MUSIC
Heavy shit
Singer-songwriter Chloë Drallos taps into surf, goth, punk, and melodic pop with new Zilched LP y e
ilo
Chloë Drallos is read
CARRIGAN DRALLOS
18 October 21-27, 2020 | metrotimes.com
y t o t al k , i f you’ re read y t o l i s t en. W hi l e s om e of what t he s ong wri t er-g ui t ari s t m i g ht sing to you might come off caustic in i t s c and or, t here’ s of t en a uni vers al l y ap p l i c ab l e m es s ag e i n her l yri c s t out i ng t he s el f -em p owerm ent t hat ’ s at t ai nab l e when we d i s ent ang l e ours el ves f rom p et t y b ul l s hi t . D ral l os , a. k . a. Z i l c hed , rel eas ed an E P and a hand f ul of s i ng l es over t he l as t t hree years , b ut t hi s week end , s he’ s unveiling her first full-length (via Young H eavy S oul s ) , t i t l ed D o o m p o p . “ A nd I p i c k ed t hat t i t l e m ore t han a year ago, so this definitely isn’t a q u a r a n t i n e a l b u m , or any k i nd of c om m ent ary, ” she says. To an extent, the intent is alm os t f or t he t i t l e t o b e s ort of a p i c k -m eup . R at her t han wal l ow i n g l oom and ni hi l i s m and h e a v i n e s s , D ral l os has m ad e an al b um t hat p rom ot es a s ort of m ent al s oc i al d i s t anc i ng , i f you wi l l , f rom t he anxieties or insecurities of the comingof -ag e years , when we’ re navi g at i ng t he j ud g m ent al whi m s of c l i q ues and c ool c rowd s , or even our f am i l i es . “ D oom p op ” was a c at c hp hras e, of sorts, that Drallos traded off with some m us i c i ans s he’ d p revi ous l y c ol l ab orat ed wi t h, over a s hared ap p rec i at i on f or heavi er, l oud er, g narl i er m us i c . B ut when i t c om es t o t he aerod ynam i c b l end of s hoeg az e and g ot h t hat ’ s s weet ened ( i f not b i t t er-s weet ened ) b y D ral l os ’ t hread i ng s om e s ub s t ant i al earworm voc al m el od i es wi t h her s i g nat ure haz y m i d -rang e c roon, t hen, yes — “ d oom plus pop” seemed to fit nicely. B ut a l ot of t hat s ent i m ent c am e f rom a c onvi c t i on t o work t h r o u g h t he d oom — t o “ f ac e t he heavy, ” as s he p ut s i t , and t hen es s ent i al l y p ut t hat heavi nes s b ehi nd you. T he l oud nes s of t he g ui t ars , t he l i t henes s of t he m el od i es , and t he p rop ul s i on of t he d rum s al l m ani f es t a s ens e of l evi t at i ng a b o v e t he heavy — off-lifting the burden and digging up out of t he d oom .
