. “You ain’t making my life any better so why am I sat here getting down about it? These people ain’t got no heart, they ain’t got no courage or pride. They ain’t advocates of no change. Every one of these people, whether they have a blue tick or they’re a troll account, I see every single one of them. They can keep that energy, because I know where I’m going and I know who I am.”

That track got all the anger about the events out of his system, he says.

Now, he can look back at that night as a lesson. “It’s like those cliched motivational videos. Life can knock you down, but you get back up and you keep pushing. I realised I have to go harder, push and show people what we’re about. Soulja Boy said, ‘They hate on me but they hated Jesus’. I’m not saying I’m Jesus, but I’m here to spread some light and love and energy and make people’s lives a bit easier.”

In February last year, however, there was controversy of a less advantageous kind. At the NME Awards, where he was presented with the Hero Of The Year trophy, a clip quickly went viral of slowthai aggressively launching a glass into the crowd and being held back by security as he tried to fight the audience, one of whom had called him a misogynist.

Shortly beforehand, he was seen leering at host Katherine Ryan, saying “you ain’t never had anyone play with you like I’ll play with you” as he pushed himself in her face. It appeared damning, and he was quickly condemned online not only by a right-wing press already out for blood, but by those on the left who believed a veil had been lifted on the ‘real’ Tyron. slowthai apologised and asked that Katherine be awarded his trophy instead. “What started as a joke between us escalated to a point of shameful actions on my part,” he said in a statement. The comedian, for her part, said he hadn’t made her uncomfortable. “I knew he had lost from the moment he opened his mouth like any heckler coming up against a COMIC - not a woman - a COMIC,” she tweeted. “I was operating 2/10. What a sweet boy. I defused it.” In time a wider context emerged, that it was an inebriated and misjudged attempt to riff on a comedic bit he and Katherine had already established throughout the night that he took way, way too far. Nevertheless, the events have become something of a permanent blot on his record.

When you’re sure of what you stand for, what does it matter, man? I’m not here to please anybody except people close to me.”

These aren’t just words; there’s indeed been a certain wholesomeness to slowthai’s output online over the last 12 months. When there was talk of delaying the album due to the pandemic he posted a message explaining his decision not to do so. “I would hope that it can help someone as a distraction amongst the chaos and shift their mindset positively,” he wrote. He spends a lot of time replying directly to his fans and shares their work to his followers. “If someone’s sick at their craft, I’ve got 100,000 kids on Twitter. They could go to that guy and potentially be [a fan] for the rest of their lives. It’s about joining, rather than being disconnected,” he explains.

February - “a little blip” - behind him. “I had to rub all that shit out of my mind, because holding onto things in the past doesn’t help you move forwards. Life’s bigger than a Twitter conversation.

It’s antithetical to the darker side of social media he was on the receiving end of at the start of last year. “I’ve definitely spent time in the deepest, darkest corners of the internet, and that’s not where I wanna be,” he says.

It’s notable how often he uses words

deepest, darkest corners of the internet, and time in the

that’s not where I wanna be.

“

“

I’ve definitely spent

Choose your fighter.

53

like ‘we’ and ‘our’ when referring to his achievements.

“There’s a team of people, man. It’s not like I’m the one guy.”

s

lowthai had been working on songs for his second record, ‘TYRON’, as far back as 2019, but it started coming together properly in the weeks shortly after the awards. A double album titled after his birth name, the first half is the natural evolution of the assured, strutting artist at the heart of ‘Nothing Great About Britain’. The track titles are in all caps, the beats are hot-blooded and his flow highly concentrated as he re-asserts his dominance like a boxer picking himself up off the mat. On the pummelling ‘CANCELLED’ and the hypnotic ‘MAZZA’ he holds his own, trading swaggering verses with Skepta and A$AP Rocky. It’s only at the end of the first half, on ‘PLAY WITH FIRE’, that a hint of melancholy creeps in. “Sometimes I feel like I’ve got my head in a blender…” he says, downbeat as cut up snippets of an inner monologue plagued with self-doubt and anger whirl about the background.

The second half, with its track titles all in lowercase, plunges headfirst into that introspection. Over woozier beats he sounds more frantic and fragile, constantly flickering between longing, loneliness, self-doubt, nostalgia, melancholia and teeth-gritting resolve. “No one I can lean on so I’m limping with a walking stick / People keep talking shit I cut through the thick of it,” he raps calmly on ‘focus’. The poignant ‘push’, which features

campaign with “the track furthest away from what we’ve already done”.

Its introspective nature means ‘TYRON’ is significantly less political than its predecessor. “I could focus on politics, but at this time where it’s not actually doing anything for me and my mental health’s being tested just by myself, it’s more important to focus on how I’m feeling than what’s going on around us, stuff that’s just gonna make it ten times worse than it is,” he says.

When conversation does turn to modern politics, the mayhem over artists’ visas to play in Europe post-Brexit, the free school meals debacle, the economy and the coronavirus, he sounds flattened. “One guy becomes Prime Minister, he’s just as shit as the last one. People sign these petitions, [the government] don’t even look at it. You can spend your whole life getting into it and arguing this point and that point and screaming it until you’re blue in the face, but there’s more pressing issues right now than Boris and his grand plan of nothing.”

Having built his career off the back

At least I know when I die, my

Dad was a bit of a mad cunt, but kids can go ‘Yo!

he had a great time!’

Deb Never, is unlike any instrumental he’s ever rapped over, almost entirely acoustic. Closer ‘adhd’, meanwhile, is a bleak expression of monotony that ends with a final howl of overwhelming exasperation.

The split mirrors the two sides of the rapper’s own personality, introducing us to the more introspective Tyron Frampton alongside the swaggering slowthai we already know. “I don’t always wanna be running around onstage in my boxer shorts. I don’t wake up every morning like ‘YO!’ and then skip down the street, you know what I mean?” he says. Further than that though, it also speaks to a universal truth - the dual personalities that exist in us all. “There’s the side where you get dressed up to go out and have a good time, and the side where you’re at home just sitting around in your underwear eating crap food, having a shit time,” he suggests. “You’re at your most real when you’re there, and not many people get to see that side.” It takes guts to reveal that hidden world to an audience of slowthai’s magnitude. “But what’s the point in doing things halfheartedly? If you can’t be yourself, what’s the point?”

The record was announced with perhaps its most tender track, the James Blake and Mount Kimbie-featuring ‘feel away’, a song dedicated to and partly inspired by his younger brother Michael, who was born with muscular dystrophy and died aged one, devastating the family.

He’s an artist who plots his releases with precision. “You can’t just enter another dimension and understand it straight away. You’ve got to gradually bring people into it,” he explains. It feels significant that he began the

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of political statements, however, does he not feel like he’s swerving the duties that come with his platform? “I’m not an MP, first and foremost,” he says pointedly.

“I don’t attend parliament, and even if I did would they take me seriously? I can shine light and teach people, but I’ve already pushed people in the direction and supported that cause. When the time’s right I’ll be there, but now’s not the time. I don’t feel guilty because I’ve already done my part and I’ll continue to do my part. I’d only ever feel guilt if I’ve done someone wrong.”

D

espite the fact there’s a track called ‘CANCELLED’, and lyrics like ‘terms’’ chorus - “No matter what they get my words twisted” - the album’s themes have nothing to do with that fateful night, slowthai asserts. “Other than ‘ENEMY’, that’s that,” he says. “Hold onto that forever if you will, but I’m in 2077. I’m cyberpunk right now.” In fact, most of the record’s themes emerged well before 2020.

“When you make music you’re

Behind the Bars ‘TYRON’ is full of choice words and memorable phrases - we picked out a few of the best.

“SHOW ME YOUR FACE/ LET ME SEE WHO’S REALLY TRYNA STOP ME” – ‘CANCELLED’ slowthai’s had his fair share of haters on all sides, particularly over the last year, and on ‘TYRON’ he’s coming out fighting against anonymous online trolls.

“I’M HAPPY BEING THE FUCKING FLOWER BOY/ I JUST WANNA BE IN THE PUB WITH MY BOYS/ DON’T LET YOUR MATTRESS SWALLOW YOU WALLOWING THINKING WHAT YOU GONNA DO OR GOTTA DO/ FUCK ALL THESE EXPECTATIONS” – ‘I TRIED’ Under the pressures of his rapid rise to fame, has slowthai ever felt the temptation to shut down and run away? “Every day bruv!” he tells DIY. “Who wants to be a responsible grown up?”

“ALL THE BEST SHIT’S GOT SCRATCHES ON THE SURFACE/ WHAT’S A FLIGHT WITHOUT TURBULENCE?/ A LIFE WITHOUT CIRCUMSTANCE?” - ‘NHS’ slowthai’s been bruised and battered by his wild ride to fame and made plenty of missteps along the way, but if nothing else ‘TYRON’ is a proud declaration of every aspect of who he is, for better or worse.

predicting your turmoil, explaining where you’re at, but it makes more sense a month or a year later,” he continues.

That said, ‘TYRON’ is tied directly to its time. After ‘Nothing Great About Britain’, slowthai initially intended to release another hard-hitting, politically driven record; a twosided, introspective album named ‘TYRON’ was originally going to be his third release. Given the upheaval of 2020, personally and globally, however - particularly when it comes to mental health - he quickly realised “it was more suited to what’s going on now”. “[The next album] needed to be about personal experiences, and how you’re dealing with being so isolated from everyone else,” he nods.

In the end, after a chaotic rise through the last two years and a dramatic fall last February, for slowthai the enforced downtime and introspection of the pandemic resulted in a chance to finally stand still and evaluate. The resulting album makes no apologies for what’s come before; he means it when he says he has no regrets. Instead, ‘TYRON’ is an unflinching examination of who slowthai is and what he stands for, warts and all.

“It’s not like I had some guide who’s done it all before,” he says defiantly. “I’m a kid from a council estate in the UK where people’s only fun is what they make of it. So when I’m where I am now and there’s bright lights, what, I’m gonna be a polite boy?

That’s not me. I come from somewhere where that’s not what you do. What is life without the fuck ups, man? At least I know when I die, my kids can go ‘Yo! Dad was a bit of a mad cunt, but he had a great time! He done some real good things, he done some fucked up shit, but that’s what it’s about, man!’”

‘TYRON’ is out 12th February via Method. DIY

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revie JULIEN BAKER Little Oblivions

(Matador)

“I’m telling my own fortune, something I cannot escape,” offers Julien Baker on ‘Hardline’, the opening track on her expansive third studio album; a step away from the acoustic led singer-songwriter affair of her first two outings. Her words perfectly establish what’s to follow across the record’s twelve tracks, songs that continue to make often self-deprecating observations about herself and others that feel as vital as they are inescapable.

Julien has forged a space from laying her demons bare and the hunt for some semblance of solace, and ‘Little Oblivions’ is no different.

Like slow-burning debut ‘Sprained Ankle’ and 2017’s ‘Turn Out The Lights’, Julien’s latest doesn’t attempt to look for answers. By closer ‘Ziptie’, her outlook is as bleak as it has largely always been. “Tired of collecting my scars,” she sings, “somebody’s got my head in a ziptie.” The lyrics are accompanied by an expanse of instrumentation previously absent from her sound, and drums drive ‘Little Oblivions’ forward with a disarming urgency. At times, the hushed subtlety of the two previous records is all-but forgotten, not least as ‘Ringside’ leans on heavy reverb and ‘Repeat’ turns to electronic pulses and distorted vocals. It’s new territory for Julien, but one she traverses with ease, complementing her more overt tales of faith, inebriation and inter-personal relationships.

Yet, following on from ‘Turn Out The Light’s revelatory ‘Claws In My Back’, there’s a notion of an acceptance of her constant inner battle.

In coming to terms with the co-existence of hope and pain, and in approaching her turbulent journey head on, ‘Little Oblivions’ celebrates personal endurance. “I don’t need a saviour,” she affirms with an increasingly characteristic blend of resignation and self-assurance, “I need you to take me home”. On ‘Favour’ she questions “it doesn’t feel too bad does it”, instantly paired with a wounded caveat; “it doesn’t feel too good either”.

Much like what has come before, it’s in this melancholic in-between that ‘Little Oblivions’ finds its voice; a soundtrack for those searching for hope in difficult times, particularly when the wider world has removed easy distraction from the pain. (Ben Tipple) LISTEN: 'Hardline'

A soundtrack for those searching for hope in difficult times.

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ws Q&A Julien Baker talks the road to ‘Little Oblivions’ and switching up her approach this time around. Interview: Sarah Jamieson.

You’ve mentioned that making this record, you were going through a period of self-reflection. Do you think that continued when you were writing?

Did you find it a cathartic process?

Definitely. Songwriting for me has always been this interesting place where, when you’re within the context of poetry or lyricism, there’s almost a loosening of the social expectations around saving face, or not making people uncomfortable because there’s a little bit of artistic license there. Within that safety bubble is where I can usually say things in songs that I wouldn’t [usually] let myself confront, or that I wouldn’t word that way; that I’d find a kinder or more rational way to say. In songs I feel like I am permitted to say the irrational fears, or the things that are more tied to emotion, than to give a discourse on what I actually think is going on. That’s pretty freeing, because I spend so much of my dang time trying to be very clear about what I’m saying, just because I’m obsessed about it. In songs you can remove that apprehension.

PALE WAVES

Who Am I? (Dirty Hit) When Pale Waves released debut ‘My Mind Makes Noises’ under the wing of label-mates The 1975 three years ago, the Manchester bunch got a start most bands would kill for. Come album two, come the onus being less on the company they keep and solely on what the foursome - or more specifically, leader Heather Baron-Gracie - has to say.

Where ‘My Mind Makes Noises’ borrowed from ‘80s new-wave and synth-pop, ‘Who Am I?’ has a sonic palette cherrypicked from the most nostalgic elements of ‘00s pop-rock.

From the first distorted kick drum on ‘Changes’, flashes of Paramore, Avril Lavigne and the like are abundant. The production is tight and punchy; ‘Easy’ is an exemplary slice of romantic pop with a chorus so sweet it’s nauseating, while ‘Tomorrow’ swims in anthemic optimism, getting its thunder from Ciara Doran’s drums.

Heather is chief author of ‘Who Am I?’ and as its title suggests, the theme of identity is a focus. On ‘She’s My Religion’, she uses female pronouns in a romantic context for the first time, and having publicly discussed her struggle accepting her sexuality, it’s a small but important change: not only does she sing about self-acceptance, she leads by example. Elsewhere ‘You Don’t Own Me’ is a guided missile aimed right at the patriarchy - “I know

it’s hard to believe”, she snarls, “but you don’t own me”. There’s authenticity in the way she addresses these topics: on ‘Tomorrow’, when she lovingly refrains “you’re one of a kind just trust me, trust me” (assumedly to a fan) it feels unfiltered and from the heart. You get the sense she’s singing the words she could have done with hearing more in her own adolescence.

It’s a shame then that ‘Who Am I?’ falters in its second half. When Heather dismisses money and fame for love on ‘I Just Needed You’, her usual dramatic flare is missing, making for a pretty average result. The same can be said for ‘Odd One Out’, the token acoustic track which aspires to the soaring heights of Avril’s classic power ballad ‘Keep Holding On’ but without a strong message, ends closer to campfire cheese territory.

It takes a certain wide-eyed energy to make cracking pop music, something Pale Waves definitely possess - and though ‘Who Am I?’ isn’t quite the bastion of empowerment it was intended to be, it has some glimmering moments. Coming of age is a continuous process, so title aside, you get the sense they’re still not quite certain who or what they want to be.

But they’re definitely headed in the right direction.

(Alex Cabré) LISTEN: 'Easy'

The process of making it ended up being much longer than your previous two records. Why was that?

This was the first record that I made over the course of a year. I mean, I made a demo of ‘Faith Healer’ in January 2019 that was a totally different time signature and arrangement. I listened back to it the other day and was like, ‘Oh god, I’m so glad we tore that song down and started over.’ I just haven’t gone through that process before and it’s both because I was in that constant touring mindset before I even released ‘Sprained Ankle’ - me and my school band were trying to get signed and were driving to every random town to play for twenty people - and then, songs had to be in a form you could just bring them into a studio and execute them perfectly because you didn’t have the money or the time [to waste].

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reviews FOO FIGHTERS

Medicine at Midnight (Roswell / Columbia)

Celeste begs for a return to smoky, underground stages.

Pairing up with Adele and Sia songwriting sidekick Greg Kurstin for a second time following 2018’s ‘Concrete and Gold’, Foo Fighters unhatch a new groove on LP10 that expands their sound into - gulp - funk and dance territory. A move which on paper spells trouble, but in practice pays off. While its predecessor was indebted to Motorhead and pulled in classic hard rock influences, ‘Medicine At Midnight’ takes its cues from ‘Let's Dance’-era Bowie. Opener ‘Making A Fire’ is a pure glam stomp buoyed by a gospel choir; the purple shades of Prince shine through too. On ‘Shame Shame’, pizzicato strings unpick a moreish groove among handclaps as Dave Grohl’s vocals venture into a rare falsetto. A rare case of restraint from the Foos, it threatens to blow into overdrive at the turn of every bar, but holds back making it all the more enjoyable. The female backing vocals peppered across the LP make for a refreshing counterpoint to Dave’s bark, especially on ‘Cloudspotter’ as the vocal lines intertwine elegantly together through cowbells and handclaps.

This accompaniment contributes to one of the album’s biggest curveballs, ‘Chasing Birds’ - a psych-flavoured slow jam cushioned by beautiful vocal harmonies. For the hardcore fans, there’s still some trademark Foos to simmer in. ‘Waiting On A War’ sits up there with their best ballads and ‘No Son Of Mine’ pounds against a chugging, descending riff. With sticky melodies and a spring in its step, ‘Medicine At Midnight’ is an experiment that pays off, simultaneously adding a new shade to their sound and injecting a dose of fun and escapism when we need it most. (Sean Kerwick) LISTEN: 'Making A Fire'

DANNY L HARLE Harlecore (Mad Decent)

CELESTE Not Your Muse

(Polydor)

When Celeste unveiled the understated beauty of ‘Strange’ towards the latter part of 2019, the track immediately propelled the US-born, UK-raised singer towards the UK’s most sought-after accolades. Over a year later, ‘Not Your Muse’ arrives off the back of a BRITs Rising Star award win and topping the BBC Sound Of 2020 poll. Having taken a breath to decompress from the hype, her debut full-length sees her return with the lyrical openness and musical authenticity that underpinned her early material.

Embodying the essence of her forebears, Celeste builds on a retrospective foundation of jazz and soul, pulled together with modern pop and R&B nods. The gentle simplicity of ‘Strange’ runs throughout the likes of the delicately-rousing title track, sitting against the jazz club grandeur of ‘Tell Me Something I Don’t Know’ and ‘Stop This Flame’. Even in its most radio-friendly moments, ‘Not Your Muse’ turns to vast string sections and brass instrumentals that have in recent years only flirted with the mainstream attention Celeste invites.

Her raspy tones give way to huge notes, effortless in their delivery. No moment feels forced or out of place, even as ‘Beloved’ fully embraces the past and ‘A Little Love’ continues the series of sugary sweet festive adverts. Celeste begs for a return to smoky, underground stages, and much like the stars that paved her way, carries with her the bona fide class to make it all her own. (Ben Tipple) LISTEN: 'Strange'

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Remember that fun time when we could all spend our weekends embarrassing ourselves in front of strangers while busting questionable moves on the dance floor? Well, Danny L Harle is bringing the club to our living rooms with long-awaited debut full-length ‘Harlecore’. Named after his signature rave-influenced style that the PC Music affiliate has become known for, across its 13 tracks, ‘Harlecore’ delivers on its party promise, with huge adrenaline-fuelled house beats arming every twist and turn, sure to fill dancefloors once we’re allowed to return. But little distinguishes them from the classic club bangers we all know, ‘Where Are You Now’ and ‘On A Mountain’ sounding much like something Cascada could’ve dropped in the mid-00s. More experimental and fun moments come with MC Boing’s tracks ‘Boing Beat’ and ‘Piano Song’, which have more of the weird hooks associated with the PC Music legacy, while the hyperpop infused vocals of ‘All Night’ bring it into certified banger territory. But in a post100 gecs world where we’re all wanting that extra oomph with our dancefloor-fillers, while ‘Harlecore’ may be primed to bring the party, it’s just not quite the mad one we were hoping for.

(Elly Watson) LISTEN: 'All Night'

reviews THE STAVES

Good Woman (Atlantic)

KATY KIRBY

Cool Dry Place (Keeled Scales) American indie-folk has never been in ruder health. Katy Kirby is the latest in a long line of artists flying the flag, and on debut ‘Cool Dry Place’, she wonderfully subverts the familiar tropes of the Christian music she was raised on. At first glance, it’s hard to spot her diversions from the genre, as well-worn country melodies sit above warm guitar arrangements.

But that instant familiarity allows Katy to smuggle her unique touches into these tracks. Lead single ‘Traffic!’ is the most obvious culprit, with autotune trickling into its precise, syrupy melody – not quite 100 gecs, but unmistakably there. Far from obscuring the emotional heart of the song however, when laid over organs and a choir, it knots together with the religious DNA of the album. Not all of ‘Cool Dry Place’ is quite so evocative, though; the line between subversion and pastiche is a hard one to walk, and the album lacks emotional punch.

It comes closest on the title track, however, with gently flickering guitars collapsing into a whirl of feedback, as Katy asks over and over “will you keep me in a cool dry place?” An understated mantra, but that’s the core of this album - the power of the everyday. (Louis Griffin) LISTEN: 'Cool Dry Place'

Aside from their mystical 2017 collaboration ‘The Way Is Read’ with yMusic, ‘Good Woman’ is the first proper Staves album since 2015’s ‘If I Was’; an LP littered with gorgeous harmonies and acoustic guitar which ultimately remained very loyal to the folk blueprint. ‘Good Woman’ sees the trio progressing their sound with an appetite for experimentation and plenty of experience to stew over.

The sisters battled the loss of their mother and break-ups in the years since, but on the flip-side welcomed new life with Emily becoming a parent herself in 2019. Known for the kind of flawless harmonies that only a tight-knit siblinghood could conjure between them, it’s a surprise to hear the trio manipulating their vocals on the opening title track. This move instantly marks a shift in The Staves we used to know - embracing an unpolished edge that on the opening title track gloriously melds with a slinky bass that elevates to a soaring crescendo. These surprise turns keep popping up. ‘Best Friend’ builds on a revolving piano loop heavenly harmonies stacked against a restless beat which doesn’t let up until it gallops into an enormously satisfying finale. A sludgy guitar trudges as vocals abruptly seem to hit the red on ‘Careful, Kid’ as they muse about “coming back round from a five-year rebound”. Later, the stark ‘Devotion - all pounding piano and finger clicks - blooms beautifully under a restless instrumental structure that keeps you guessing at the turn of every bar. While this newfound energy makes for a thrilling listen, the likes of ‘Nothing’s Gonna Happen’ and ‘Paralysed’ shows the old formula still works its magic as acoustic guitar and vocals suspend beautifully across the tracks. After such a long time away, ‘Good Woman’ finds The Staves rejuvenated and inspired, treading new ground while retaining the identity that made them so loveable in the first place. For all the trials bestowed upon the trio in the past few years, they emerge positive and victorious, changing and creating music on their own terms as echoed on closer ‘Waiting On Me To Change’; “I’ll change when I want to.” (Sean Kerwick) LISTEN: 'Best Friend'

Rejuvenated and inspired.

MAD SOUNDS Jess Staveley-Taylor reveals some of what the trio had on the stereo around the creation of 'Good Woman'.

THE BLUE NILE - HATS

This album is so brooding and full of longing. The production laced with synths and drum machines is so beautiful and hypnotic and heartbreaking. It always makes me feel like i’m looking out of the window of the passenger seat of a car on a night drive.

THE WAR ON DRUGS - LOST IN THE DREAM

There is such a consistent sound on this album that’s totally immersing. There’s a kind of ‘wall of sound’ thing they do that is so satisfying but with a very laid back feel. We've definitely referenced this for the more built-up songs on our record.

And the guitar playing kills me every time.

ST VINCENT - MASSEDUCTION

The song 'New York' blew us all away when we first heard it. An instant classic. Sometimes when you hear a new song and you love it it kind of lights a fire in you to write.

This album is so cool and so bold and the production is so smart. It’s also pretty mad which is very important, too!

MISS GRIT Impostor (self-release)

Korean-American Margaret Sohn’s second EP under the Miss Grit moniker deals with feelings of displacement and questions of identity. Yet, though the particular isolation born from those ideas makes itself felt in the spacious, echoing sonics of opener ‘Don’t Wander’, by the time ‘Buy the Banter’’s gnarly riffs kick, there’s more defiance to be felt here than defeat. Across ‘Imposter’, the mood seesaws between the two; ‘Blonde’ spirals from meditative beginnings into a cathartic purge over its nearly-six-minutes, while the powerful, playful guitars of ‘Grow Up To’ and ‘Dark Side of the Party’ set Sohn up as a natural successor to axe queen St. Vincent. Miss Grit, you sense, could find herself on a similarly impressive trajectory. (Lisa Wright) LISTEN: ‘Dark Side of the Party’

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reviews

“He’s a firestarter…”

MOGWAI

As The Love Continues (Rock Action) Since their inception, Mogwai have paved the way for post-rock’s success, and much like most of what’s come before, ‘As The Love Continues’ is an instrumental masterclass. ‘Here We, Here We, Here We Go Forever’ is a full-on shivering nightmare, equal parts apocalyptic and beautiful. Meanwhile, ‘Ceiling Granny’ tries its best to destroy your eardrums with the loudest guitar groans this side of the Milky Way. As expected, the album’s only low moment comes with the introduction of vocals on ‘Richie Sacramento’. Thankfully, this doesn’t last long.

The group are soon back on top of things with the majestic ‘Drive The Nail’ and we’re instantly transported back to their uniquely-formed wonderland. (Jack Doherty) LISTEN: ‘Ceiling Granny’

BLACK COUNTRY, NEW ROAD For the first time (Ninja Tune)

'For the first time' is perhaps less an album to be enjoyed as a cerebral puzzle to be tackled. The record opens with the bewildering ‘Instrumental’ in European klezmer style (as all great albums do) bubbling to a sax-charged climax before crashing abruptly into ‘Athen’s, France’. Isaac Wood is a commanding narrator, and at times he’s almost funny: “Dancing to Jerskin I got down on my knees / I told you I loved you in front of black midi”, he rattles on the brazenly meta ‘Track X’. Indeed, the whole group are incredibly proficient in their respective roles. Lewis Evans’ sax slathers ‘Sunglasses’ in shrill catharsis, ‘Science Fair’ owes a lot to Luke Mark’s jolts of electric guitar. But, at times, the outfit as a whole feel less than the sum of their parts. They’re certainly not incapable - violinist Georgia Ellery’s side hustle is in the wickedly experimental duo Jockstrap, while drummer Charlie Wayne formerly brought up the rear in the far more charming Ugly. But, like that one kid at school who would remind the teacher the homework was due, Black Country, New Road's seriousness and determined intellectualism is sometimes to their detriment. Not even an upbeat tempo can quite save closer ‘Opus’ from feeling pretentious rather than merely smart. Sometimes just too impenetrable, ‘For the first time’ can leave you wishing BC, NR would do away with the veneer of stoicism and give their obvious talents the freedom and ease to shine. (Alex Cabré) LISTEN: 'Track X'

WEEZER OK Human

(Crush Music / Atlantic)

It’s never quite clear where Weezer’s self-awareness begins, as the LA quartet do have a tendency to have their metaphorical sonic punchlines fall flat. Their 2019 take on ‘Africa’ might well have been an inspired, meme-friendly choice; the decision to follow this with an entire record of throwback covers (2019's 'Teal' album) was less so. And while the misfit nature of their first few records continues to resonate with ever-more youthful angst, their continued insistence on peppering power-pop riffs with autotune and overly-produced beats can make like a Steve Buscemi reaction gif. And yet somehow this is all where ‘OK Human’ makes sense: can your metaphors possibly be overwrought, or your references too ham-fisted if they’re accompanied by soaring string arrangements and the kind of piano builds the West End would welcome? It’s the same melodies and patterns as the group have long favoured, but even the potentially cringeworthy ‘Screens’ (a song about, of course, how we’re all glued to them) barely raises a shrug when surrounded by such luscious, bombastic sounds. By focusing on minutiae, too, what is ostensibly a lockdown album (hello, reference to Zoom interviews) avoids cliche. Where blatant hopes of a return to before, the feeling of being trapped or wish to escape would be an immediate turn-off, Rivers Cuomo’s tales of listening to audiobooks (‘Grapes of Wrath’), or observing from his window (‘Here Comes The Rain’, ‘Bird With A Broken Wing’) make more like jazz-hands musical segments on a TV show than too obviously ‘man confined to home for months on end’.

Maybe it’s our months of confinement talking, but this time, the schmaltz is justified. (Emma Swann) LISTEN: ‘Bird With A Broken Wing’

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SLOWTHAI TYRON(Method)

In the quest for personal change, acceptance is always the first step. More introspective than the politically-led ’Nothing Great About Britain’, ’TYRON’ sees slowthai striving to locate the greys between life's black and whites, offering up context to some of his less admirable conduct in recent years. If the first record was about action, this one is about thought - not an excuse for past indiscretions so much as the suggestion that sometimes, allowing people space for growth is perhaps more useful than indefinitely rehashing old immaturities.

For a record born out of a humbled mindset, the first half doesn’t pull any punches. In near-caricature of his ‘bad boy' image, ’WOT’ ‘MAZZA’ and ‘CANCELLED’ (all in caps for further hater-baiting) are trad braggadocio rap, the sort that will enamour Ty with international audiences. It’s exciting to see him moving with the heavy hitters, but he’s perhaps a little too generous with the features - like an awkward teen excited to be allowed to sit with the older kids at lunch, he shaves

A remarkably efficient job of reclaiming his own narrative.

off a lot of his more endearing quirks in the face of A$AP Rocky and Skepta’s solid appearances, allowing his guests to run the house. slowthai doesn’t need to be anybody else’s hypeman - this is his story to tell.

The puffier-chested side of his persona is still perfectly enjoyable, but when he packs away his bluster for the second half of the record, he creates something truly memorable. Gentle, heartfelt singles ‘feel away’ and ‘nhs’ conjure disarminglysimple metaphor that puts you directly in his shoes, inviting empathy without pity. “Do stuff I regret / feel embarrassed tomorrow” acknowledges ‘Push’, an airy hook from LA's Deb Never providing gentle reassurance that redemption and self-acceptance are only as far away as the effort you’re willing to make. On ‘i tried’ and ‘focus', he truly nails transatlanticism - languid R&B beats in the vein of early Kanye create plenty of space for him to roam around the blurry Polaroids of his childhood, piecing experiences together to figure out who he has become. It’s ’Take Care’ if Drake grew up on the estates of Northampton rather than Toronto, but more than that, it’s inherently 2021 slowthai, shedding light on the tricky nature of social-media-era finger-pointing without denying his own role in the cycle.

Maybe it is precisely because of the contrast between parts one and two that ‘TYRON’ feels so poignant. At once the pugnacious punk-rapper with a point to prove and the quieter, introspective wordsmith-at-work, slowthai has done a remarkably efficient job of reclaiming his own narrative, demonstrating the value of both talking and listening. You can't have one side of him without the other, but maybe you don’t need to - there is a lot to admire in this kind of openhearted stocktake. Where he goes from here is anyone’s guess - all the paths are back open. (Jenessa Williams) LISTEN: 'i tried'

reviews

MAXIMO PARK

Nature Always Wins (Prolifica)

The last Maxïmo Park record represented a line in the sand; the question that’s been lingering since is whether or not it marked an ending or a beginning. After an entire career spent subtly layering their boisterous brand of indie rock with political undertones, 2017’s ‘Risk to Exist’ was a mask-off moment, on which they made sense of a darkening Western world in confrontational and occasionally excoriating fashion. They set out their ideological stall furiously - physical copies of the album came with a pro-migrant, anti-Department of Work and Pensions zine that Owen Jones chipped into - that ‘Risk to Exist’ could, as the name suggested, have been a logical conclusion for the band. Or, alternatively, the start of a new, less compromising era. Pieced together over the internet by cross-Atlantic necessity with producer Ben Allen, ‘Nature Always Wins’ finds frontman Paul Smith on impassioned form both on political matters - the softly anthemic ‘Why Must a Building Burn’ references both Grenfell and terrorism - and personal ones, too: beneath the freewheeling punk posture of ‘I Don’t Know What I’m Doing’ is an affecting reflection of the anxieties of parenthood.

There’s no upturning of the band’s musical blueprint, but their social conscience has earned them a third act, with ‘Nature Always Wins’ a potent way to open it. (Joe Goggins) LISTEN: 'Why Must A Building Burn'

ARCHITECTS

For Those That Wish To Exist (Epitaph) Whatever form this ninth record ended up taking, it was always going to find Architects at a cliff-edge.

2018’s ‘Holy Hell’ was a scorched-earth treatise on grief that closed a trilogy of LPs defined by the 2016 loss of founder and guitarist Tom Searle to cancer.

The Brighton outfit had resolved to continue in his memory: the question that remained was quite how.

They have not done so gingerly; ‘For Those That Wish to Exist’ is both furious in spirit and epic in scope. A sprawling fifteen-track opus that runs just shy of an hour, it tackles the weighty issues of the day head on - political polarisation on ‘Discourse Is Dead’, climate change on ‘An Ordinary Extinction’. It also refuses to shy away from the band’s own reality in 2021, which is that they closed out the ‘Holy Hell’ era having just graduated to arena status. They nod to that here, including shrewd collaborations with new-found peers like Simon Neil of Biffy Clyro and Mike Kerr of Royal Blood. More telling, though, is the manner in which they’ve retained the punishing riffery and full-throated vocal intensity of old, but realigned them on a skyward, subtly anthemic trajectory that still finds room for experimentation - see the industrial-inflected ‘Dead Butterflies’, for instance. Closer ‘Dying Is Absolutely Safe’, meanwhile, adopts a nihilistic lyrical outlook to make sense of a world in chaos, but sonically soars, with a sweeping string section hinting that from acceptance springs optimism. It’s a neat summation of the contradiction at the core of Architects’ recent career; the bleaker things get, the stronger they emerge. (Joe Goggins) LISTEN: 'Dead Butterflies'

DJANGO DJANGO

Glowing in the Dark (Because) Django Django arrived fully-formed with an unmistakable sonic identity which earned them a Mercury nod in 2012. The group’s sound is so pungent with their own unique splash of airy vocals, glitchy electronics and rustic grooves, it’s sometimes hard to differentiate one track from the next. This is no bad thing if you’re smitten with their sound - and fourth album ‘Glowing In The Dark’ embraces a more rustic approach favouring dusty synths and guitar over the glossy sheen of predecessor ‘Marble Skies’. ‘Spirals’ opens with a slowly accelerating arpeggiator that beams you directly into the world of ‘Glowing In The Dark’, a thundering bass line lurks as Vincent Neff's trademark vocal traces something falling out of control; “higher and higher in spirals, turning in circles in silence”. The shuffle of ‘Got Me Worried’ certifies the group’s penchant for playful percussion still holds strong. Charlotte Gainsbourg is a welcome guest spot on ‘Waking Up’, soothingly circling Vincent's vocal around an acoustic guitar-strut peppered with some nifty keywork and chiming chords. But the groove-based, dance-leaning moments are where Django Django really shine though. The buzzy synth of ‘The Ark’ intertwines with a spidering drum pattern that becomes increasingly hypnotic. Later, ‘Hold Fast’ finds slinky basslines and chirruping keys colliding to stunning effect. Whether the group’s sound prevails or begins to show its limitations remains to be seen, but when the songwriting and appetite for invention remains this strong, Django Django certainly have a lot more to give. (Sean Kerwick) LISTEN: 'Got Me Worried'

Q&A

Dave Maclean on the accidentally timely themes of 'Glowing in the Dark' and how they approached their fourth album.

Four albums in, and presumably not under the most convenient of circumstances, in what ways did you approach the creation of 'Glowing in the Dark' differently?

The album was made just before the first lockdown, but weirdly a lot of the themes strike a chord now. I think we felt some kind of looming chaos in the air due to the world going a bit nuts even before this. Extinction Rebellion, Brexit... all the stuff that was becoming a big part of our lives. The album has ups and down though like these lockdowns: moments of madness; moments of calm; moments of reflection. So we hope people are going to enjoy it regardless.

Perhaps now we'll make a very different album.

Would the idea that you may not be able to tour the record affect any decision making?

We've always had this issue where we make a record with very little regard as to how we will play it live. Had we known fully just how that would pan out, we might have made a fully-

electronic LP or gone the other way and made a stripped-back acoustic LP that can be played much more easily without all the backline.

How did you team up with Charlotte Gainsbourg?

She came to mind when I heard the guys' demo of 'Waking Up'. They'd done a rough demo while I was in Scotland and I just though that it needed an extra dimension to it. I had in my mind this kind of road movie like 'Wild at Heart' when i listened and she seemed like the perfect person to approach.

With four albums under your belt, you're now firmly part of the establishment - what do you think the Django Django that first formed would make of it all?

I think we'd just be happy that we have our own studio space and have manged to be self-sufficient and doing our own thing for 10 years. I'd probably say 'What you only made four albums?' But yeah, i think we've done OK.

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reviews

PEACE CHORD

FRÀNÇOIS AND THE ATLAS MOUNTAINS EUT

Party Time (V2) The first record from EUT, ‘Fool for the Vibes’, was feted for its unabashed unfurling of the kind of mission statement that Andrew WK would be proud of, so it’s perhaps not surprising that the Dutch outfit have chosen to play up to it on this followup, instructively titled ‘Party Time’. As was the case last time out, the stylistic remit is a broad one, with the unifying characteristic a swagger that’s evident both in the instrumentation (sleazy riffery on opener ‘What Gives You the Kicks’ and ‘Stuck’, spiralling synths on ‘Killer Bee’) and, crucially, in singer Megan de Klerk’s terrifically multi-faceted vocals.

She’s capable of turning on a dime from oozing menace one minute (‘When I Dive’) to gleefully leading the pop charge the next (‘It’s Love (But It’s Not Mine)’, which sounds like The Breeders at their breeziest). There’s even room for vulnerability and introspection, on the admirable, if awkwardly positioned, ‘The Buggs (Part II)’. More so than on ‘Fool for The Vibes’, the influence of the ‘90s hangs heavy over 'Party Time'; closer ‘Bubble Baby’ channels The Cardigans, while Garbage lurk in the background any time Megan is on more confrontational form. Elsewhere, particularly on ‘Had Too Much’ and the title track, some of Gwen Stefani’s more melodic, honeyed turns as No Doubt’s frontwoman spring to mind. ‘Fool for the Vibes’ was by no means groundbreaking and neither is ‘Party Time’, but now more than ever, what a treat to hear a rock record so upbeat - so unsullied by the world around it.

(Joe Goggins) LISTEN: 'When I Dive'

(Unheard of Hope)

Banane Bleue (Domino)

Taking its title from a theory stating that the boundaries of Europe’s cities have blurred to form a single megapolis, 'Banane Bleue' draws on many layers of engagement. The connection with places is particularly vivid, influenced by Fràncois living in multiple cities during the writing of the record. The notion of travelling within a location for example is evoked on the Ultravox-esque ‘Dans Un Taxi’, while the “city made of books” and indoor eating mentioned on ‘Gold & Lips’ brings to mind the streets and suburbs the blue banana theory effects. The intimate is also touched upon, most successfully on ‘Coucou’. A gloriously whimsical piece of pop, it has at its core an aloofness befitting the detailing of a failing relationship, sung in Fràncois’s ethereal, almost childlike voice. It isn’t all suffering, mind you; ‘Holly Go Lightly’ demonstrates the power of a willing sacrifice, Fràncois declaring to his love: “I’m ready to follow you”. Despite the swirling joy of ‘Julie’ also making for a high point, moments like these aren’t consistent enough to propel 'Banane Bleue' towards its potential peaks. They do however show that, when he delivers, Frànçois can still make pure, earnest, and enduring connections. (Ben Lynch) LISTEN: 'Coucou'

"Loss of love. The dying of my grandfather.

The dying of friends to overdose. Seeing new countries. Bearing witness to celebration and trauma." These words by Canadian Daniel Robertson aka Peace Chord double as a profoundly personal roadmap to the themes that dominate his eponymous debut LP. In under twenty minutes, the musician who is also a member of the Vancouver-based Crack Cloud - wields vulnerability as pure power. Recorded in a shed behind the communal house where he and the rest of Crack Cloud reside, as well as in his parents’ living room, these are seven masterfully muted paeans to the spectre of the recent past. From the minimalist piano motifs of highlights ‘Juno’ and ‘Omphalomancy’, to the subtly hallucinatory layering on 'Spectral Processor', Daniel forges a feat of still, reflective economy that evokes everyone from Liz Harris’ Grouper to Grizzly Bear’s Daniel Rossen.

Whether by virtue of being a little clawing, a few releases in the vein of ‘Peace Chord’ haven’t quite come off. But right up until the last dying whimper of outright peak ‘Crescent Sun’, Daniel Robertson’s debut proves an entirely believable release. (Brian Coney) LISTEN: ‘Juno’

PSYCHEDELIC PORN CRUMPETS

SHYGA! The Sunlight Mound (What Reality?)

Just as their name might suggest, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets are, for the most part, a pretty ‘out there’ sort of band. Bringing up the rear from their feverish Australian counterparts, the way for hypersonic, psychedelia-soaked garage rock has long been paved by a growing list of benchmark guitar outfits, with fanatical cult favourites, Pond and King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard still reaching new legions of fans just as rapidly as they manage to churn out records. Hoping to catch up with the frontrunners, ‘SHYGA! The Sunlight Mound’ sets its sights on something larger by dressing up fuzzy, high-intensity pop songs into ambitious prospects of sold-out stadium performances. Whether or not these expectations are realistic, the band seem determined to believe in the hype. As it hurtles uncontrollably down the tracks, the album is an accelerating freight train of insatiable guitar hero pageantry that rarely slows to catch its breath.

At their most outrageous, the theatrical, machine gun fire shredding demonstrations on ‘Tripolasaur’ and ‘The Terrors’ more than satisfy a convincing mission statement. Unperturbed by overkill, the anthemic choral hooks and supercharged production values deliver a thrilling spectacle, even if the band are yet to realise their inflated ambitions. (Ollie Rankine) LISTEN: 'Tripolasaur'

CLAUD

Super Monster (Saddest

Factory)

‘Super Monster’, both Claud’s debut and the first full-length release on Phoebe Bridgers’ recently-launched Saddest Factory label, is classy and well-executed. Their brand of slick, understated pop could sit on a shelf alongside Haim, or Christine and the Queens: opener ‘Overnight’ is a sweet, breezy ‘90s throwback that’s easy on the ear, while ‘This Town’ grows from grimier beginnings towards another big chorus. Elsewhere, scratching below the surface, Claud bites as much as they balm, don’t be fooled by their bubblegum delivery on the new-wave ‘That’s Mr Bitch To You’, a wonderfully catty riposte from a jilted lover. While there could be a little more individuality on show to elevate Claud to their contemporaries’ level, ‘Super Monster’ shows promise of a burgeoning artist finding their own voice. (Felix Rowe) LISTEN: ‘That’s Mr Bitch To You’

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Peace Chord

KYNSY

Things That Don't Exist (self-release) With the arrival of last year’s ‘Cold Blue Light’ and follow up ‘Happiness Isn’t A Fixed State’ (both of which make a welcome return here), Dublin’s Kynsy staked her claim as a true indie scholar. Now, much like the brilliance of The Big Moon’s early material, ‘Things That Don’t Exist’’s Strokes-recalling guitars and natural ear for a melody shine in that cleverly familiar realm: none of these four tracks are reinventing the wheel, they just do what they do undeniably well. On ‘Dog Videos’, it’s an early Lily Allen-like eye-rolling sprightliness; on opener ‘Elephant in the Room’, it’s heart-onsleeve emotion that crescendos at just the right moment a la Maccabees; on the aforementioned ‘Happiness…’, it’s jagged stabs of guitar straight out of the Casablancas rulebook. Kynsy’s already showing a knack for a classic. (Lisa Wright) LISTEN: ‘Happiness Isn’t a Fixed State’

BACK TO THE

DRAWING BOARD WITH CLOUD NOTHINGS

Q1: Where did you record the album?

Q2: What is a ‘Sound of Alarm’?

Q3: What does ‘A Longer Moon’ look like?

Q4: What room was it, in ‘The Room It Was’

CLOUD NOTHINGS

The Shadow I Remember (Carpark) It’s been just shy of ten years since Dylan Baldi’s Cloud Nothings shattered any preconceptions that they were just another bedroom pop band, something largely attributed to the Steve Albinirecorded ‘Attack On Memory’. Since then, the band have regularly put out albums, with each release seeing them grow in scope, though arguably also mellow with age. It’s interesting then, that on ‘The Shadow I Remember’, the band should revert back to the methods and processes that shaped that seminal 2012 release, even going so far as to bring Albini back for studio duties. For this reason, ‘The Shadow…’ is a record that feels rawer and more impassioned than anything Cloud Nothing have released in years. “Am I older now? Or am I just another age?” muses Dylan on opening number ‘Oslo’, a clattering and calamitous opener that flirts with melody and melancholic introspection with equal measure. Elsewhere ‘Nothing Without You’ takes the band’s pop sensibilities and runs with them, employing the talents of Macie Stewart of Ohmme for backing vocals. The album treads familiar lyrical ground for Cloud Nothings, Dylan delving deep into ideas of crippling self-doubt and existential crises, delivered with an emotional intensity that lends itself perfectly to the rawness of the record and the ferocity of its production. And it’s also something of a return to the band’s roots musically, though retains enough complexity and nuance to also feel like a step forward. ‘The Spirit Of’ soars with an inherent emotional optimism, while elsewhere ‘90s emo is channelled in the form of ‘Am I Something’ (Jawbreaker), or ‘Open Rain’ (Rites of Spring). Raw and uncompromising, yet always harbouring a degree of melody, it’s the product of ten years of learning, and succeeds in deftly balancing subtle nuance with a sense of uncompromising aggression. Though it might well signify the end of the first decade of Cloud Nothings, it also earmarks the start of a whole new chapter, and if the rest of it sounds like this, then the band are in for another solid ten years. (Dave Beech) LISTEN: 'Nothing Without You'

JIMI SOMEWHERE

Nothing Gold Can Stay (Next Wave / Ultra)

Norwegian pop star Jimi Somewhere isn’t known for having a genre so much as encompassing a feeling: nostalgia, and debut full-length 'Nothing Gold Can Stay' is, unsurprisingly, a reflective, almost dreamlike look back at growing up, marked by bright and cinematic sounds and sprawling melodies. It’s at times gentle and airy, an easy-going blend of grooves, like on 'Jesus' and 'Tears'. Others, like the explosive 'Fireworks' or the bouncy 'The World', are more energetic. He flits between styles on a whim via comically-exaggerated electronic effects, from R&B-tinged electro pop to more rock and alternative ideas, particularly on 'Moonrise' and 'Bottle Rocket'. It's when Jimi sings with conviction and genuine desperation that 'Nothing Gold Can Stay' shines brightest, though, the singer's ability to convey emotions the most compelling aspect of the record through all the styles it tries on. (Aliya Chaudhry) LISTEN: 'Moonrise'

FRANK IERO AND THE FUTURE VIOLENTS

Heaven Is A Place, This Is A Place (UNFD) Granted, the eighteen months since the release of Frank Iero’s previous solo album ‘Barriers’ haven’t quite gone to plan for any of us, but if there’s one positive to emerge from the postponed My Chemical Romance reunion, though, it’s the brief dive into chaos that is Frank’s new EP. Very much a tale of two halves, ‘Heaven Is A Place, This Is A Place’ showcases two distinctly different sides to his musical personality.

While opening tracks ‘Violence’ and ‘Sewer Wolf’ are bludgeoning, ferocious offerings that slot alongside his previous hardcorelaced brand of punk, they’re juxtaposed by an altogether more fragile second act. A tender cover of REM’s ‘Losing My Religion’ gives way to the soaring ‘Record Ender’, offering up a poignant, powerful note to end on. (Sarah Jamieson) LISTEN: ‘Losing My Religion’

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Coming Up

VIRGINIA WING private LIFE (Fire)

Cathartic, abstract and certainly treading off the beaten path, the tactile trio Virginia Wing present their latest, more unruly album 'private LIFE', tapping into a plethora of diverse weird and wonderful influences. Armed with the same definitive peculiar expressiveness as 2018’s ‘Ecstatic Arrow’, the Manchester-based band return with a Technicolor depiction of the meaning of life. Lead single ‘I’m Holding Out For Something’ preps the palette taking a smoother dive into the worlds of electro-synth pop and R&B than its counterparts. Having constructed a groovy, heavily ’00’s inspired backdrop, vocalist Alice Merida Richards lays her spoken words like a montage of inspiration and lessons learned. ‘private LIFE’ scatters provocative statements and questions such as ‘Is This The Price of Living?’ and ‘Money In Your Pocket Is A Remedy For Every Crime’ while exploring themes of desire, relationships, materialism and modernity. ‘Soft Fruit’ and ‘St Francis Fountain’ stand out as anchors among the record’s more experimental and eclectic offerings. Still avant-garde but adopting a more familiar melody, these two tracks bring the listener’s senses back into focus after they may have been led astray by the various pulses and eccentric flickers and flashes. Fusing an eclectic mix of genres together, Virginia Wing’s definitive experimental style continues to be electrifyingly alluring. (Olivia White) LISTEN: ‘Soft Fruit’

THE HOLD STEADY

SG LEWIS

Open Door Policy (Thirty

times (PMR/ EMI)

KINGS OF LEON - WHEN YOU SEE YOURSELF The Followills return after five years with their eighth full-length next month. Out 5th March.

LANA DEL REY CHEMTRAILS OVER THE COUNTRY CLUB Evocative preppy vista or conspiracy-touting Karens out to lunch?

Who knows. Lana's seventh is released 19th March.

Sonic polymath SG Lewis crowns a run of singles and EP releases with the dance-pop-cresting ‘times’, teaming up with a host of big-hitting names on an odyssey into all-out ‘70s-struck splendour. Joining previous guest collaborators T.E.E.D and Clairo, Rhye makes an early appearance in guiding the laser synth-blasting ‘Feed The Fire’, disco-dripping flair doubled down on via the Nile Rodgers-featuring ‘One More’, the Chic icon wielding his usual flawless, funk-flecked finesse to the max. ‘Impact’ finds Robyn and Channel Tres lending their input to a mind-melting electro-beat toting affair, a natural fit for the former’s distinct vocals; while Roosevelt-esque ‘Chemicals’ charts a hyperspace-hopping jaunt, one that SG Lewis neatly commands in his own right. A certain unity and heart holds ‘times’ together, sleekly striding between house, chillwave and morphing electronic tiers; unapologetic in its dayglo-daubed invite to dance away doom. The in-demand singer-songwriter-producer primes himself for new heights here - tapping into the hedonistic spirit of Studio 54, while applying a gloss that is very much of today. (Chris HamiltonPeach) LISTEN: ‘One More’

Tigers)

In keeping with their moniker, The Hold Steady have become a byword for indie rock consistency over the years - always riotously good fun live, always solid in terms of their studio return, although perhaps lacking some of the incision of the releases that made their name; the state-ofthe-nation reflections of ‘Boys and Girls in America’, and the freewheeling rock and roll of ‘Stay Positive’. The return of keyboardist Franz Nicolay to the fold has apparently reinvigorated the band and steered frontman Craig Finn away from some of the more self-indulgent tendencies that had come to underscore both ‘Heaven Is Whenever’ and ‘Teeth Dreams’. The panoramic fizz of ‘Family Farm’ is case in point, all rollicking guitars and tense piano breaks, while the buoyant trumpets and swaggering riffery of ‘Heavy Covenant’ hark back to the juxtaposition between triumphant instrumentation and Craig’s nervy storytelling that came to define their best work. There’s little in the way of new ground broken here, but it's consistent nonetheless.

(Joe Goggins) LISTEN: 'Family Farm'

NOTHING,NOWHERE.

Trauma Factory (DCD2 / Fueled By

Ramen)

ZARA LARSSON POSTER GIRL The Swedish pop sensation is back with her third studio album on 5th March.

WILLIAM DOYLE GREAT SPANS OF MUDDY TIME Sounds like he's been spending hours dodging puddles while distancing in parks like the rest of us. Out 19th March.

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Within the emo rap realm, Joe Mulherin has stood apart from his peers for some time. That’s true both in certain superficial respects - he’s a straight-edge vegan in a scene ravaged by opioid abuse, for instance, but also in meaningful ones, too; there has been an admirable restraint to his releases as nothing,nowhere. to date, with a focus on using his talent for storytelling to paint a nuanced picture of his emotional state, rather than allowing his emotions to run away with the narrative. With this fourth record, he’s showing real thematic ambition; ‘Trauma Factory’ is intended as a fifteen-song suite that delves into the response of the human condition to pain and suffering, as well as the idea of healing through acceptance. The instrumental palette remains one that is simultaneously unshowy and also inherently representative of a deep understanding of his emo forebears; over the top of the soft beats are chiming guitar loops and woozy synth lines. When it comes off, the results are gorgeous, particularly on the twinkling ‘Upside Down’ and the MISOGI hook-up ‘Pain Place’, with the latter playing like the album’s concept in microcosm. Plus, there’s evidence of genuine experimentation - ‘Fake Friend’ channels pop-punk on its anthemic chorus, while the interlude ‘Death’ nods to horrorcore and hard rock simultaneously. ‘Trauma Factory' is overlong and occasionally indulgent, but if those are the terms under which Joe is operating, then this daring, forward-thinking genre piece is worth the price of admission. (Joe Goggins) LISTEN: 'Pain Place'

reviews

SYDNEY SPRAGUE world (Rude)

MUSH

Lines Redacted

(Memphis Industries)

The spectre of Mark E Smith hovers over the land, muttering to anyone that will listen that we must respect his holy trinity, the three most important things in the world: Repetition.

Repetition. Repetition. Like many bands before and since, Mush live by these preachings. However, unlike many modern disciples of the discord, the group have managed to take The Fall’s signature sound and do something new with it, melding the chaos into something far more skew-whiff. ‘Lines Redacted’, their second album, leans heavily on the familiar regurgitated guitar riffs and Casio plonks of their debut, but adds an extra layer of urgency and lo-fi loveliness. The album release follows the incredibly sad news of guitarist Steven Tyson’s death late last year.

Steven’s jilted rhythms play a major part in the record’s success, adding a pleasant uneasiness throughout. ‘Drink Your Bleach’ and ‘Positivity’ sway along like disturbed playground ditties, luring you into a false sense of security before you’re hit in the face with threats of guitar-based combustion. ‘Lines Redacted’ proves that influence trumps imitation, every day of the week. If you believe in repetition, everything else will follow. (Jack Doherty) LISTEN: 'Drink Your Bleach'

SUN JUNE Somewhere

(Run For Cover / Keeled Scales)

Where Sun June's debut ‘Years’ was country-inspired and steeped in nostalgic melancholy, ‘Somewhere’ feels quietly hopeful; much more interested in the here and now than what ifs and what could have beens.

Indeed, where before there was an ever-present sense of yearning, here it’s replaced by a buoyant optimism, something which in turn stems from Laura Colwell and Stephen Salisbury becoming a couple between albums.

Buoyed by newfound feelings of hope and of anticipation, the record thrives, and as a result feels more encompassing. Still, there's also uncertainty at play. ‘Everything I Had’ or ‘Once In A While’ embodies this dichotomy perfectly, and it's their combination of bright-eyed optimism and reserved melancholy that make ‘Somewhere’ the record it is. (Dave Beech) LISTEN: 'Once In A While'

AERIAL EAST

maybe i will see you at the end of the

Armed with rocky riffs and hypnotic harmonies, Sydney Sprague’s debut unravels in waves of angst, reflection and dark humour. ‘maybe i will see you at the end of the world’ feels like rummaging around in that old forgotten handbag you once threw in the bottom of your wardrobe, only to find an old journal you kept buried inside during your teen emo phase.

Singles ‘staircase failure’, ‘steve’ and the aptly named ‘i refuse to die’ thus far perfectly capture the Arizona songwriter’s striking talent for stirring songwriting. With lyricism of an old, introspective soul compared to the likes of Phoebe Bridgers delivered with the alt-pop flair of Avril Lavigne, Sydney’s stormy tales are vivid yet dreamy with equal measure. As we venture on the last stretch facing the ‘end of the world’, Sprague remains surprisingly vulnerable with quite the change of heart asking “can you die of over empathy?”. Charmed with the same raw riffs and warming vocals, if it truly is the end of the world, we’ll go out gladly driving on the highway in Sydney Sprague’s getaway car with her album booming on the stereo. (Olivia White) LISTEN: ‘I refuse to die’

Try Harder (Partisan) Stretching between Europe and the Southern states, a life defined by fleeting visits has left Aerial East feeling like a stranger in her own home. Being the daughter to a travelling military family, it shouldn’t come as any surprise that after years of moving from one place to the next, prickly insecurities have compounded into a full-blown identity crisis that’s left the singer-songwriter trying to consolidate her scattered roots and reconcile with the difficult memories of her youth. Spoken with soft sentiments of reassurance, delicate new album ‘Try Harder’ exists to sooth these vulnerabilities and dig out a space for where she truly belongs. Behind rich layers of chinking piano keys and dulcet strings, stories of cherished lovers and friendships flick through sepia snapshots of the places she once called home. The sprawling west Texas flatlands are projected in high definition through tender drips of nostalgia on ‘Katherine’ where fragmented remnants of a once-unbreakable bond between people still ebbs and flows within her mind. She laments the affection of a previous love affair on the grief-stricken, ‘Angry Man’. As distant relationships begin to fade with time, so does her affiliation with the scenes where each had blossomed. Though often an album of departures, ‘Try Harder’ works to find new ground to walk upon. (Ollie Rankine) LISTEN: 'Katherine'

LAVA LA RUE

BUTTER-FLY (Marathon) Lava La Rue's 'Butter-Fly' is predominantly a celebration of new love: the anticipation, preoccupied thoughts, and of course the butterflies. The project sees the West Londoner exploring sounds reminiscent of psych-rock, all sun-drenched and windswept, overlaid with vocals which move from a spoken-word hum to dreamy melodies almost absorbed by their surroundings. 'Angel', with its guest turn from Deb Never, brings to mind late nights and early mornings with someone new, the bassline and wispy synths creating plenty of space for the bubble of early romance. 'G.O.Y.D' also ruminates on those fresh feelings, leaving no space for doubt as she asks: "Why be friends when we were written like a haiku?" It's intimate and intricate; the act of pouring your heart out and crossing your fingers.

Making love original, on this release Lava is stepping into new sounds and showing off a versatility that cements her as one to watch for 2021. (Eloise Bulmer) LISTEN: 'Angel'

RHYE

Home (Loma Vista)

Isolation from the outside world has surely given even the most restless souls a newfound appreciation for their own domain.

Perhaps Rhye ringleader Michael Milosh is one of the converted, as 'Home' taps into the healing aspects and the joys found within the family unit. ‘Beautiful’ finds Michael taking solace in the people around him, while the blissful ‘Come In Closer’ documents both the vulnerability and appreciation that comes from sharing your life with others. Neo-soul number ‘Black Rain’ is a particular highlight, the defiant tone of the track inspired by his real-world close call with a California wildfire. In among the ever-present disco rhythms, ambient synths and Rhye’s trademark ethereal vocals, you can’t help forgetting your mouldy bedsit reality and instead tap into a sort of halcyon nostalgia. It's a powerful remedy. That isn’t to say it's without its faults. Near the halfway mark it slips into more repetitive sonic patterns and this reduces the impact of several tracks, leaving the album markedly lopsided. It also rarely strays from Rhye's own well trodden path.

It’s comforting like an old blanket, perhaps a bit itchy in places, but when things get cold it’s just what you need.

(Jack Johnstone Orr) LISTEN: 'Black Rain'

Intimate and intricate.

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? ? ?IT?’S ?YO?UR? ? ? ? ROUND ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? quiz of A big inter-band pub

sorts, we’ll be grillin

g your faves one by on

PAUL SMITH, MAXÏMO PARK

NO BROUW GHT TO YO U VIA ZOOM !

Where: Newcastle Drink: Coca-Cola Price: Available from his fridge

Specialist Subject: Middlesbrough F.C.

Q1: In which year did Middlesbrough win the League Cup (also known as the EFL Cup)?

2004?

Yep! Very good.

Q2: Neil Warnock is the current manager of Middlesbrough FC but which team did he manage before taking over last year?

Ooh, that’s a tough one. He was in charge of Cardiff, but I wonder if he had a job in between… OK, Cardiff.

It was Cardiff, yes!

Q3: In the 1996-1997 season, the team had a deduction of three points after Christmas as punishment for failing to fulfil what commitment?

They were supposed to play Blackburn Rovers!

Everybody had caught the

flu…

They did indeed.

Q4: Jonathan Woodgate was signed to Middlesbrough for a one-year loan from which club, back in 2006?

Wow, that’s tough. Now then, he was at Real Madrid… Did we really loan him from them?

It was Real Madrid!

Middlesbrough were in a higher position at that point…

Q5: Back in 1997, what were Middlesbrough FC the first football club in the world to do?

It’s not a good one… We lost two cup finals in the same season?

It was actually much more positive! They launched their own TV channel.

4/5

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e.

General Knowledge

Q6: According to Greek mythology, who was the first woman on Earth?

I’ve actually just bought a book about Greek mythology but I haven’t read it yet clearly. Athena?

Pandora!

You’ve opened a real Pandora’s box with that!

win?

I should know this because I’m a big basketball fan…

I’m gonna say it’s five or six.

I’m gonna go with five?

It was actually six! Half a point since you did deliberate between the two.

Gutted!

Q7: Which of Shakespeare’s plays is the longest?

Oh god! I’m gonna go with Hamlet?

What a good guess! It was Hamlet.

Q9: How many hearts does an octopus have?

Two? It’s three!

Q8: When Michael Jordan played for the Chicago Bulls, how many NBA Championships did he

Q10: Which US city is known as the City of Brotherly Love?

Philadelphia!

Yes, exactly!

2.5/5

FINAL SCORE:

6.5/10

Verdict: It’s clear where Paul’s allegiance lies with scores like that - a big round for the Boro fan!

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RELEASED FEBRUARY 12TH

68 DIYMAG.COM

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