Dork, February 2021

DOWN WITH BORING

Pale Waves.

Odd ones out.

ISSUE 51 · FEBRUARY 2021 · READDORK.COM

TONY NJOKU

K I L LTO N Y E P RELEASED

12 F E B R U A R Y 2021 th

I

Index Issue 51 | February 2021 | readdork.com | Down With Boring

Contents

Ø4 Intro 16 Hype 22

Wall Art

32 Features 44 Incoming

readdork.com

Editor Stephen Ackroyd Deputy Editor Victoria Sinden

Associate Editor Ali Shutler Contributing Editors Jamie Muir, Martyn Young

Ø4. Black Honey

Hello, ‘Dear Reader’ New Year! No, we’re not doing the ‘happy’ bit yet - 2021 seems to be starting with the same miserable shitshow 2020 ended with, but - in the words of US bar room rockers The Hold Steady (ask your older siblings, etc.) - you’ve gotta stay positive.

And there are definitely things it’s worth staying positive about, too. None more exciting than the return of this month’s cover stars Pale Waves.

Back on the front of Dork for a record-equalling third time, album two sees our favourite pop goths go positively 90s - and it’s glorious. Set to land this February, it’s a welcome adrenaline shot right when we need it.

They’re not the only

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Dork faves returning with something worth getting buzzed over, either. Goat Girl’s new album ‘On All Fours’ is a thing of wonder, both smart and inventive, while Shame’s ‘Drunk Tank Pink’ is a genuine tour de force from a band truly coming into their own.

Add to that the much, much anticipated debut album from Arlo Parks - already an end of year list contender in January - and we’re off to a good start.

Things are difficult right now, especially as the UK embarks on another tough lockdown that keeps us away from the places and people we love. At the time of writing, concerns remain over this year’s festival season, with rumours

Glastonbury may be forced to wait until 2022.

But even as we approach a year away from proper, up close and personal live music, the power of our favourite artists to bring us together and lighten, enhance or simply document our mood remains a powerful, uniting force.

Dork is a magazine that prides itself in injecting a little positivity and nonsense into an increasingly cynical and angry world. We really are all in this together.

Stephen ‘Editor’ @stephenackroyd

Back with a second album, ‘Written & DIrected’, Black Honey have lost none of their theatrical side.

16. Pixey

Chess Club Records’ latest signee Pixey is among a long list of hugely talented artists, and she’s certainly not one to let that reputation down.

32. Pale Waves

With changes made and lessons learned, Pale Waves’ Heather Baron Grace reveals a band who have grown to be comfortable with who they are.

38. Goat Girl

Cult London faves Goat Girl are taking on the world with their muchanticipated second album, ‘On All Fours’.

4Ø. Arlo Parks

Destined to feature on many an album of the year list come December (yes, we’re calling it now), Arlo Parks’ debut has arrived.

Scribblers Aleksandra Brzezicka, Alex Cabre, Beth Lindsay, Chloe Johnson, Connor Fenton, Dan Harrison, Edie McQueen, Finlay Holden, Jake Hawkes, Jamie MacMillan, Jasleen Dhindsa, Jay Singh, Jessica Goodman, Melissa Darragh, Neive McCarthy, Sam Taylor, Tyler Damara Kelly Snappers Alex Waespi, Ella Brolly, Jordan Curtis Hughes, Laura Allard Fleischl, Matt Puccinelli, pappedbypercy, Patrick Gunning, Sarah Louise Bennett, Soph Hur, Zac Mahrouche PUBLISHED FROM WELCOMETOTHEBUNKER. COM UNIT 10, 23 GRANGE ROAD, HASTINGS, TN34 2RL 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 The Bunker Publishing Ltd. 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 The Bunker Publishing Ltd holds no responsibility.

The opinions of the contributors do not necessarily bear a relation to those of Dork or its staff and we disclaim liability for those impressions. Distributed nationally.

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THE BEATING HEART OF POP.

Uh-huh,

Back with a second album, ‘Written & DIrected’, Black Honey have lost none of their theatrical side.

Words: Jasleen Dhindsa. Portraits: Laura Allard Fleischl.

Live photos: Sarah Louise Bennett.

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FYI

STUFF YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS MONTH...

Black Honey have always been ones for the limelight. As a band that thrive on kitschy and theatrical aesthetics, their second album ‘Written & Directed’ takes things up a notch not only by taking centre stage again, but orchestrating the whole affair for a cinematic mission statement steeped in pop culture.

“I feel like I’ve learned a lot about trusting my own abilities and knowing about my guts. I’ve always been quite a guttural person.” The band’s frontwoman Izzy B. Phillips reflects on how she has changed since Black Honey’s 2018 self-titled debut. “Through the process of making these last two records, I’ve really learned a lot. With album one there were a lot of different elements that affected the way that album came out.

We were in the middle of a tour... the pressure that we were under, all of those things add up. Whereas this record [was] fucking amazing. There was no part of it that was hard.”

Inspired by grindhouse cinema and pulp films, alongside a title referencing Quentin Tarantino, ‘Written & Directed’ is more soundtrack than album. “When we were making the record, we didn’t have the title alone, just thinking a lot about the arching perspectives that we wanted to deliver. With every song that we made, we were like, does this fit into a movie? If the answer was yes, what scene does it fit into?” Izzy explains.

“We started talking a lot about the different ways in which cinema depicts different storytelling. We listen to music to feel like we’re in a movie, I think. I’ve got this lyric in ‘Corrine’ [from Black Honey’s debut album] where I’m like, we’re only playing makebelieve. We live in a movie, everyone’s living out there in their own movies. So I really wanted to dig into that idea and explore artistically what would a Black Honey movie feel like in a record?

“In the past, people have critiqued me for having a really changeable or flitty artistic style. The fun part of this record was seeing all of those things or the contradictions of my nature come through, but in ways that felt like they sat together and in a cinematic narrative. Women aren’t allowed to have an angry feeling, and then suddenly they’re sad and

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sometimes vulnerable.”

“I love what we’ve made because I think I felt like it was something that couldn’t be done,” she continues. “Or that it was very uncool to do. We’ve managed to create a world that is so uniquely us, that it almost feels like only we would have done it. I can’t imagine very many bands wanting to do the sort of record we make, and that’s something about myself that I used to critique. Because we’re so campy and we do all these theatrics. A lot of people find that super gross, and I can see why people would. To me, that is my self-exploration of my imaginary world. Not one word on this record is untrue. I lay myself as bare as I can.

“I’ve learned a lot about trusting my own abilities” Izzy B. Phillips “There’s this amazing quote about Jack White that says The White Stripes are simultaneously the most fake band in the world and the most real band in the world.

That really resonates with me, and I identify with the idea of creating something that’s almost so fake that the realness of it becomes more real.”

Black Honey’s new record also explores themes of womanhood, flip-reversing female cinematic representation all primed to unfurl and explode around them. But feminism is an issue that Izzy didn’t always resonate with until recently.

“I felt for ages that feminism was this issue that everyone put on me that I had to talk about,” Izzy confesses. “It felt really annoying. I just wanted to be treated like how the boys get

After telling us last year we may well be getting a Drive Like I Do album in the near future, Matty Healy has again confirmed a full-length is imminent for the 1975’s pre-fame guise. February, apparently. He’s even made an Instagram account. We’ll wait and see.

treated, and it’s so fascinating, because now the more I’ve learned about it, the more I’m like, I’ve got to do something.

I like to let everyone do their own thing, but it’s like, shit this is actually my conversation to be had and just because a lot of things came very authentically to me, like doing masculine jobs is so natural, I’ve always been very in touch with my masculine side.

“But this my conversation to be had, my world that I know best, my window to give other girls and women an opportunity to see themselves in a different light. Just because I didn’t need a woman to become Izzy from Black Honey, doesn’t mean that other kids don’t need that. Or people who are marginalised don’t need to see more diversity.

“I think that’s something that I’ve also loved about this year [2020] is discovering this plethora of diverse creatives and musicians that I can really identify with, and feeling super empowered by all these troops of marginalised people coming through the cracks now. It’s like fuck yeah, this is the invincible time in history. I feel very proud of that somehow. I don’t feel like I created it, but I definitely feel like I’m sort of like cheering the progress on.

“It’s people like Arlo Parks and Billie Eilish. You get pop stars like Dua Lipa who are the archetype of star, then you get Billie Eilish kicking the doors in, and it’s like whoa, that shit is wild. Suddenly this depressed teenager is voicing a generation. I’m absolutely here for it.”

The new sense of empowerment Izzy feels feeds into the compositions on ‘Written & Directed’ that see experimentation with sounds previously uncharted. For

instance, the distorted grunge shockwave of ‘Disinfect’ is the heaviest song the band have done to date.

“It’s so weird, because ‘Disinfect’ is my premonition song. I feel like this shit has been fucking coming and bubbling up and for me, when I say lyrics like, we’re just the virus addicted to the violence, I think I was tapping into something. I’m absorbing something from around me.

I’m not a fucking crystal ball or anything, but you do have an insight.

“Sometimes I think songs are premonitions, even if they’re just messages to your future self. As a creative, you’re tapped into that shit all the time. You can’t switch it off. It’s a curse. That song felt like I just wanted to fuck it up and blow the lid on some shit, like the film Over The Edge.”

Speaking more about the film that inspired the track, Izzy says, “There was like an overpopulation of kids in this town in America in the seventies, and the kids just overwhelm the school and start burning the school down.

It’s unbelievable. That was my theme for ‘Disinfect’, this sort of generational fury and really dark anger that I feel like I’ve carried since I was a kid.”

“I’m completely obsessed with the era of Lou Reed and Andy Warhol, Edie Sedgwick. I love that whole black and white New York seventies shit. I guess the way that you can hear that coming through is in songs like ‘Summer 92’; this beautiful 8mm movie of kids skating in the sunset and graffitiing their schools. I can see these super romantic and beautiful stories from an alternative perspective from someone that is an outsider.

“I think I’ll be working on

End Of The Road have announced over 100 acts set to play at this year’s festival. They include fourth headliner Perfume Genius, Arlo Parks, Squid, Sorry, Dry Cleaning and many more, who join first names out of the hat Pixies, Bright Eyes, King Krule, Big Thief and Little Simz this September.

tracking movies eventually. I would love to do something like that, and I hope I get an opportunity one day. I absolutely love cinema.”

“I just wanted to fuck it up and blow the lid on some shit” Izzy B. Phillips “I think I’m most proud of the fact that I can listen [to the album] and I’m still obsessed with it. I’ve sat with it myself for a while, I didn’t listen to it for like six months, and then in August, I got really drunk and drank like, like five margaritas or something. I was at a train station, and I just thought, fuck it, I want to listen to the record.

I just sat off my face on this bench, and I listened to the album back-to-back twice in a row. I just fucking cried like a child. It was just like, fuck I made this, and who the hell is writing these lyrics? What a message to send to myself.

“The song ‘I Do It To Myself’ - that is someone that really doesn’t want to get help, but really needs it. Hearing that now, and seeing that from an outside perspective is like looking in the mirror for the first time and being like, what the fuck? Who’s this person?

I’ve never met you before. It’s the time of reflection that you have now as well, isn’t it? Like do you go on tour for five years, but you don’t stop, so you never think or look back or reflect.

“I’ve loved everything I’ve done, every fucking second. I swear to God, I’ve smashed my twenties. But I do think that there was absolutely not one point where I was like, maybe I should just sit and do nothing for a while? Now I’m doing that I’m like, I don’t even know who I am. I’m like, who is this person? I’m fucking proud of this person, that’s for sure. But I also see a vulnerable person as well. A complicated person that needs a lot of help, and support.

It’s a really weird out of body experience.” P Black Honey’s album ‘Written & Directed’ is out soon. readdork.com 5.

Holly Humberstone has revealed details of a new UK tour. Kicking off at the end of May in Cardiff, the run will include shows in Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester and Nottingham - before touching down in London-town for three rescheduled nights at Omeara.

This year’s Parklife festival has announced new dates, to try to make sure they skip any COVID related issues. Originally set to take place on Manchester’s Heaton Park in June, 2021’s event will now be moved to 11-12th September.

The Snuts have announced details of their debut album. ‘W.L.’ is set for release on March 19th and comes alongside a UK headline tour to take place in May and June. Probably. TBC. If everything is okay by then. Fingers crossed, yeah?

Winter Skies With a fresh EP ‘Music For Winter Vol. 1’, Another Sky are getting ready for a whole new phase.

Words: Sam Taylor. Photo: Ella Brolly.

After widespread acclaim for their debut album ‘I Slept On The Floor’, Another Sky are not planning on hanging around. They’ve already dropped brand new EP ‘Music For Winter Vol. 1’, and, as you might be able to work out from the title, suggested a second instalment will follow next year.

Between the two, they’re also recording a second full-length which they intend to drop at some point in 2021. Busy bees.

We caught up with the Dork faves for a much needed update.

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Tell us about your new EP, it’s made up of some old and some new songs?

Naomi: I began writing ‘Pieces’, the EP’s opener, a long time ago. I was writing songs for my final assessment at uni, and my band was basically Another Sky with a few additions - plus me singing terribly. I was struggling with some moral issues regarding my sexuality, and this was the first time I’d written and performed something on that matter. I was touched when Catrin asked me if I’d like to re-work it lyrically. A lot has changed since then, and it felt very cathartic to revisit those moments with a friend who was there from the start.

‘Was I Unkind’ is a really old song, too. That’s one of Catrin’s.

It’s about a plant, and for some reason when she told me that I loved the song even more. She really needs to look after her plants. She sat at a piano, and it came out so beautifully on its own. We didn’t want to take any of the beauty away from that, so we wrote some sparse instrumentation around it.

‘Blood Love’ is one we all wrote together at the Pool in South London. ‘It Keeps Coming’ is a relatively old idea but we hadn’t finished it. It sounds very fresh to me in its final form, so in that sense, it feels quite new.

Catrin: We recorded all the

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songs between August and October this year. We revisited ‘Pieces’ in August and me and Naomi sort of looked at each other and instantly knew I could not re-work those lyrics without her, or make them about something else. I’m honoured Naomi let me take on the emotional weight of that song.

‘Sun Seeker’ came from Jack and is very old. He was really inspired by José González at the time. ‘Tree’ from our debut album came from that phase as well. ‘Leaving The Lighthouse’ is the only truly new one, I think it happened in August. It was a one-off jam me and Max did that Jack stumbled in on and quickly set up two mics for.

It’s the first take of a song that took about two hours to write.

Max has all these old piano songs from years ago with really beautiful riffs. We were re-working one.

“Another Sky are basically my family now” Catrin Vincent Do you hold onto songs waiting for the right release time? Is there a bunch waiting to go?

Catrin: We have a big pot of songs we pick from for each body of work. The process of choosing is really democratic.

That’s why really old songs end up next to really new ones.

Naomi: We don’t like thinking in terms of “singles” or ammunition to fire out tactically.

We’re incredibly fortunate to have a label that really trust our creative process. We’re constantly writing, and like Catrin says, we do have a heap of songs we’ve always got on the go, but it’s about

making sure those songs work coherently, both lyrically and sonically rather than tactically releasing our next summer hit people can lick their ice cream to.

It sounds like some of content here is super exposing - how do you feel about putting songs like ‘Pieces’ out into the world?

Naomi: I’m learning how to channel my emotions into something other than anger, and I think music is a really great outlet for that. I started writing this song at least four years ago now, and I think back then I wouldn’t have even considered immortalising something so fragile, or as you say exposing.

I feel that vulnerability is sometimes seen as weakness when really it can be a great strength.

Was there anything in particular that prompted you to tackle these themes now?

Catrin: This EP happened naturally, and lyrically, I was really inspired by watching Naomi go through what she’s gone through. I’m wary of speaking for her, though.

Correct me if I’m wrong Naomi, but I think you felt like you could finally confront everything because of lockdown. You were able to take that time.

Where do you look for reassurance yourself when it comes to issues like identity?

Are there any bands, films, books or the like that are your go-to’s?

Catrin: I’ve found identity really, really difficult recently. It changes every day, I have a very loose sense of ‘self’. Someone I really admire is Michaela Coel.

Phoebe Bridgers, too, Sally Rooney. Writers who don’t pitch people as heroes or villains.

I’ve also started listening to the podcast “You’re Wrong About” which explores a lot of the ideas surrounding celebrity

culture and the media. I find it so cathartic, mainly because the hosts have a great sense of compassion. They take a big human rights approach.

They approach everything with nuance and epistemic modesty.

Naomi: I’m not the most active reader, but if something’s really gotten ahold of me I’ll find a book that zones in on that issue. I also pray or meditate, whatever you want to call it.

When you’re in a band, it’s really easy to feel like your identity is synonymous with how many likes you get on social media, or how many streams you have or how quickly your shows sell out.

It’s really damaging because it simply isn’t true.

How have you found collaborating together during social-distancing?

Naomi: Wery different, but incredibly productive. It’s always quite daunting changing the way you work, especially if it’s collaborative. I think we got into a groove pretty quickly.

Catrin was coming up with some amazing ideas, and we were passing them around.

Personally, I found a bit of freedom having the time to really think about what I was offering rather than playing the first thing that came to my head. I’m not saying that’s my preference, but it was quite refreshing.

Did you find it difficult being apart for a while? How often do you guys usually hang out and stuff?

Catrin: Another Sky are basically my family now. Being apart was really hard.

Did you pick up any new skills during the unexpected downtime?

Naomi: No. I bought a bike during lockdown, like a lot of people did. But I did already know how to ride a bike, so my answer is still no.

Catrin: I had to learn to read

music as I’ve started a job teaching kids how to play and perform.

You’ve been working on your second album too, right?

How’s that going?

Catrin: Really great!

Naomi: Sublime. I’m very excited about album two. It’s certainly a lot more confident. We’re all big fans of undeniably good songs in this band, regardless of genre.

The majority of the second album was written during the first lockdown, which has bizarrely produced some of the happiest and most upbeat songs we’ve ever written. We’re all 90s kids so there are definitely hints of that era throughout.

What was your starting point for the record? Is your mindset more ‘What can we do that’s different’, or ‘What can we do that’s better’?

Catrin: My genuine mindset as the lyricist right now is, “I am too depressed to write sad songs right now. I need happy stuff”. I’m also trying not to care about upping the game, as weird as that sounds. Songwriting is purely cathartic for me. I guess we are trying something different, as a band, though. Not necessarily better, just different.

Naomi: It’s difficult to say if it’s particularly different because we’re so close to the songs. If I had to give one word, it would be ‘confident’.

Do you have a rough timeline for the release?

Catrin: I don’t want to say just yet. We’ll say it, and then it will change, ha!

What else are you on with at the mo? Do you have much ‘in the diary’?

Naomi: Writing, writing, writing.

Finishing album two. Being an island in our little studio. And we’re hoping we can finally go on tour in the summer. P

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Starman How do you take on playing an actual legend? As David Bowie in new film Stardust, Johnny Flynn isn’t afraid of a challenge.

Words: Jamie MacMillan.

David Bowie would never have had to put up with this. ‘This’ being the usual bundle of chaos that Dork brings to any party. Because, while Johnny Flynn, the man responsible for bringing the icon back to life in the new biopic Stardust, sits comfortably in his home for our Zoom call, we’re squashed into the front of a parked van. Anywhere to get a signal. As the sun slowly starts to set, he squints into his monitor and asks quizzically “Where… are you?” Welcome to Planet Earth, Ziggy.

Telling the tale of a pre-fame (and pre-’Faaaaame’) Bowie, ‘Stardust’ acts as an origin story for his most famous creation Ziggy Stardust.

Taking place during his 1971 tour-ofAmerica-that-wasn’t-a-tour, many of the events almost feel apocryphal in the issues and obstacles facing him as he turns up in the country minus a visa, while also fighting to prove that he’s more than a one-hit-wonder.

It’s a dark, distinctly unglamorous portrayal of life on the outskirts of a disinterested music industry - as Bowie and his put-upon publicist Ron Oberman (played by Glow’s Marc Maron) do their best, and equally their worst, at drumming up any press interest. Not so much ‘The Man Who Sold The World’ then, as ‘The Man Who No-One Cared About’.

At times almost unrecognisable from the icon that was about to emerge, it was the chance to explore this largely unknown period in his career that appealed to Flynn the most in a dream, yet daunting, role. “I felt like this was a Bowie that you didn’t really know,” he begins. “At this point, he saw himself as a failure, he was desperately insecure, and it was really interesting to reframe my ideas about him.” It’s the genesis of a particular character whose shadow still hangs large over much of today’s music - your Creepers, your MCRs, even your Declans, all owe a huge debt to this metamorphosis that a slightly kooky guy from Brixton underwent.

As he plays shows in front of disinterested vacuum cleaner salesmen or gets entangled in carcrash interviews, ‘Stardust’ is a film that sets out to humanise someone who, ironically, becomes famous for portraying an alien. “Yeah, that’s what it was all about, humanising him before he starts creating these characters to hide behind,” agrees Johnny. “That was a cathartic, artistic kind of innovation for him.

Before that, he was fumbling around and trying to be outrageous, but

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everybody else was already doing that stuff first. Mick Jagger was wearing dresses in Hyde Park a couple of years before he did. He’s looking around at all these other rock stars trying to be like one, but he doesn’t have it in him.”

This period of struggle and trying to find yourself is something that every artist goes through, and Flynn is no different. “Yeah, it was nice to think back on some of those awkward PR environments,” he remembers. “I’ve been sent to the Amazon offices to play for their office workers over their lunch break before, just because the label wanted me to get in with them. Or get on a ‘Must Listen’ list.” He finishes with a laugh. “Hopefully I’m not such a shit interviewee as him though!”

Much of the film sees Bowie stalked by fears for his mental health, with the lines blurring between reality and fiction as his own anxiety increases. Its poignancy and relevancy is made all the more stark when contrasted with reactions fifty years ago. “I found it interesting to be reflecting on a time when there was so much stigma still attached to issues around mental health,” ponders Johnny.

“To consider how far we’ve come and how far we still have to go. I’ve had friends who’ve suffered with breakdowns and things, and I’ve had various things too you know? These invincible heroes that we have, we think that they’re untouchable with these things when actually, he was someone that was very fragile.”

As Bowie collides in an almost magnetic way with other outsiders and outcasts in the movie, a world where many of rock’s biggest icons wear a mask, both metaphorically and in his case, literally. “He was just incredibly awkward in his own skin,” he reflects. “And even when he’s successful, you watch him in interviews, and he just doesn’t want to be there. And then he’s fine when he starts singing. He did all these bold things on stage in character, but I think it was finding Ziggy that gave him something that he’d been looking for.”

Ah yes, Ziggy Stardust. The film may live mainly in his shadow for much of the running time, but when Bowie’s alter ego (finally) arrives, the world is suddenly bathed in vivid shades of day-glo colours. It reveals a character that is that rarest of creations, something with the power to still cut through even today. “He was this bonkers character, pulling all these worlds together and at

that time it was such a new thing,” reflects Johnny before admitting that it was a daunting prospect having to finally don the outfit. “It was quite overwhelming, but when it came to the day, I loved it. They put an advert in the paper about it being a Ziggy gig, so loads of people turned up in 70s clothes, loads of drunk people on first dates I think.

I loved it.”

“He was this bonkers character, pulling all these worlds together” Johnny Flynn Though the project feels like a one-and-done for now, Johnny does admit to conversations with director Gabriel Range about delving deeper into Bowie’s world by exploring his later Berlin period (think Iggy Pop, more drugs than is normally considered humanly possible, and a general air of hedonism that would make a Libertine wince).

It’s a tempting proposition, but for now, Johnny is satisfied with what they’ve brought to life. “It’s designed to be this tiny moment rather than a sprawling bio-pic jukebox musical,” he nods. “It’s not aiming to be like other recent big rock star biopics.” Tiny moment or not, it led to this Starman taking his place amongst music history.

And he is still burning brightly, even five decades later. P Stardust will be in UK and Irish cinemas and on digital platforms from 15th January.

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Round The Corner 10. DORK

With much of 2020’s tour plans put on ice due to, y’know, reasons, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets instead hunkered down to prepare for their fourth studio album. With a title like ‘SHYGA! The Sunlight Mound’, this isn’t your standard fare.

Words: Jessica Goodman. Photo: Captura Obscura / Matt Puccinelli.

“The amount of conversations I’ve had with people and they’re like, ‘zombies are coming!’”

Jack McEwan laughs. “I can’t take it.” It’s a sunny summer evening in Perth, and after a couple of beers under blue skies, the Psychedelic Porn Crumpets frontman is contemplating the relevance of 28 Days Later (“that is not a good film to watch in lockdown”) and his need for a summer wardrobe (“no one wants to be the first person of the year to go out in shorts”).

It’s been over a year and a half since the psych-rock outfit released their last record, ‘And Now For The Whatchamacallit’.

In the time since then, they’ve toured the world, played the festivals of their dreams, and whiled away lockdown with frequent visits to their local bottle shop. “We’ve been given a sniff of the great life, and now we’re back into our days of playing golf and getting sunburned,” Jack laughs.

“We don’t know what’s going on.”

They might claim not to have much of a clue, but their music tells a different story. Hitting play on ‘SHYGA! The Sunlight Mound’ is like taking a step inside a world of the band’s own making.

Vivid and vibrant – or as they describe it, “colourful, convoluted, seventies nonsense” – this is the sound of a band at the top of their game. Their time at home – to relax, refresh, and reinvigorate their creativity – while unplanned, has served them well.

“It’s almost like being able to get a little bit of my life back in order, which is kind of weird,” Jack reflects. “I’m like, ‘oh right, I have all my friends and family here.’” Having spent so much time on the road, bringing their psych-drenched sound to life for audiences everywhere from Melbourne to Manchester, putting on a raucous live show became a part of the band’s character. Not being able to hit the road and tour might have started off feeling like a detriment, but the space and time to create whatever and however they wish has been a value they never expected. “I think when it all starts going back to normal, and they’re like, ‘alright, now you’ve got to go off for another six months’, I’m going to be like a kid that doesn’t want to go to school,” Jack laughs.

“There have been so many negatives, but I think the positive - at least, for creatives - is that everyone is at home, working on their magnum opus,” he continues. That could be anything from writing the book you always knew you had it in you to write, making the album you never knew you had it in you to make, or even finishing the world’s biggest puzzle (like the friend Jack had dinner with a few days prior to this conversation). It might be a cliché that hard times breed

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great creativity, but clichés are cliché for a reason. “It’ll be like a new renaissance of style,” Jack proclaims.

“It was originally supposed to be a metal record” Jack McEwan For Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, they’ve spent the past year hard at work on their fourth album. The strikingly titled ‘SHYGA! The Sunlight Mound’ is a dynamic wonderland every bit as sun-kissed as its title suggests. But that’s not how it started out. “It was originally supposed to be a metal record,” Jack grins. Initially inspired by the likes of Slipknot and System Of A Down, the album the group created ended up being more influenced by the likes of T. Rex and ELO. “If they were trying to be ambitious now, what would they do if they were just recording in a bedroom?” Jack questions.

Written at a time when there were very few places to go other than the local bottle shop, ‘SHYGA!...’ is a record inspired by booze, buzz, and boredom. “It’s an album about alcohol,” Jack describes. Unable to venture out around the world to make new memories, the record also takes heavy influence from the feeling of nostalgia. “All the lyrics have this really strong theme of being almost in a stalemate with the world,” Jack portrays. “I feel like it came together at the end to be almost like a Marc Bolan esque, Rocky Horror Picture Show kind of style of writing.”

As for what the title means, well, that’s left for you to decide.

“That, for me, is the intriguing part,” Jack expresses of album and song names. “If you pick up a CD, you turn it around, and on the back, it lists, ‘Love Again’, ‘First Love’, ‘Second Love’. You’re like, ‘aw man, where is this guy going?’” he laughs.

Turning a CD around to titles like ‘Tripolasaur’, ‘Hats Off To Green Bins’, and ‘Mango Terrarium’, what lies behind those names all but literally echoes out for exploration. “I feel like it adds to the character of the band or the style of what is going on in a way that sometimes chords or music can’t,” he adds. “If music is visual, what does that sound like?” Well, dear readers, you’ll have to listen to the record to find out.

“It was probably the first time since the first record I’ve actually felt like I’ve managed to write a

whole album and be happy with it,” Jack enthuses. “I’ve signed off. Here it is.” Such a confident statement can only spell good things. Cinematic in scope and texture, this is music to immerse all the senses. “That, for me, feels like the best way to get to know the headspace of the people or person writing it,” he comments of the album format. “That’s their chance to almost create a score or a picture or movie.”

What would the Psychedelic Porn Crumpets movie look like? “You’d have to learn to do cinema 4D and everything,” he laughs.

The band are about to release their fourth record, but just because they’ve been through these motions before doesn’t mean they don’t feel the nerves.

“It’s something that will never not feel personal,” Jack earnestly expresses. “Because we’re just doing this in our bedrooms, something that I might not even show anyone then gets put on this record that’s shown to everyone in one moment,” he marvels. “Then you get asked questions on it!” It seems daunting, for sure, but that’s also where music finds its magic. “It’s this strange feeling of including yourself in someone else’s life, without you even realising that’s what you’re doing,” Jack portrays. “That’s our escapism.”

They might not be able to tour at the moment, but they can share their music with the world at large – so that’s exactly what Psychedelic Porn Crumpets are going to continue to do. “I still feel like it’s a struggle for us to get out of Perth,” Jack laughs.

“It’s weird thinking that there are people overseas who’ve managed to get hold of our music,” he muses. “It’s wild. I mean... What is music?” When that question is put to him, he says it could take eight days to explain.

Touring the wider world might be off the cards for now, so the group are already back to doing what they do best: making music. “I’m straight into the next one,” Jack enthuses. Picking back up where the heavy metal influences for their new record were waylaid, what the band create next looks like it could see them turning everything up to eleven. “You feel so calm after listening to the heaviest song ever,” Jack conveys. “Whereas sometimes I listen to Belle and Sebastian and want to beat people up. It’s weird.” Whatever direction Psychedelic Porn Crumpets take, you can be sure it’ll be quite unlike anything else we’ve heard from them before.

“We’re keeping writing music,” Jack asserts. “We’ll always be writing music.” And if that isn’t something we can’t get on board with, then we don’t know what is.

P Psychedelic Porn Crumpets’ album ‘SHYGA! The Sunlight Mound’ out 5th February. readdork.com 11.

One of 2021’s most anticipated albums comes from Scottish electro-popsters CHVRCHES. In a new interview with the Guardian, vocalist Lauren Mayberry says the record has their “DNA”, but the songs wouldn’t “slot into any of the first three records”. Expect more soon.

While everyone continues to wait for a follow up to 2016’s ‘ANTI’, Rihanna has other plans in mind. Yes, she’s “always working” on her music, but in an interview with Closer she revealed she’s also working on her own Caribbean-inspired cookbook. R9 will come eventually, right?

The Killers are teasing what looks like it may be another new album. Though they only released their previous full-length ‘Imploding The Mirage’ back in August 2020, an 11-song tracklist was posted on socials recently. What could it mean?

Smash hits Take a peek beneath Lynks’ pop-star persona with the man behind the mask, Elliot Brett.

Words: Aleksandra Brzezicka. Photos: @pappedbypercy.

Flexing on a new name and freshly-made outfits, revamped Lynks (formerly Lynks Afrikka), armed with new EP ‘Smash Hits Vol. 2’, comes to the rescue with his ridicule-ridden musical extravaganza. Bringing sharp lyricism and avant-pop disco beats, Lynks is the masked hero that we desperately need.

“My whole goal for Lynks has been to create the most ultimately entertaining, shortattention-span-catering thing in the world,” says a highly enthusiastic Elliot Brett on his alter-ego’s primary drive since day one. It’s what brought him to existence, to Bristol’s house parties and drag show stages.

“When I was in Bristol, we were doing all these scrappy shows, really dirty and weird. It’s still unpolished, but then it was deeply unpolished. The whole vibe was like get covered in dirt, roll around on the floor. Get the cake. Eat the cake. Smash the cake on your face vibes,” he laughs.

Now based in London, fans are eating up his electropop experience consisting of everything from how to make bechamel sauce song-recipe, masc4masc satire in ‘Str8 Acting’ to dark comedy confessions on being desperate, lonely and queer.

“I was doing all the crazy stuff on stage, and at the end of the day, I was really proud of the music I was making, and I really liked it. I thought I need to do justice to this music,” Elliot elaborates.

The real, cathartic euphoria that Lynks serves can’t be found in the cool waters of the comfort zone.

“I never want to perform something I don’t love. The cool, I don’t care. Also, because like, what is cool? Cool is safe. Cool is easy. And cool’s boring to watch.

We’ve all watched cool. When you watch someone that is not cool on stage but does it really well, it’s the most exciting thing in the world. It’s just so much

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more engaging. You don’t want to watch someone on stage being like, ‘yeah guys I’m so grateful to be here. This song is called ‘Water’.’ Fuck that. I’m never doing that again. I used to that.

I’m not doing that anymore. It’s not fun.”

“What is cool? Cool is safe. Cool is easy. And cool’s boring to watch” Lynks In the beginning, Lynks was essentially a funny-looking gimpsize shield that Elliot could hide behind so the real him wouldn’t have to face the crowd. It let him perform his musical madness with no limitations or mentalstrings attached.

“I’m over that now, to be honest. It was really helpful to get where I am now. If now a magic spell happened and Lynks didn’t have a costume, and it was just me, I think would still do it.

That’s personal growth, baby,” Elliot says.

Congratulations aside, Lynks is still with us, and he’s got a new record to release, a second EP, ‘Smash Hits Vol.2’. The most

feverish synth-bangers have arrived; the dark cabaret starts soon, and Lynks brings his A-game with every track. “’Brand New Face’ is all about the culture we live in where when we don’t like the way we look, we’re encouraged to just change it rather than to accept it,” he says.

Sometimes, even if you do change everything about you, the outside world still won’t let you in.

‘Everyone’s Hot (And I’m Not)’ is a Lynks-style reaction to Elliot’s facing a quite violent turn down after a casual flirt attempt.

“It was like ‘fuck off, get out of here’ kind of thing. It was really nasty. When I got on the bus afterwards, I was feeling like such a specific horrible feeling. It’s rejection, but you also feel like a sort of weird outsider. Especially that it was out on a club night in a very straight club. You already feel out of place, and it’s just the thing that kind of crushes you out.”

Wanting his music to be a safe and inclusive space, Lynks Afrikka - originally named after the iconic deodorant - dropped the second part of his name, having people question its propriety. “If someone finds my music and likes it, I don’t want them to feel alienated or that I’m

being insensitive,” he reasons.

Lynks might be the ultimate entertainer, but his main superpower is not turning everything into a 24/7 party, but rather having the ability to borrow our fears for onenight fancies and return them reshaped. “In a lot of my songs, I take something really, really dark, and then I turn all the leavers up to 100, and by doing that everything becomes ridiculous and then really silly.

“It’s just like a funhouse mirror.

When you put out like a weird curved mirror, and something awful suddenly looks like this weird, silly thing. You take the scary monster and put it in a clown costume. I mean that sounds terrifying too, but you dress it up as silly, and somehow it takes away its power.”

Somewhere in between performing in his one-person circus, mastering his wonky beats so they slap real hard, and undergoing identity experimentations, Lynks was tipped by the mighty Elton John himself as a new face of the queer revolution. Though, Elliot’s keen to point out that queer world isn’t homogenous.

“I mean, no-one asked the gays what they want. I don’t think the gays want to be represented

by me. If they do, then I don’t know what they’re smoking. You don’t want to be represented by a fucking techno clown gimp,” he says, before adding: “I think the straight world and the gay world are always ready for anything entertaining and exciting.”

“I think the public has always been ready for queer stuff, it’s just whether the people that get the queer stuff in front of the public are willing to back it. I think that people in the positions of power in the music industry really don’t give the public enough credit,” he declares. “[Scissor Sisters] were the gayest band ever, and they were the biggest selling artists of the year. Their [2004 self-titled debut] album was one of the biggest selling albums of the decade.”

Sold out shows and an everexpanding circle of fun-seeking Lynks followers only confirm Elliot’s words - and this is just the beginning.

“I guess I am in drag,” he considers. “In the same way that Elton John was in drag or David Bowie was in drag. I love drag, so if anyone calls me a drag performer, then I feel very proud.

I almost feel like if anything I don’t deserve it because I don’t work hard enough on the looks.”

“I’ve got a bunch of songs that I’m working on. There’s one that I was doing actually just before this interview. You know those adverts you get on dodgy websites where it’s like ‘single ladies in your area’? It’s from the point of view of her, of the advert lady,” he shares.

He’s got another record up his sleeve too, and he’s not sure whether to get it out or try his luck with an actual producer.

“It’s just strange. I mean, you get the sense that the music industry is in a very risk-averse place right now because of COVID and everything. I think that they want safe bets; I’m not sure it’s the best time to be a devil gimp.”

Maybe a devil gimp is just what the industry needs. P readdork.com 13.

Last year, Bring Me The Horizon promised us four EPs in their ‘Post Human’ series. We’ve had the first, but the wait for the second may be a bit longer. Talking to Kerrang!, the band’s Jordan Fish revealed that - due to that first edition ending up longer than expected, they’re starting work on the second around now.

Not content with releasing one of the weirdest, most brilliant records of 2020, Poppy looks to be at it again. According to an interview with SPIN, there’s a new project “about 95% done”.

“About a month ago in L.A., I got my touring band together, and we got to record a new album,” she revealed. Oooooh, etc.

YES, DEAR READER! IT’S A BRAND NEW POP STAR COLUMN FROM ‘FRIEND OF THE MAGAZINE’ MEZ GREEN FROM THE MAGNIFICENT LIFE. IF YOU’VE NOT ALREADY CHECKED OUT HIS MONTHLY DORK RADIO SHOW MEZ’S SUNDAY LUNCH, FIND IT

BY SEARCHING YOUR PODCAST APP OF CHOICE FOR ‘DORKCAST’ NOW.

COLUMN

A Day In The Life

LIFE LESSONS WITH MEZ GREEN FROM LIFE

Remi Wolf

YOU KNOW WHAT’S EASIER THAN FOLLOWING AROUND YOUR FAVE UP-AND-COMING INDIE-STROKE-POP STARS, DAY IN, DAY OUT, TO SEE WHAT THEY’RE UP TO? ASKING THEM. 8:00AM I wake up. The time depends on the day and how tired I am.

After I wake up, sometimes I will look at social media for an hour, and sometimes I won’t, and I will get straight in the shower or get directly onto a phone meeting.

Writing this out is making me question my lack of routine.

However, I always drink a mint Yerba mate in the morning without fail.

11:00AM Literally all of this changes every day, but I try to go on an hour-long walk with my dog on most days. I love looking at all the houses and plants of whatever neighbourhood I’m in at the time (I’ve moved around a lot in quarantine). I either listen to music or a podcast that I’ve been into while I’m walking and I really get to relax and enjoy my time outside. If I don’t get outside, I feel pretty nuts and start acting out lol.

1:00PM Normally around 1pm, I’ll start working on music, whether it be by myself or with a producer.

This past week I’ve been going to my friend Jared’s studio every day and popping out tunes. Once I’m at the studio, I’ll start thinking about food.

Sometimes if I am really lazy I’ll bring a protein bar and just eat that, but the past week me and Jared have been pounding down this Tartine bread loaf he has at his place, along with a huge container of kimchi. Kimchi is a go-to snack. And Babybell cheese.

3:00PM This is the time for another dose of caffeine. I’ll take whatever I can get. My friend Jared has an espresso machine at his house, so I’ve been drinking a lot of

14. DORK

light roast espresso that tastes like tomato juice and acid. It’s very strange and kinda gross, but I really need the caffeine bro.

5:00PM A couple times a week, I will take my dog Juno to the dog park around this time. It’s honestly so fun to watch the dogs run around and see all their little dynamics play out in front of me.

It must look crazy from a birds eyes view. Just a bunch of dogs running around and humans standing with their arms crossed and a leash around their neck.

We love.

7:00PM I will hang out with a friend and make some food or maybe go pick up some food. We talk about life and what happened during the day, or talk about music and art and therapy and things like that. If I don’t get to see my friends in person, I will FaceTime a bunch of people and talk that way.

9:00PM I start winding down around 9. I will either put on a movie or a show. This past week I’ve been watching Ink Master and Criminal Minds. I am also kinda obsessed with YouTube. I love watching music videos, and Brad Mondo hair reactions and cooking shows.

1:00AM Sleep time. I have to put on a podcast on my phone to be able to fall asleep.

Also, I need a fan going for the white noise or else I definitely won’t sleep. I hate going to sleep. I dread it. I wish I could just be awake forever. P

THIS MONTH

Hit the North; music from the North Cheese, I’ve not tried them all; hard, soft, semi, blue, fresh and flavoured but I love the print that hangs in my flat. It was a moving-in gift from my girlfriend. I live above an ice cream shop in Hull. My internet is ‘provided’ by the scoop parlour that serves flavours from Pistachio to Unicorn.

Hit the North and never look back; Hull’s DNA is my anchor. It’s my spirit stone that I forever skim across moss and bodies of water with my band LIFE. I hit the North and I’ll never look back because, for me, the North’s music has always offered realism and grit and there is a plethora of new up ‘ere music that chews up the ‘scene’ through aural scenery.

And that Working Men’s Club album is a bit of all right isn’t it? It conjures images of the North West’s prehistoric landscape, industrialisation and Calder Valley’s textile heritage but injects a certain nowness. It hits your brain via your ears with tales of modern isolation told with acuteness through youthful eyes. It’s bleak and yet hedonistic at the same time. It hits the North just like the pill that you could place up your arsehole; rapidly hitting the spot the record’s nucleus forged in euphoria.

I can’t stop listening. I hit repeat from the comfort of my flat in Hull. The sound of the North West landing in the North East is pleasing and it becomes clear there’s no need for the South or the divide that often leads to us up ‘ere being ignored.

And by the way I’m a cheddar man. I was told smoked was just not art. Well it fucking could be in the North. So do it.

Hit the North P Mez’s Sunday Lunch every second Sunday of the month on Dorkcast with Jake Hawkes.

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Lorde

Rumours have been increasingly aflutter this past year as to when all-round pop champ Lorde might be returning to our lives with a third album, the follow up to her 2017 masterpiece ‘Melodrama’.

In an email update to fans last May, she confirmed that recording had started pre-lockdown in Los Angeles and her native Auckland, New Zealand, alongside serial collaborator Jack Antonoff.

“The work is so fucking good my friend,” she said, “I’m so jazzed for you to hear it.” Cut to December 2020 and the teasers continue: Ella’s publishing ‘Going South’, a book of words and images inspired by a trip she took to Antarctica, naturally. No new music as of yet, but a tasty morsel to tide us over until then.

But there’s more, Dear Reader, and ‘tasty’ is the operative word. Ella has also restarted her Instagram account ‘@onionringsworldwide’ where she shares ratings of onion rings around the globe. It’s picked up more than 30,000 followers since then.

The account was famously abandoned some years ago after internet sleuths busted her secret identity - “I’d get a smile and a wink from waitstaff— it got embarrassing, you know?” - but with four new posts in one day including rankings of three New Zealand eateries, it’s about as much content as we’ve had from Lorde in ages and we felt the whole thing deserved some digging into. So, obviously, our resident Kiwi Alex Cabré went along to sample some rings and see what, if anything, they can tell us about L3.

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of the rings

WHAT DOES HER TASTE IN ONION RINGS TELL US ABOUT ALBUM THREE?

THE CRUSTY CRAB, RUSSELL

We start with the Crusty Crab in Russell, about four hours north of Auckland. It’s an unassuming takeaway with - would you believe - a red cartoon crab as its mascot. When we ask the staff about Lorde’s visit they’re unaware she’s been by, but extend an invitation that she does “please come again”.

Lorde says: “Really good ring, sort of a reconstituted onion pulp situation but it conjured a Proustian nostalgia for days past. 3.5/5” Dork says: At 50¢ per ring (26p) they’re the cheapest of the three. And she’s right about the “pulp situation” - these rings have something of a mushy interior, sort of a hash brown consistency. However, they’re breaded not battered which gives a pleasing crunch, and they go down well with a generous dab of ketchup.

JOHN DORY’S TAKEAWAY, AUCKLAND

This, we can assume, is Lorde’s local chippie. It’s dead quiet when we visit (but to be fair, it is 3 in the afternoon in that week of limbo between Christmas and New Year’s). As well as an extensive menu of chip shop classics, they also sell sushi, donburi, and salads all ornately displayed in glass cabinets.

But that’s not what we’re here to taste.

Lorde says: “Ah, the fish and chip shop ring. Humble, honest.

Did I miss the crunch of a true battered ring biting into this?

Perhaps. But it was perfectly seasoned, and brought joy.

3.8/5” Dork says: These rings are really good. Ours come slightly overcooked, but taste all the better for it. Their golden exterior contrasts beautifully with the silky strands of white onion inside, and Ella’s right - the tangy seasoning means sauce isn’t even needed.

FERGBURGER, QUEENSTOWN

Lorde says: “First onion ring in some time, from the inimitable Fergburger in Queenstown.

Mates, she was a good onion ring. Great crunch, full distinct rings. So good I forgot to take a pic until the end. 4.5/5” Dork says: Sadly, Queenstown is a two hour plane journey away, and our commitment to world-class investigative music journalism falls short of actually going to visit. However, after a couple of phone calls we’ve got a hold of general manager

Stephen Bradley to see what insight he can give us.

Hey Steve, what do you make of Lorde rating onion rings on Instagram?

It’s fun for a celebrity to talk about things they enjoy. We’re big fans - she’s a great musician and a good supporter of New Zealand.

Were you aware of her coming in and sampling your onion rings?

We weren’t. We’re very lucky to have served lots of different celebrities and sometimes it will be ‘their people’ who order, but I think she probably ordered herself. As well as sports stars we’ve served Justin Bieber, we’ve personally catered for Ed Sheeran, so Lorde is a great addition to our trilogy of famous musicians.

What can you tell us about your onion rings?

A lot of work goes into them.

They’re not just a side dish.

They’re hand-cut, soaked overnight in a special brine, then hand-crumbed daily and cooked fresh to order. It’s $7.90 (£4.17) for a large box - you get a generous portion.

TIME TO DRAW SOME CONCLUSIONS...

As for Lorde’s culinary critique, we reckon she’s spot on about John Dory’s being better than the Crusty Crab, and although we can’t taste Fergburger’s

ourselves, she admitted herself on the Jimmy Fallon show back in 2017 that “[something] you can do to make an onion ring magical is lightly pickle the onion before you batter it up. It takes on this acidity, it’s incredible”. It seems their method of brining overnight has paid dividends with a highranking score.

And how could this all translate musically? Well, we’re bigger fans of Lorde than we are Proust, but if the Crusty Crab conjured “nostalgia for days past”, perhaps we can hope to see a more retrospective element on the next album.

‘Melodrama’ was, of course, a huge step forward from Ella that found her coming of age and facing the future so it’s not a long shot to expect more contemplative lyrics on its follow up. And as for John Dory’s “humble, honest” ring, proof as ever that Ella can find emotion and romance in the tiniest of details.

Steve from Fergburger, how do you think your onion rings would sound if they were a Lorde song?

Fresh, inspiring, and something everyone should partake in.

There you have it, folks. Perhaps Fallon put it best back in that 2017 interview: “If she puts this much work into onion rings, you can imagine how great the record is.” No doubt the same can be said for LP3. P readdork.com 15.

ESSENTIAL NEW MUSIC

16. DORK

Holly Humberstone has announced a new UK headline tour. The run includes a rescheduling of her existing London dates, with an extra one added for good measure. You can find all the details on readdork.com now.

Chess Club Records’ latest signee Pixey is among a long list of hugely talented artists, and she herself is certainly not one to let that reputation down.

With introspective songwriting, elegant guitar riffs and intricate selfproduction leading to masterful soundscaping, Pixey provides her own indie-pop world to explore with her first EP ‘Colours’, and her recent singles ‘Just Move’ and ‘Free to Live in Colour’ tease an even more exciting release from the Liverpool starlet just around the corner.

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By: Finlay Holden.

Photos: Zac Mahrouche.

Hi Pixey, how are you?

I’m good, thanks. How about you!? Every time I’ve got a Zoom interview, my laptop or phone suddenly decides to pack it in.

Literally, every time. But I can hear you now!

Have you been able to make the most of your time in lockdown recently?

Yes actually, this one has been much busier than the previous lockdown because I’ve had band practice now that studios are open. I pissed everyone off because I didn’t do any banana bread making last time, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it, it just seemed a bit soul-destroying.

I understand it as a coping mechanism; I’ve got my own. For me, it was just write, write, write, every day.

You managed to teach yourself a new instrument from home?

Yeah, that’s completely true, I’ve taken up the drums! People don’t

believe me though because I can sit and play a beat and they’re like “nah, you’ve definitely been playing for ages”, but I actually just did four hours a day over lockdown! I drove everyone insane; they were all like, ‘can you please shut up?’ I feel like I’ve actually got muscles now!

And you learnt to play the guitar recently too, was music quite a late career choice for you?

It came from having an epiphany when I was ill. I felt so ill I didn’t know what was going on, and my family thought I was going to die - my temperature was so high that my organs started to fail. The first thing I thought when things weren’t looking good was that I never went to America. And the second thing was that I never did music, which I thought was such a waste! It just made me realise: why am I wasting my time, and my one shot at life, doing something that I don’t enjoy?

“While the world was falling apart, mine was coming together” Pixey And you got signed to Chess Club Records this summer!

2020 hasn’t been all that bad for you, no?

That came about during lockdown funnily enough! That first lockdown was a crazy time for me. I finally realised the sound I wanted to go for and the stuff I wanted to make, so I sat down and just wrote and produced constantly. Chess Club noticed that, we had a Zoom call and it went from there. It’s been

The Snuts have revealed their plans for the release of their debut album. Titled ‘W.L.’, the full-length is set to arrive on 19th March. Speaking about the album, lead singer Jack Cochrane explains: “It’s a record about being true, loving and resilient.”

Dork fave Claud has announced details of their debut album. Titled ‘Super Monster’, it’ll be released on 12th February via Phoebe Bridgers’ brand new Saddest Factory label.

Spoiler: it’s really, really very good indeed.

a dream come true - while the world was falling apart, mine was coming together.

How has the label been so far?

It’s the first label I’ve been on where I feel listened to but also have the freedom to do what I want. Chess Club have given me nothing but help and respect.

They’re just a great label with such a great ear for music, if I do say so myself. I really have been enjoying it all so far. It would be so cool to perform alongside some of the other signees sometime, or even just meet them – they seem just like a great crowd of people.

How do you find selfproduction? It seems like a real learning curve!

That’s what I enjoy the most, producing. I’m obsessed with plugins and tech, that’s where all my money goes! I love being able to express different parts of myself, but having them all coming together in one solid, coherent piece of work. After doing it nearly every day for two years, I’m getting there!

Do you draw on multiple genres other than your selfdescribed ‘indie-pop’ label?

The one thing I’ve always liked about my music is that is doesn’t necessarily fit into just one category. I love it when artists can harp from other genres in a respectful way to create something that fits their ‘world’.

If you come into my world, you’re gonna get some big beats, and you’ll probably also get some inward thinking, selfdeprecating, sad tunes.

Do you find that being based in Liverpool has influenced your music career much?

Yeah definitely, Liverpool always held a special place in my heart because as kids in school we’d go there all the time, and we’d sing The Beatles from a very young age, which is very

interesting now that I think about it; all these Liverpudlian kids walking around singing ‘Yellow Submarine’… I knew I wanted to stay here and have no desire to go to London, Liverpool has always been the best place, in my opinion, I wouldn’t change that for the world.

Do you know lots of other musicians there?

It’s such a close-knit community here, and everybody supports each other’s gigs, so you really get to know the community around you. There’s this whole scene of upcoming women here, and I don’t feel any toxicity ay all, we’re all supportive of one another. You’ve got to set an example to those just starting out - it’s just useless to be catty.

What music has been getting you through this nightmare of a year?

I love Rina Sawayama; her albums is my pick. She’s fantastic and such a role model for me. I saw her in London when I was doing my EP photoshoot, and I was there screaming inside; I didn’t even say anything! Usually, I would, but that’s the first time I’ve been super starstruck. I’ve never had that before.

I’m sure you’re missing live music at the moment; what would be your dream gig?

This is a basic answer, but that’s because it’s the best answer; it’s not a gig, but my dream is to play Glastonbury. I’ve watched Glasto sets since I was a kid, and I only went for the first time a couple of years ago. It was just magical, before that I never really understood what the hype was about, but it’s like entering a new world, almost like you’re stepping into a video game.

Who would you want to share the stage with at Glasto then?

That’s a tough one… probably The Verve, I love them!

If you had to recommend one of your songs to listen to, which one would it be?

It would be one of the new ones!

‘Free to Live in Colour’ has everything in it; soundscapes, little guitar riffs, a bit of mood but also a bit fun. When I was writing and producing it, I was thinking of Beck; I love how there are bits in his music that you may only notice after five listens. I can’t wait for the rest of the EP to come out; I think it’ll surprise people a little bit. P Pixey’s latest single ‘Free to Live in Colour’ is out now. readdork.com 17.

Celeste has announced the details of her debut album ‘Not Your Muse’.

Her first full-length is set to arrive on 26th February, and features nine new tracks alongside previous singles ‘Strange’, ‘A Little Love’ and ‘Stop This Flame’.

Riding a wave of buzz and hype, the much tipped Pa Salieu has announced details of his first UK headline tour. Kicking off next May, he’ll start off in Bristol on the 11th, finishing up with a hometown show in Coventry on the 21st.

Circa Waves frontman Kieran Shudall has unveiled a brand new solo project, VEN. “It’s headphone music for introverts,” he explains. “An atmospheric world to lose yourself in. A kind of brutally honest look into my thoughts.” A first track, ‘H8 Lovin’, is streaming now.

Blu DeTiger You’ll have heard Blu DeTiger, even if you don’t know it, but there’s much more to her than being the soundtrack to a never ending stream of TikTok videos.

By: Jasleen Dhindsa.

Photo: Soph Hur. Blu DeTiger is living a life as wild as her name suggests. She’s blowing up on TikTok with her epic bass videos that see her freestyle over pop classics from ‘Baby One More Time’ to ‘Get Lucky’, which are weaved between original compositions and snippets of idealistic New York City landscapes. Her cover of Ginuwine’s ‘Pony’ is also a mustsee. Though amassing a following in the millions across the digital sphere, labelling her simply as a TikTok star would be reductive, as she’s been flourishing long before the app ever came into existence, and is now gearing up to release her debut EP. The EP was crafted in lockdown, which Blu has been spending in her hometown of NYC, where she still resides.

“The city is super inspiring. It’s based on hustle and bustle, and everyone’s working all the time, and everything’s moving. You can do a million things in a day, every single day. I think it’s where my drive comes from, being a New Yorker.”

The New York state of mind is instilled into Blu’s existence.

Ever since she was a child, she would seize every opportunity she was given, with palpable enthusiasm that she still has to this day, bolstered by a creative upbringing.

“They’re not musical; it’s really funny,” she says of her parents.

“But they’re both super artsy and creative. My dad is a painter and a sculptor; he does a lot of different forms of visual art.

They were very much adamant about following your passion and living your dream and doing what you want to do. I think that

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was always instilled in my two brothers and me at an early age, which I’m super grateful for. My older brother started playing drums when he was ten, and I was seven at the time. [It was the] classic sibling thing. I wanted to play an instrument, and I chose bass because I thought it was unique and different. I just fell in love with it. I took lessons and did different music programmes and just practised. There was never a point where I wanted to quit.”

Despite not being legally old enough, Blu’s career in music started to gain traction when she started DJing in clubs around NYC at just seventeen.

“I was playing with a bunch of bands, and this friend of a friend introduced me to this guy who ended up being like my mentor; he ended up teaching me how to DJ. I was just super intrigued by it. We had some turntables at our house and some records, but I was just super interested in the technical side of it. I practised my ass off again; I was super passionate about it.

“I got one gig at The Guest House, which was this really cool club in New York that doesn’t exist anymore. I got one gig there, through my brother [who] was friends with Tyler Mitchell who’s a really successful photographer, he just shot Beyonce for Vogue. He had a book launch at The Guest House, and my brother said I’m a good DJ. So I DJ, and the party’s my first gig. I was super nervous, I’m showing my fake ID to get in and the bouncer’s like, ‘Yo, this is fake!’ Obviously it’s fake because I’m seventeen! It was so bad. I was still in high school, and I had to leave basketball practise early.

I’m like, please just let me in; I’m just DJing, I’m not gonna drink, put X’s on my hands. He was like, fine, you can go, but I’m taking your ID. Then I played with huge X’s on my hands... and when I left the bouncer ended up giving me the ID back.”

“With DJing, the only way you get good is playing in front of a crowd, because it’s so based on that energy of the audience and reading the room. When I finally

did that and felt the energy of the room and felt the power of making people dance, it was super empowering to me. It was the best feeling, such a high feeling. I brought my bass, and I was shredding, and people loved it. I kept getting gigs from that.

Someone would be at the first one, who booked me for the next one, and then just slowly, you get into it by just working hard at it.”

“I’m a positive and colourful person” Blu DeTiger While making a name for herself as a staple in the New York club scene, whether this be DJing techno in warehouses or securing her own residency, her career reached unimaginable heights when she joined TikTok. “I love TikTok. I’m obsessed with it. My screentime is ridiculous. It’s so embarrassing,” she laughs.

“There are so many creative people on there. These kids who are just so interesting, and have such good ideas. There are some really good musicians on there too. I think it’s motivating and inspiring. I’ve gotten better at my instrument from making these videos too. I think when I started doing all the TikTok videos, that helped me think differently about the bass, and how it can be more of a melodic instrument.

A lot of the time I’ll bring it to the forefront of the song, and I’m putting my own spin on these classic pop songs. That’s been helpful when I even write my own stuff.”

TikTok is one of the fastestgrowing apps in the world, but there’s still a hefty amount of stigma surrounding the outlet and whether it should be viewed as a credible platform. It’s a trial Blu has had to tackle as a musician.

“I’m always thinking about this because, for me, there is that stigma,” Blu admits. “I’m so happy that I have a platform there and that I’ve been able to make fans, but I think what people don’t realise a lot of the time is that I’ve been doing music forever. I was DJing since I was seventeen, and playing bass since I was seven. I think it just connected on TikTok. I just found a niche that was able to accelerate.”

The glass-half-full attitude Blu has is mirrored through her colourful and striking style and aesthetic, informing her effortlessly cool music videos and sonic soundscape that’s a divine mix of nostalgic funk grooves and synths seized straight from a futuristic club dancefloor.

“I’m a positive and colourful person. My name is a colour!” she exclaims. “I’ve just always been into that bright feeling. My music is colourful; it’s not dark energy. I think it also comes from my dad, a lot of his paintings use colours, and they’re sort of abstract. Like the colourful neon panels [in her house that are now a staple feature in her TikTok videos] are one of his art pieces that I just put in my studio. It’s me growing up in a creative household with colourful things around. Visually for this EP a lot of the feeling is dreaminess and fantasy, reminiscing... All of the colourful elements really pair with that.”

Speaking more about her sonic influences, Blu cites a string of 70s funk greats alongside 80s new wave legends. “Chic and Nile Rodgers... I wanted to learn every bassline. When I was getting into slap bass, I learned a lot of Larry Graham, Sly and The Family Stone. I was obsessed with Blondie. I’m still obsessed with Blondie. Tom Tom Club, The Talking Heads... All of this late 70s, early 80s funk disco. Zapp and Cameo. Acts that are so ingrained in my head. Grooviness, funk and disco elements are always going to be present in my music.”

New single ‘Vintage’ taken from her debut EP retains her signature grooviness, but also an

essence of 00s electro, revealing a surprising penchant for British indie.

“I’ve never even talked about this, but I was obsessed with The XX. They’re so sick. I saw them at Terminal 5 in New York like three times. Even Klaxons, and I love The Kooks. I was obsessed with The Kooks when I was younger.

That was such a cool time in music. I saw Kaiser Chiefs and The Kooks at Ibiza Rocks.”

As an extrovert that thrives with social interaction, 2020 was a wild ride for Blu. When news first broke of lockdown, she had just wrapped up shows in the UK supporting Caroline Polachek, and now her longing for prepandemic times has weaved its way into the fabric of her debut EP for a double dose of nostalgia next to her affinity for retro sounds.

“It’s my first full project, which is really exciting. A lot [of the EP] has to do with the emotions that I was feeling during this quarantine period. A lot of the songs are fantasising or talking about recent memories, like looking at the past or longing for a pre-COVID time, and a postCOVID time. A lot of reflecting and nostalgic feeling, for the dancefloor, since we can’t be in clubs. The production elements are very much remembering that feeling of dancing and being with other people in a room. The bass is definitely the emotional undercurrent of all the songs. It definitely drives all the songs, and it’s kind of like the main element, which is really important to me.

It’s just groovy and dreamy at the same time.

“I also produced a lot of a lot of songs on the EP. I’ve always done it, but only now in the most recent few months have started to call myself a producer. During quarantine, I really got into it and just honed my skills and was experimenting and wasn’t afraid to make bad things until I could make a good thing. I think people can expect me producing a lot more after the EP.” P Blu DeTiger’s debut EP is out soon.

HYPE

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NewDad With lo-fi 90s vibes aplenty, Galway fourpiece NewDad are a like a great big, shoegazey hug - something to blitz away the dreary January blues. And they’re bang on trend, too.

By: Neive McCarthy.

“All my mum cares about is that Robert Smith is on that Gorillaz song – it’s crazy!” jokes Áindle O’Beirn of NewDad, Galway’s finest new band. The four-piece only released their first single last year, but they’ve quickly risen up the ranks. Nestling into BBC 6 Music’s A-List and brushing shoulders with big names left right and centre, there’s no doubt that their rise so far has been fast and furious.

Ireland itself is churning out a whole host of exciting new music – from Fontaines D.C. to The Murder Capital, something of a punk renaissance has swept the shores of the country. “We’re very happy that guitar music is coming back, because it’s what we do!” remarks Áindle, who plays bass in the band. However, whilst a heavier sound is having its heyday, NewDad bring

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something fresh. Operating in a hazy, dreamlike world, their sound feels worlds away from their contemporaries thrashing guitars – in the best way possible.

“When we’re writing a song, and we think it’s too heavy a sound we will try and put something in that brightens it up a bit. ‘Like ‘Blue’, a lot of it is sad…” lead singer and guitarist Julie remarks. “…but it’s got that funky beat!” Áindle jumps in. There’s something innately soothing about their tracks, and it lies within that sweet spot of sad and upbeat. It’s a direct encouragement to leave behind your thoughts and sway in time.

“We don’t want anything to be too drab or serious – we’re not very sad people in real life, so we want our music to reflect our personalities a lot.” Áindle continues.

Over Zoom, that upbeat part of their music comes across fiercely – it’s all easy laughs and smiles and excitedly talking over one another. That very thing that asks you to free your inhibitions stems from the laidback nature of the band themselves. There’s a definite sense of self-assuredness about them, too. “We know ourselves, and what is NewDad,” guitarist Sean lays out. That confidence seems to only solidify with each

release – none more than their upcoming ones. The new year will see the band releasing their debut EP, produced by Chris Ryan, who has previously mixed their tracks.

“We don’t want anything to be too drab or serious” Áindle O’Beirn “We went into the studio where he works, and he was just phenomenal. He’s just a pro – he’s like a seasoned professional, and he’s a young lad, so he’s amazing. He was so welcoming, and it was just such a relaxed atmosphere – it felt very natural,” Áindle recalls. Prior to this, the band had recorded their tracks at home and sent them to Chris remotely – the move to a studio recording was a major step.

“The songs evolved further in the studio. There’s such a difference in these tracks from all the tracks before – you can hear just from having them

done in the studio and being so hands-on with Chris, the EP is just streets ahead in every way from what we’ve done before,” Julie assures. The EP’s first single, ‘I Don’t Recognise You’ was out at the end of November, and as the band hint, it’s phenomenal.

“I had a guitar idea and the chords in my head,” remembers Áindle. “I recorded it probably two years ago – I’d written it, and it was just sat in my notes. I was messing around with Julie’s guitar and started playing it, and they were all like “that’s nice, we should work on that”, and we did.” ‘I Don’t Recognise You’ details the difficult situation of someone you love losing themselves – it’s quintessential NewDad but blown to new proportions. Julie’s ethereal vocals, of course, lend the track a familiarly surreal effect, but the bridge is where they come into their own; taunting, swirling instrumentals propel the band’s sound towards something euphoric.

That euphoria translates on stage too – the band recently played a socially distanced gig in Galway. Whilst there’s doubt amongst music fans on whether they’re a good substitute for the sweaty, pints flying gigs we know and love, NewDad are decisive that they’re a good alternative. “It didn’t feel like a socially distanced gig when we were playing – everyone was sat down, and the room was still filled with tables,” Sean explains.

“I think for bands like us, it does benefit us quite a bit. We’d love to be playing at a normal

gig, but for our sound it’s not too bad. I feel bad for a lot of more high energy acts because I don’t see an alternative for them right now for their live shows, but I think it was fine for us. We were just trying to have nice chilled vibes for our gigs.” Áindle continues. The gig also happened to be one of the best they’d played: “It was probably the best we’ve ever sounded,” Sean grins. Having finished recording their EP just the day before, the confidence of the band was at an all-time high, and rightly so.

Given the amount of time to spend writing this year has afforded the band, the debut EP may be shortly followed by another treat. “It’s really encouraging to see loads of other artists releasing loads of music and using the time to their advantage – we’ll never have this much time again to write and record,” Julie reflects.

“We’ve been writing so much that we have another EP written basically, so we’d like to get back into the studio.”

Music has been a saviour for a lot of us in this time – the constant stream of new releases has been the light at the end of the tunnel. NewDad have brought a continually calming slice of shoegaze to the past few months and continue to do so. “The EP has a nice kind of flow, and cohesion about it when it’s all put together,” tells Sean. ‘I Don’t Recognise You’ hints at the ambitious tranquillity of the tracks to come – if they’re as good as their tracks so far, maybe this EP might be the antidote to get us through right now. P

Pop prodigy Isaac Dunbar is set to drop a brand new EP this February.

Titled ‘evil twin’, it’s a “record is about all of the emotions that make up the concept of love,” apparently. “There are so many things that go into it when in a relationship,” he explains. Too true.

Rising Swedish type Lova is dropped her debut album this month. Titled ‘Grown-ish’, it’ll arrive on 22nd January. It includes previous singles ‘Lonely Ones’, ‘One Day Left’ and ‘Black Converse’.

New music from Nasty Cheery is ‘imminent’, by the looks of things. The quartet have taken to Instagram to tell us: “We got performance videos and new music coming for ya! Spoiler alert - it’s going to be sexy.”

Rose Gray Londoner Rose Gray transforms lockdown sadness into inspiration.

By: Chloe Johnson.

East London’s Rose Gray is big on nostalgia, her love for 90s dance music shining through every song - from breakthrough single ‘Same Cloud’ which set tongues wagging back in autumn 2020, to her recent cover of ‘Nothing Can Stop Us’ by Saint Etienne. There’s something tangible about her music, which teamed with her strong storytelling prowess, and producer Rob Milton (Easy Life) makes her an exciting prospect for the year ahead.

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Lowertown Atlanta newcomers Lowertown – aka teens Olivia Osby and Avsha Weinberg – are a charming prospect. Across their new EP ‘Honeycomb, Bedbug’ – their first for Dirty Hit – they spin properly lovely pop tunes that are a bit like if The Big Moon were more lo-fi.

With a handful of singles and a debut album (2019’s ‘Friends’) already in the bag, they’re well on the way to carving themselves out a pretty special spot in the ‘stuff to get excited about’ list everyone obviously has pinned to their noticeboard.

(That’s a thing, right?)

You guys met in math class, right? What were your early conversations like?

Olivia: We would both listen to stuff in our headphones while working on classwork. At first, we kept to ourselves, but then the second half of the year, we ended up sitting next to each other every day. We would check out the stuff the other one was listening to and find the similarities in our tastes and also give recommendations.

Avsha was in a band with some Georgia Tech kids at the time, so he would talk to me a lot about the indie scene in Atlanta and about the shows that would go on all the time downtown. He ended up inviting me to one his band was playing at the beginning of our sophomore year, and that’s how I got introduced to the Atlanta scene and the community that’s a part of it.

Where do you look for inspiration?

Olivia: People who are very close to me or have affected me

(like friends and family), current things happening around me or in the world, and formative experiences and phases in my life. Also music, pieces of art, films, and the books I read really touch me in ways that nothing other than art could. Seeing the way others express events, thoughts, and feelings is really inspiring to me, especially if it’s in a way I’ve never seen before.

You’ve signed with Dirty Hit, how did that come about?

Olivia: One of my long time friends from Instagram signed with Dirty Hit and ended up showing our music to Jamie Oborne. Jamie then reached out to me on Instagram.

Avsha: Right when we were about to meet the team and then sign, COVID hit. We ended up signing electronically, and worked together putting our new EP ‘Honeycomb, Bedbug’ out before we even got to meet anyone. We’re finally in the UK now meeting everybody for the first time, and they’re just as great as we thought.

Do you have ‘big plans’ for 2021?

Olivia: We’re working on another EP right now that will hopefully come out soon after Honeycomb, Bedbug!! I feel like our growth as musicians is documented every project we release, so hopefully, this next project will be our best yet!

Avsha: We’re also crossing our fingers for things to be safe enough for us to be able to tour near the end of 2021. P Lowertown’s EP ‘Honeycomb, Bedbug’ is out now.

Hi, Rose. You’re often described as telling sweeping stories with your lyrics, how do you approach writing?

I try not to give myself rules. I do write a lot of my songs as notes on my phone, concepts on my phone, so I do call myself a lyricist. I have a lot of poems and writings that I’ve built myself up, but if I’m at home writing, I do write a lot of my stuff on the spot.

You have a new mixtape coming up, right? How would you describe its sound?

I think it’s really fun, there’s a massive influence of 90s dance music! It’s quite classic with a lot of breakbeats. One thing as well that I feel threads through the whole mixtape is there’s a lot of lyricism, there’s a real story that comes through. It’s about a time of my life where I was partying and going out a lot, and so it feels like it’s going through motion.

I finished off the mixtape in lockdown. Everything in the mixtape is something that’s happened to me, or I’ve experienced with my friend or lover. Musically, I worked with some really great people, Frank Colucci, Mark Ralph - he’s like a dance/pop guru - and Rob Milton, so the sound sort of formed from that.

Has lockdown changed the way you approach the creative process?

100%. I had a lot of unfinished songs. From the second week of lockdown, I started to figure out the production software Logic.

I needed to figure out how to produce, how to make beats, how to finish off the vocals at home, so I’ve learnt a lot. I really love production and playing around, there is something on the mixtape I produced completely.

How has the mixtape changed the way you think about music?

For me now, I feel quite excited about where I can go. It’s the first stepping stone, and there’s so

much material, and I feel quite excited. There are no rules, my next EP or album could be completely different. I feel creative freedom, especially for when I can play live again. I have so many ideas. I want to keep being different.

Who’s your favourite artist right now?

I’m loving Big Pig, I think she’s brilliant; I’m loving Maribou State. My favourite artist ever is Madonna.

Who would you most like to support on tour, and who would you most like to support you on tour?

If I could support anyone, it would be incredible to support Primal Scream or Andy Weatherall.

Who would I like to support me?

There’s this really cool duo called Sad Night Dynamite, we could do a show together - a joint show as they’re amazing. P Rose Gray’s new mixtape ‘Dancing, Drinking, Talking, Thinking’ is out soon.

Do you have any favourite lyrics on it?

I love this lyric from ‘Save Your Tears’: “lonely hearts clubbing till we die.”

What was your inspiration for this new work?

If I’m honest, I came into the music industry quite young. So, a year and a half ago, I had to take a step back and figure out exactly the type of music I wanted to make. My music wasn’t reflecting who I was as a person, so I took some time out and wrote this mixtape.

It’s a year in the making, and readdork.com 21.

Wall Art PULL ‘EM OUT, STICK ‘EM UP.

GIRL IN RED

THE 1975

SAM FENDER

SPORTS TEAM

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BABY QUEEN

Photo: Sarah Louise Bennett.

Photo: Sarah Louise Bennett.

Photo: Sarah Louise Bennett.

Photo: Sarah Louise Bennett.

Photo: Patrick Gunning.

Photo: Sarah Louise Bennett.

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are

Pale Waves’ first album came with a lot of buzz and lots of time on the road.

Its follow-up has been far from an easy affair, though. With changes made and lessons learned, Heather Baron-Gracie reveals a band who have grown to be comfortable with who they are.

Word: Ali Shutler. Photos: Jordan Curtis Hughes.

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ale Waves got “a lot of shit” for the tracks on their first album sounding the same. At the time, they found the criticism funny, but “looking back, listening to ‘Television Romance’ and ‘There’s A Honey’ now, I can see the similarities,” says vocalist Heather Baron-Gracie on the phone from her parents’ house.

Aware that you can have too much of a good thing, their second album shakes up everything you thought you know about the band.

From the moment they released their debut single ‘There’s A Honey’ at the start of 2017, Pale Waves were swept up in a tidal wave of expectations. There was an arena tour with The 1975, despite the baby band only having one song to their name, and they stayed on the road for three years after that playing every festival, support slot and headline show they could possibly squeeze into their schedule.

A chunk of their hyped-up debut album was “written in a state of pure panic” as they entered the studio with just two-thirds of a record, and two weeks before the release of ‘My Mind Makes Noises’ Heather was sat backstage at Reading Festival telling us about their plans to follow that record up with an EP in the coming months. “People want more and more, and we have a lot to give,” she explained, trying to please as many people as possible.

But the new songs they’d written never saw the light of day. “They just weren’t strong enough.” The band kept trying, eager to keep their fans fed, but more weeks on a tour bus and days backstage in windowless rooms found Heather uninspired.

“You do worry that people will lose interest if you don’t release more new music to keep them interested, but I felt like we were going round in circles, just rewriting that first album.”

Despite her eagerness to make other people happy, she was always adamant. “I’m never going to put anything out there if I’m not fully invested in it and my heart just wasn’t in the new stuff we were writing. I didn’t feel confident, and I didn’t feel comfortable.”

The pressure to keep up with demand finally got too much. Feeling like the clock was ticking and worried they’d exhausted the songwriting partnership that had always been at the core of Pale Waves, Heather and drummer Ciara Doran decided to take a break from each other, willing to risk their friendship to protect

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“This album feels like it’s written for the teenage Heather” Heather Baron-Gracie the band.

It might sound like an egotistical power-grab with Heather getting too big for her leather boots, but doubting her own abilities, “I really didn’t trust myself at the start”. She listened to those around her though and gave it a go. “Our usual method of writing wasn’t working and really, what’s the worst that could happen?”

Turns out that belief was well-placed and while Ciara carried on working as a producer and songwriter for other artists, new Pale Waves songs poured out of Heather. In two months, the ballsy, direct ‘Who Am I?’ was written.

Despite racking up support slots with Muse, Halsey and The 1975 in huge venues, Pale Waves’ second album doesn’t see them chasing an arena-ready sound. It’s gritty, urgent but with a pop sparkle. “I never want to be that artist who only writes songs to get them on the radio,” Heather considers. “I want to stand on stage and sing things that actually mean something to me.”

Recorded in LA during the midst of the pandemic - guitarist Hugo Silvani and bassist Charlie Wood stayed at home, sending their parts to Heather and Ciara via email - ‘Who Am I?’ is being released as soon as possible. “We can’t wait on the world going back to normal, people need to

hear it now.”

Taking influence from the 90s alt-rock that made superstars of The Smashing Pumpkins alongside the sugary pop-punk of the early 00s, ‘Who Am I?’ is a world away from their 80s pop and hip-hop-inspired debut. Without a co-pilot, Heather “didn’t have to conform to someone’s artistic vision” and the end result is 100% her. “Ciara allowed that, which was amazing of them. It was tough for them, but it really was the right decision for the band. I don’t know how we’d ever have made a record that we believed in otherwise.”

Drawing from her own coming-of-age soundtrack, “this album feels like it’s written for the teenage Heather.”

The same could be said of the lyrics.

New to the spotlight, Heather was on the fence about how much of herself she wanted to give away on that first album. Sure, ‘Noises’ and ‘Karl’ were both super vulnerable as the vocalist bared her soul about loss and fluctuating mental health, but the likes of ‘One More Time’, ‘Drive’ and ‘Red’ danced with youthful naivety. It made sense at the time, Pale Waves were barely out of their teens and Heather simply “wasn’t ready to share myself with the world”, but that’s changed for album two.

Now nearly 26 and feeling “a

lot more confident” after spending months educating herself on selflove, the state of the world and spirituality, Heather isn’t holding anything back. Those years of intense touring had left her exhausted, but they also exposed her to a world of new experiences. “I felt a lot more comfortable in what I had to say, and I knew what message I wanted to leave the world with. I criticise society a lot on this album. I have a voice, and I have opinions, so being more vulnerable and revealing myself to the world felt a lot more natural.”

Full of gay anthems, romance, acceptance and summoning the strength to push back against the expectations of others, ‘Who Am I?” is an album that refuses to hide.

“Going in, I knew I wanted to write a song about what it’s like to be a woman [‘You Don’t Own Me’], a song about being confused about who I am as a person and what I want from life [the title-track]. I wanted to write a song that comforts my mum and lets her know that I’m not a complete mess, because I’m sure she thinks that I am [‘Run To’]. Then I wanted songs about the right kind of love [‘Easy’] and the wrong sort of relationships [‘Change’ and ‘Fall To Pieces’], while ‘Odd Ones Out’ is about being true to yourself. It’s good to be different. We’re all completely different human beings, but I feel like society tries to make us the same, and it’s exhausting. Then there’s ‘I Just Needed You’ which is about me realigning my priorities and realising that external things can’t bring you true happiness. I’m really happy with how it turned out because all the topics that I wanted to talk about came to life.”

Despite the heartbroken goth bangers that littered their debut, Heather avoided using pronouns because she didn’t feel comfortable singing about loving women.

“Sexuality is a long journey. You can be comfortable with your sexuality, but it’s about owning it as well, and I just wasn’t ready to be vocal about it yet. I wasn’t ready as an artist to come out into the world and talk about my sexuality because I had so much more to explore and figure out,” she explains, admitting that a part of the reason she decided not to use pronouns was that she “wanted those songs to appeal to everyone.”

There’s none of that on the second record as Heather “became more selfish. I needed to write songs like ‘She Is My Religion’ to become

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comfortable with being vocal about my sexuality.”

Not only does the second single from the record see Heather make it blatantly obvious exactly who she’s singing about, but her actual girlfriend stars in the video with her. “With that video, I had to question if I wanted to put my real-life personal relationship on display, there are parts of me that I do want to keep for myself. Sexuality is a complicated thing, but you should be proud of it, and you should never feel shame about it. The more I can put that out there, the more it normalises it and what better way than by celebrating a real relationship.”

Growing up, Heather never really had a gay role model in music “to be comforted by and look up to,” she says. “I wish I had, though, because music is the one thing in the world that makes me feel less alone.” So, she’s decided to make sure her fans never go without.

When the band played their biggest headline show yet at London’s Kentish Town Forum, Heather wore a customised leather jacket that had the phrase “sexuality is not a choice” sprawled across the back. It felt like a real declaration of intent and the song ‘Tomorrow’ (which features that line) sees Pale Waves meaning inclusive business. “I really do believe that sexuality isn’t a choice.

Some people view it as a decision you’ve made, there are conversion camps that think you can beat the gay out of you, which is awful. I hate that people can be so misguided.” “[My DMs are full of] young people whose parents don’t accept them for who they are, which is really damaging.

It tricks the kid into thinking they’re strange for being who they truly are. I have so many fans messaging me every day about the struggle of coming to terms with their own sexuality and how they’re petrified about being honest with their family about it. As an artist but also as a human being, I felt like I had to say something. I do have a platform, and maybe it’s not the biggest, but it’s a place where I can be as honest as I possibly can. Just by singing ‘sexuality isn’t a choice’, it can reassure people that they aren’t wrong for being gay. I want this album

to be a comfort blanket for them.”

While a lot of ‘Who Am I?’ was written by Heather to answer that question, ‘Tomorrow’ is for the fans.

“It’s for everyone who feels like giving up on life. I know how difficult it can be, and I know how hard it is to find the positive in things right now.

I’m really glad I wrote that song because the pandemic is affecting a lot of people’s mental health. I’ve already received so many messages from fans saying it has helped them and it’s sort of kept them alive… and they’ve only heard live versions on YouTube. I hope that these lyrics really resonate with people because I was just trying to be as honest as I possibly could.”

Elsewhere on the record, there’s the rumbling fire of ‘You Don’t Own Me’. “[It’s about] just being a woman. In this industry, especially, I’ve had a lot of experiences where men look down on me or treat me differently because I’m a woman. I see it happening to other women on a daily basis as well, and it’s outrageous that in this day and age, women are still fighting for equality.

“There’s still such a journey ahead of us. I feel like you could ask pretty much any woman in the world if they’ve had to listen to a sexist remark, been in a situation where a man has made them feel uncomfortable, grabbed them inappropriately or even worse. I guarantee they’d all have a list of shitty experiences, that’s how horrible this world can be sometimes. “[That track acts as] a fuck you song to men but also, a fuck you to those older generations of women who refuse to let progress happen. I’ve had older women criticise me for my makeup or how I look, which is bizarre.

I remember Ciara and I went out in their hometown, and these 65-year-old women were shouting ‘Frankenstein’ at me.

I didn’t say anything back, but Ciara was ready to fight.

“Obviously, there is a lot of anger within that song, but I didn’t want it to be a rant. I wanted it to be smart, and I wanted to write it in the appropriate way.” Live, Heather reckons that song will give the band their best moments and because Pale Waves are

“Just by singing ‘sexuality isn’t a choice’, it can reassure people that they aren’t wrong for being gay” Heather Baron-Gracie often one of the few groups on festival bills that aren’t all blokes, it sees her taking on the responsibility of being that voice. “I needed to educate myself and grow up to be able to write these songs on the second album. I hope they bring people great comfort, make them feel less alone and feel normal in the best way possible.” Some things will never change though, as Heather once again tells us “We’re going to aim to do an EP after this record comes out.”

With the band growing into who they are as individuals including surviving a horrific bus crash that could have cost Hugo, Charlie and Ciara their lives as well as enduring a hyper-intense first album campaign and navigating a pandemic to finish their second record - Pale Waves have

understandably changed a lot since Dork first put them on the cover at the close of 2017.

“I was talking to Hugo about the bus crash the other day.”

Heather had decided to fly to Berlin for their next show with Halsey instead of driving. “He said how he wouldn’t change a thing about it, because it taught him such a massive lesson.

They’ve all grown as people and become better versions of themselves.”

The pandemic gave them all a chance to recover, without having to throw themselves back into the turbulence of international touring. Going forward, Pale Waves are going to be approaching their live schedule with a bit more care.

“I felt like I was playing a show every night of my life, which is very demanding. The pandemic is the only reason I got a break,

and I’ve learned that I probably shouldn’t be pushing myself to the point of physical or mental exhaustion. I’m not going to strain myself as much as I did on that first album.”

So after all that change, does Heather have a better idea of who she is? “I knew this question was going to get asked, but I couldn’t give you a defined answer. I know that I’ve come such a long way mentally than where I was before I wrote this album. I’m a lot happier now, a lot more sane, and a lot more comfortable with my sexuality. I feel like who I am now is such a better version of myself, and I’m excited to continue that journey.” She is done living up to other people’s expectations. Or as she sings on ‘You Don’t Own Me’, “I’d rather pull out my teeth than be what you want me to be.”

“On the first album, I cared about what people thought of me a lot more. But now I’ve really grown up and accepted that happiness comes from within. It’s not about validation from other people, or how many likes you get on an Instagram post, it’s just about being who you truly are. Find the things that bring you joy and eliminate things that are toxic in your life.

I know I was trying to please other people too much on that first record, but with this new one, I let go of all those chains that were trying to hold me back. Now, there are no fucks given.” P Pale Waves’ album ‘Who Am I?’ is out 12th February.

readdork.com 37.

ven before they released their remarkable self-titled debut album in 2018, Goat Girl’s razor-sharp post-punk was a South London sensation.

When the scene hailed them as one of the best upcoming bands around, it was both exciting and a bit suffocating for the foursome.

Sticking to their guns, they holed up in Dan Carey’s studio to press personal struggles and growth into their brand-new record, ‘On All Fours’.

Amid the second UK lockdown, three of the dream team - Clottie Cream, L.E.D. and recent addition Holly Hole (minus Rosy Bones, who was otherwise engaged) - jumped on Zoom to talk about all things concerning their second album.

The album name itself, ‘On All Fours’, came as a revelation when Clottie was going through John Barth’s fleetingly-popular 1966 novel Giles Goat-Boy, the story of a human boy raised as a goat, and read the phrase aloud.

“We’d been talking about how we keep playing four-to-the-floor beats, and Lottie thought it was called fall-to-the-floor for ages, which we kept joking about, so it just kind of connected,” Holly explains.

They like to play word games, so the reference means more to them than just the idea that they’re stronger when working together.

“It was also primal, kind of animalistic... I don’t know if ‘urge’ is the right word, but it lends itself to that world. [The book’s] also kind of promiscuous and talks about being submissive or dominant, like sexual as well.

It just sat with the vibe of the record,” she adds.

‘On All Fours’ drifts away from band’s previous post-punk political mayhem into a surreal inner landscape. “I think that’s to do with life experience and the places that we are at the time,” says L.E.D.. “On the first record we were 15-17 years old, so there’s a bit of an anarchist, anti-establishment feeling which is quite natural during that time when you want to separate from institutions like school or your family. You’re creating your own identity.”

While their signature sound might now be a little softer around edges, there’s still

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enough grit and turbulence to it. It’s as powerful as before, but a step on.

“I think it’s weird pop music. I don’t know how else to describe it, because indie-rock isn’t doing it justice really,” Holly says, trying to self-label their soundshift.

“It’s hard to use one or two words to describe it,” L.E.D. muses, “because there are so many influences, from R’n’B, bands like Broadcast... If you take all the music that each of us listens to, that’s the influence for the music we make collectively.”

“It’s quite post-apocalyptic,” she continues. “It’s ugly and beautiful at the same time. I think a lot of our music has shown the grotesque side of humanity as well as the beautiful and the surreal. In this album particularly, we got a bit more abstract with it, with the references and the imagery, lyrically and also with the artwork, with music videos. It’s all quite surreal. It evokes this kind of dream-like landscape.”

“It’s quite postapocalyptic” L.E.D Wanting to encapsulate that sensation, they took Aidan Evans-Jesra’s drawn characters like Bow and Arrow Lady or CowToy and placed them into their dreary wonderland-based video for ‘Sad Cowboy’, directed

by Jocelyn Anquetil.

“It was talking about this strange world outside that was quite surreal, from a perspective of feeling excluded from that and bewildered by everything.

The visuals had to have this dream-like feel to them,” Clottie elaborates.

It’s the kind of dream that can quickly turn into a nightmare if you’re not careful where you step. Like every paradise-like place, this one also has its upside down, entangled in the ethereal.

“A lot of record touches on being sort of out of touch with reality and struggling with mental health,” says L.E.D..

“On one hand, it’s like all of the craziest stuff going on inside your head, but then there’s crazy stuff that’s going on in the external world as well and how weird it all is.”

The outside has always seemed a bit of an odd, scary place to be. ‘On All Fours’’ opening track, ‘Pest’, feeds off

that primal fear of not being in charge of your fate.

“I’ve been exploring different ideas and images,” Clottie explains. “I guess that in a way, it’s a similar concept to being controlled by someone or something. It’s like the power of religion, the power of the people who tell you about those religions. It’s formed by humans. So, sort of talking about dictatorships, controlling governments that, I guess, have created those religions in the first place.”

‘On All Fours’ is a thirteentrack symbolic journey of self-consciousness and selfdiscovery that subversively ends on ‘A-Men’, a song of realisation that change is natural and a stay in your comfort zone should be only temporary. It’s a record that flows with such grace that it should be listened to exclusively as a whole.

“I had this playlist on my phone that missed out two of the songs by accident because it just didn’t download them all properly,” admits Clottie, “and I felt like it really missed them. It just needs to have all of them.”

Goat Girl are firm believers in spontaneity and a spur-ofthe-moment kind of energy, and to create the coherent sound they wanted for ‘On All Fours’, their method of recording had to be adjusted.

“We had to plan it a bit better because Goat Girl is predominantly a live band and obviously the first album was recorded practically live, so we didn’t want to lose that sense of life and rawness,” explains Holly.

This time around, they stuck to a plan.

“With this album, there was a lot of preproduction,” adds L.E.D..

“Rosy played with an MPC drum machine, which we’ve never done before. The first album is very loose, like rhythmically. This album was very much to the grid which helped with the electronic elements like the arpeggiated.”

In very Goat Girl-style, they tracked most of the songs in a day leaving space for extra layers, synth and experiments.

“Dan put boxes, in the middle of the room, of percussion, so it was really quick,” Holly recalls.

“We just had to grab something and not really think about it, and then he picked bits out of that and incorporated that into the songs. I feel like that’s a big part of the sound as well, which was quite unexpected.”

“I feel like his attitude is quite contagious,” L.E.D. grins. “He’d be smiling the whole time, have this massive grin on his face.

He’s genuinely so excited which really come through in the music

being recorded, it ends up being recorded as well. Just pure excitement.”

It’s not just in Dan that they’ve found support, with the band heaping praise on their local scene, too.

“I think it shaped my view of how music could be and how it doesn’t have to be like a really formulated thing,” shares Clottie.

“It could just really be in a sort of embryonic state of it. I feel like a lot of bands we were watching at [South London venue] The Windmill were quite loose and free with their performance. It was all quite lo-fi.

“My upbringing of music was going to classical music concerts, and everything being very regulated. Like, you’re not allowed to clap after pieces are finished and stuff like that. When I entered that world, it was really eye-opening and inspiring.”

They took the best of the world that fascinated them so much and filtered it through their one-of-a-kind Goat Girl power-lenses to create a sound that captured the energy pulsing in the walls of local music pubs and the anger of their inhabitants. The dystopian fantasy they put forward was a complex one, full of gritty guitars and back-alley jazz that escapes narrowness of post-punk and indie gutters.

“From a lyrical point of view, I felt like there was pressure,” says Clottie, “but it’s pressure from so many different angles.

It’s pressure from that bit, it’s pressure from people expecting you to sound the certain way.

I feel like that’s how music journalism works a lot of the time, sort of trying to box you in with a simplified version of what it is. It’s hard to break out of that once your image has been created for you. I feel like we were almost told what we were, which was Brixton punks, which just wasn’t us at all. We played at The Windmill obviously, but I don’t feel like we were punks. I don’t think that’s what we were trying to do.

“We always write music that we wanna listen to, and that is for us. We manage to separate ourselves from that because, at the end of the day, it’s obviously for people to enjoy, but it’s also mostly for us.”

Accepting an invitation to Goat Girl’s enigmatic world, you must expect the unexpected.

Last time it might’ve been antiestablishment havoc, now it’s weird pop, and who knows what beats they’ll be dancing to in the future. Only one thing is sure - it won’t be boring. P Goat Girl’s album ‘On All Fours’ is out 29th January.

On All Fours Cult London faves Goat Girl are taking on the world with their much-anticipated second album, ‘On All Fours’.

Words: Aleksandra Brzezicka.

readdork.com 39.

40. DORK

Too

Good.

Destined to feature on many an album of the year list come December (yes, we’re calling it now), Arlo Parks’ debut has arrived.

Word: Neive McCarthy. Photos: Alex Waespi.

readdork.com 41.

Welcome to the world of Arlo Parks. Sun-tinged and intensely comforting, her debut album is here to dust the cobwebs of winter away and tug you towards summer. The very phrase ‘Collapsed in Sunbeams’ evokes that hazy, daydreamlike glow of midday sun and dozing in the park. While we might still be in the gloom of January, Arlo provides the light and warmth to get us through.

“There’s a sense of the sun being a healing force no matter who you are – feeling the sun on the back of your neck makes everything feel that little bit better,” the 20-year-old explains. A line from Zadie Smith’s On Beauty, the album title encapsulates the soothing contentment that defines the artist’s debut release. “I envisaged some kind of surrendering to emotion – whether it’s melancholy or euphoria is ambiguous, but it felt so warm to me.” That warmth is transcendent and without a doubt, characterises ‘Collapsed in Sunbeams’.

It should come as no surprise that Arlo’s album title comes from literature.

Her name has been on everyone’s lips for the past couple of years, and if you didn’t know by now that music and poetry go hand in hand for her, where have you been? Her long-awaited debut continues to embrace that collision with open arms. Opening with a gorgeous poem extending the title, Arlo’s crisp, clear voice calls out over twinkling keys and instantly puts you at ease. “It felt like such a sincere bearing of the soul,” Arlo muses on the inspiration behind the opening lines of poetry – Soko’s 2012 album I Thought I Was An Alien opens with a similarly emotive piece of spoken-word. “I always wanted to invite listeners into my world of vulnerability and nostalgia in a way that felt like I was sitting beside them and holding their hand – spoken word feels that way to me.” Arlo’s world is a mystical one, and to get lost in its tranquillity is a complete delight.

The past year, in all it’s teasing and hints of different tracks, has led to this moment. As we entered lockdown, Arlo found herself in an unexpected position. “It was actually strangely nice,” she recalls. “I had time, space, no distractions and a focus point in a very chaotic, scary time. There were challenges in terms of finding inspiration in a time where things were stagnant, and I wasn’t really ‘in the world’, but I brought my journals and pored over those, which was actually a nice period of introspection. I’m a person who needs to really be immersed in the world of a project, and lockdown allowed me to do that.”

In immersing herself in this project, Arlo has managed to create something equally as immersive. Her raw, noholds-barred approach to writing feels endlessly relatable for a lot of different reasons. ‘Black Dog’, one of the first releases from the album, testified to this.

A tale of nursing a friend out of a dark spell, it was a song that in a difficult year was intimately needed. “It’s definitely a beautiful thing to know that a song I write in private about a moment I found important takes on a million different meanings for people across the world.

Also, to me, music is such a healing force, to know that I have the power to

→

42. DORK

make people feel seen and understood grounds me and motivates me to stay true to myself.”

2020 undoubtedly showed us how music can carry us through darker times – largely in trying to understand our own situations. For Arlo, the album is a reflection on her last few years.

“It’s definitely a time capsule of my adolescence,” she muses. For a lot of her contemporaries, it will be a soundtrack for theirs, too. Growing up and learning more about yourself in a time of such uncertainty can be daunting but ‘Collapsed in Sunbeams’ offers a slice of normality and solidarity.

“I’m a human being with 3am thoughts, weaknesses, passions and impulses like everybody else” Arlo Parks ‘For Violet’ is a prime example of her ability to craft situations intricately personal yet all too easy to slot yourself into. It’s a track that bristles with frustration and love. “I just write about my life and what it’s like to be a human being,” Arlo lays out. “A lot of the things I write about like breakups, inner turmoil, feeling like you want to disappear, being in the park and completely in love – they’re something that a lot of people have happened to experience too. I never go into writing with the intention of creating something relatable though, that would feel artificial to me.”

Artificial is a label you could never attach to Arlo’s music. It’s affected by an earnestness that is so rare that it is completely arresting. “I always prefer writing raw, personal tracks because that’s why I started writing, but there’s honesty in every song I write. Sometimes I shroud situations in a veil that feels fictional, but I’m always writing about what’s in my heart. There’s something so compulsive about writing to me, I can never really help it, it’s always real.”

That unwavering earnestness definitely stems from the artist’s openness. Her social media has always been a dive into who she is, but as the album has approached, the glimpses into her inspiration have increased.

From songs that have made her feel “full of stars and blood and petals” in 2020 to snippets of poetry to bouquets of flowers, it’s a refreshing and insight that makes her music all the more intimate.

“I’m definitely a naturally open person.

I’m a human being with 3am thoughts, weaknesses, passions and impulses like everybody else. I think social media can often be a world of extremes, perfection and falsity, so I like to just be myself and try to cheer people up.”

The way this seeps onto the album is telling of the mark of her poetry greats on her music – during the making of the album she referred to old favourites like Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder and Sylvia Plath. Between the liberating stream of consciousness style of the Beat generation writers and Plath’s confessional tone, it’s clear to see how Arlo’s writing has been informed by her beloveds. “I was spending a lot of time putting on albums like ‘Overgrown’ by James Blake or ‘Syro’ by Aphex Twin and writing down thoughts as they came and went almost as a form of meditation or getting in touch with the subconscious. I have notebooks filled with these streams of consciousness, and I’d pick out words and phrases that I’d like, make them into poems then form those into lyrics.” Its meeting place at the crossroads of poetic skill and musical talent is precisely what makes ‘Collapsed in Sunbeams’ so exciting.

‘Caroline’, released back in November, sees Arlo reflecting on an episode of people-watching. It’s struck by that realisation that everyone you pass in the street has their own life, their own family, their own problems and life lessons. Observing a couple mid-argument, the track takes on the issue of what comes next. “It’s interesting because in that song I almost transposed my own thoughts onto these characters – what I think I would do in that situation, what it’s been like to be in a relationship that’s deteriorating. I try not to ever write somebody’s story for them, it’s more about using my imagination – harnessing my assumptions, subjective lens and life experience to create a world that’s separate from reality,” Arlo reflects.

One of her most stunning songs yet, it’s accompanying video is similarly striking. Finding the artist in a misty park with equally misty eyes before following an abstract depiction of the song’s couple, it’s experimental and emotive. “I had a Zoom call with Brock [Neal-Roberts, the video’s director] and we spoke about the idea of creating human vignettes, how we both loved non-linear narratives and how important the sense of contrasting warm and cool tones was,” Arlo explains. “He showed me this Russian avant-garde film called Outer Space by Peter Tscherkassy, and I showed him my favourite photographs from Wolfgang Tillmans’ ‘Central Nervous System’ exhibition and Nan Goldin’s ‘The Ballad of Sexual Dependency’ exhibition. Filming it was very emotional, it was a release in itself, and I’m so proud of the final product – it elevates and complements the song so exquisitely.”

It’s perhaps to be expected that Arlo’s music videos are equally as creative and full of depth as her music.

It’s fitting that the final track on the album, ‘Portra 400’, takes its name from a brand of film. Something about her sound lends itself to a visuality – the vivid, anecdotal nature of her lyrics crafts an unshakeable image for you as you listen. Her music often feels as though it has been filtered through that same faded, nostalgic texture as a film photo. “I’m definitely a very visual creature – I love writing songs in a very

sensory way as if you’re looking down the lens of a camera,” Arlo ponders.

“For me, adding details like the shade of blue of a ring or the bump on someone’s wrist allows the listener to feel like they were really there. I’m definitely very into films too – ‘8 1/2’, ‘In The Mood For Love’, ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’ and ‘Mommy’ inspire me a lot. That definitely filters into the style of my videos, like the emphasis on hands, expressions, vibrant colours and emotional performance.”

Her songs undoubtedly come to life in the minutiae. It’s in the “picking in the rips of my Nikes” on ‘Too Good’, the “dragonfruit and peaches in the wine” on ‘Green Eyes’, “trying to shave your stubble” on ‘Portra 400’. Arlo’s inspection of the everyday breathes air into her sound and transforms the album into her very own coming-of-age film.

A24, eat your heart out.

The album takes a more ambitious turn than we’ve heard from Arlo before.

‘Just Go’, which takes inspiration from Little Simz, Jamiroquai and Daft Punk, is a much funkier version of her sound. “It’s about a feeling of euphoria that comes just after banishing somebody toxic from your life. it was essentially me resolving to set boundaries and not putting up with being treated poorly.” It’s elating and celebratory and completely lifts you off your feet.

“Making this album definitely allowed me to create a fuller, more varied world and really broaden the ‘Arlo Parks’ umbrella as it were. I was able to lean into my eclectic tastes and go from 90s throwback pop tunes to dark, gritty trip-hop inspired pieces.” The album just dips its toes in a vast range of musical pools – from Zambian psychedelic rock to D’Angelo to Radiohead, it shines for its universality. Whilst some tracks are pure, irresistible funk, others are more quietly poignant.

‘Hope’ merges the two. Lyrically, it’s captivating, and its jazz-infused sound grows increasingly exhilarating.

It softens into another breath-taking piece of spoken-word. “The most important song on the album is ‘Hope’,” Arlo declares. “That hook, “you’re not alone”, is my favourite I’ve written – everything from the sentiment of resilience and unity, to the drums, to that filtered spoken word section. It sounds completely as I wanted it and I hope people feel comforted by it.” In a way, ‘Hope’ encompasses the album’s reassuring sense of faith. Resoundingly, it possesses a vulnerability that is keenly felt in every note, beat and word. That repeated hook of “you’re not alone” is one that will undoubtedly be taken by her listeners and kept close to hearts.

Arlo Parks’ world-making skills are second to none. On twelve tracks, she crafts a space so tranquil and soulstirring, it’s impossible not to relish every second spent basking in it. “I want people to feel moved by this album, I want them to feel like they can be themselves, that they don’t have to inhabit their traumas, that pain will either change or end,” Arlo closes. ‘Collapsed in Sunbeams’ invites you to give in to the music and what touches you, all whilst providing the perfect soundtrack for you to both fall into and fall in love with. P Arlo Parks’ debut album ‘Collapsed In Sunbeams’ is out 29th January. readdork.com 43.

ALL THE NEW RELEASES YOU NEED TO KNOW (AND SOME YOU DEFINITELY DON’T)

Shame

Drunk Tank Pink

eeeee That much anticipated second album? A triumph.

Way back at the beginning of 2018, Shame dropped one of the best debut albums we’d heard for ages, and then… they disappeared.

Well, not really, they just played about a thousand live shows and then there was a national lockdown, so new music took an understandable backseat. Three years on, and with the tweets from fans ramping up from ‘banter’ to ‘abuse’ (drummer Charlie Forbes’ words, not ours), they’ve decided it’s finally time to release their second album, titled ‘Drunk Tank Pink’.

Unsurprisingly for anyone who’s listened to the first few singles, they’ve smashed it out of the park once again.

Shame have always seemed destined for greatness and in hindsight, debut album ‘Songs of Praise’ came too soon for the band to tap into the now huge appetite for exactly the sound they pioneered as part of the South London scene.

‘Drunk Tank Pink’ rectifies that mistake across eleven glorious tracks. Packed with energy, snark and absolute bangers, it goes above and beyond what their debut managed to achieve in every conceivable way. It’s rare that a band makes two genuinely great albums in a row, but come on, we’d all have put money on South London’s finest managing it wouldn’t we? Jake Hawkes

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44. DORK

Goat Girl

On All Fours eeeee

Baio

Viagra Boys

Lava La Rue

Taking its name from both a rumoured soviet missile system and a piece of will and testament legality, Vampire Weekend bassist Chris Baio’s third solo offering ‘Dead Hand Control’ brings a certain sense of dread. Focusing on society in turmoil, the album takes you on a journey of anxiety and worry while somehow retaining a blatant undertone of optimism - it’s an indulgent listen, a perfect parallel to the current ‘state of things’ – and isn’t that what we really need?. Melissa Darragh

On their debut, Viagra Boys brought to life creatures fed on capitalistic scraps and post-punk sounds. Now, they’ve got lost in the back alleys of the same ragged and bass-ridden universe, looking for the meaning and instead, finding the sound of the ‘Welfare Jazz’ - an assembly of tracks intertwined with satirical spoken word and wild jazz improv. Their usual torpedo-like stream of consciousness is fuelled less on anger, more the realisation that both they and society might be beyond repair. Alex Brzezicka

Sometimes, something feels just right. That’s the vibe that runs through Lava La Rue’s new EP. Part of the increasingly influential Nine8 collective - which she co-founded and also contained the likes of the much-hyped Biig Piig - ‘Butter-Fly’ is both an ode to queer love and a soothing balm to ‘these difficult times’. Deb Never team-up ‘Angel’ glimmers through a woozy mist, a highlight of a collection that often recalls Tame Impala’s psychedelic haze. A stunning show of boundless potential, this Lava (oh no - Ed) is (don’t do it - Ed) scorching hot. (Really very sorry - Ed). Dan Harrison

Dead Hand Control eeeef

Lokoy

Badminton eeeef There’s an unexpected positivity in Lokoy’s debut album, an energetic mixture of relatable lyrics and irresistible pop beats. ‘Classic City Girl’ is a perfect introduction, sounding much like something you would listen to while speeding through a tunnel at night with flashing lights overhead. ‘Both Eyes’, his collaboration with Safario, is unforgettable, ‘Glitter’ a purely joyous experience, and finale ‘Ghost Town’ a beautifully sombre end.

‘Badminton’ is a charming album, sure to brighten another boring day of being stuck inside. Beth Lindsay

Welfare Jazz eeeef Lynks

Smash Hits Vol. 2

eeeef

Lynks is one of the most fascinating creatures that has crawled from South London’s underground. In ‘Smash Hits Vol.2’, Lynks doesn’t spare anyone, especially himself when taking the piss out of the absurdity around us. The five tracks kick off with ‘Everyone’s Hot (And I’m Not)’, selfdeprecating song with roast-worthy lines (“Everyone is a train and I’m a train station”) and sick beats. ‘Brand New Face’ is synth-filled bouncy bop on beauty obsession, while you can’t argue with the name of ‘This Is The Hit’.

Courtney Barnett’s ‘Pedestrian At Best’ is filtered through Lynks’ loony lenses for a trippy cover, and ‘Don’t Take It Personal (Apocalypse Version)’ is a psych dance-pop ode to feeling shit, being shit and coming undone in London. Lynks’ brand is blasting out ferocious electropop to painfully on-point lyrics, spiced up with his beautiful dark twisted humour. Entering his experience extravaganza, you’re dealt only wild cards. It’s time to get smashed with Lynks. Alex Brzezicka

Butter-Fly EP eeeef

Lande Hekt

Nancy

Lande Hekt sings volumes on her debut album, ‘Going to Hell’ - a soulful and deeply personal collection of songs that cover sentiments like heartache, coming to terms with being gay, and getting angry about climate change. Rather than dwelling on these feelings with downtrodden tunes, she provides comfort in the form of relatable, illustrative lyrics and lively music.

Lande has poured all her insecurities, anxieties and anger into these songs, resulting in a companion through the most difficult of emotions. Connor Fenton

Dressed to the nines in 70s glam and space-age rock, NANCY parades about with new-found confidence on ‘The Seven Foot Tall Post-Suicidal Feel Good Blues’. Straight from the title-track, NANCY encourages chaos, swiftly moving into the fuzzy and sexy drawls of ‘Pleasure Pen’, and ending on the gothic ‘Deathmarch’.

Imbued with a vintage tone, warped production and psychedelic punk, the mini-album is a hot mess, in the best way - like an eccentric circus filled with funhouse mirrors. Jasleen Dhindsa

Going To Hell eeeef

The Seven Foot Tall Post-Suicidal Feel Good Blues eeeef

On their self-titled debut album, Goat Girl were already an impressive prospect. Like so many of their class, they’ve always felt like a creative collective - more than just a loosely post-punk flash in the pan, but freer and more organic than your average, infinitely more boring band.

With time to ferment those ideas, second effort ‘On All Fours’ instantly feels like a stronger brew. More expressive and never playing safe, from the warm and woozy tones of opener ‘Pest’ there’s an underlying confidence throughout. Lead single ‘Sad Cowboy’ rattles with infectious brilliance, while ‘Badibaba’ marries global politics with discordant, off-kilter melody.

The gloriously titled ‘P.T.S.Tea’ even tells the tale of a spilt hot beverage - showing a sense of fun that still sets Goat Girl apart from more po-faced peers. An evolution to celebrate, they’re well on their way to being the greatest their name suggests. Stephen Ackroyd

RECOM -MENDED RELEASES MAKE SURE YOU CHECK OUT THESE ALBUMS.

YUNGBLUD weird!

Gigantic, rebellious pop from an artist determined to make a statement on the widest stage possible.

BENEE Hey u x

BENEE’s potential is huge, and, as an opening gambit, debut album ‘Hey u x’ sets the scene perfectly.

Baby Queen Medicine EP

Pop stars aren’t really made, they arrive. Roll out the red carpet and clear the way - the era of Baby Queen is coming.

LICE

Wasteland: What Ails Our People Is Clear eeeef LICE’s bizarre debut is a phenomenon. While many struggle to construct a record in itself, ‘Wasteland’ is so much more. Taking the idea of a concept album and riding it full throttle, it was written as a piece of experimental short fiction. Part elegy, part fantasy, it introduces a world populated by frightening scientists and talking genitalia. An immense and strange modernist feat, it’s a mad, intoxicated voyage powered by unnerving energy. Deranged in the most beautiful way. Edie McQueen

Puma Blue In Praise of Shadows eeeef

Puma Blue’s music is strictly for the twilight hours. Think late nights, street lights, the stillness of the early AM. His early EPs sunk you into the depths of your feels, but his debut album is here to shake that up. ‘In Praise of Shadows’ could similarly soundtrack your 3am overthinking, but it offers a glimmer of hope to lift you out of your stresses. Intimacy takes centre stage, the fourteen tracks setting his experimental jazz against a gloomy backdrop, creating something distinctly escapist. Neive McCarthy readdork.com 45.

ARTIST’S GUIDE

Fickle Friends Weird Years (Season 1) EP Spill the beans, Natti.

WHAT A TIME We’d been listening to the Mura Masa record a lot at the start of the year. We loved the erratic-ness of it. Music without rules. It made us want to create something equally lively and “mad” sounding. A soundtrack for escapism.

Fires were burning, we were locked indoors not knowing if we should take to the streets to join the BLM marches to save lives or stay at home and save lives. The noise was loud and overwhelming, and I remember feeling like I couldn’t do enough of the “right” thing. The phrase “What a time to be alive eh” rung loud and obsessively in my ears, echoing every conversation I had with friends and friends of friends.

I think we all really needed a time out but maybe felt a little guilty about putting ourselves first in a time of such chaos... but we have to look after ourselves in order to look after everything and everyone else. Music is such a beautiful escape, and when we were writing ‘What A Time’ we just thought about turning it up loud, having a drink, and letting go for a while. Sounds a bit corny, but it’s just like a big ARRRRGGGHHHHHH converted into song.

love Grinch to John Cusack standing outside a house holding a boom box above your head. You literally could scream from the rooftops how into this person you are, haha. It makes you think and say all the cheesiest shit. “All I really know is you’re one in a million” isn’t a clever line. It was just true, and we didn’t overthink it.

MILLION Soooo I think this was like the first song we wrote out of the first album / ‘Broken Sleep’ EP era. Which means my memory of writing it is a little hazy... but it was one of those easy flow writing sessions. You know when everything just seems to fall into place (this happens, but very rarely)? I’ve never really had the stomach for soppy Love songs but have always loved those with a quirk or twist. ‘Million’ became exactly that.

I’m a big believer in energy, and when I fell in love, I knew it was the real stuff because I could feel it physically. The excitement, the warmth in my cheeks, the flutters... the feeling of being completely recharged simply by being in another person’s presence. It’s so hilarious when that happens because you go from being the

92 We must have had the love bug, haha. ‘92’ came about at the same time as ‘Million’, and I guess it was another take on that same relationship.

We found this splice loop (classic) and it just kinda inspired the whole nostalgic, smooth vibe of the music. We never set out to write what we call “slowies” because they usually bore us a bit, but there was something about the simplicity of this song that stuck. Again, the lyrics weren’t over baked. I literally wrote down a few sentences I’d heard in rom-coms... stuff I’d never say out loud to the person I was with, but if I was in a cheesy movie I absolutely would! I still have the note on my phone, stuff like ‘I’ve been waiting for you my whole life’, ‘you are an anomaly’, ‘I was mess, until I found you’,

46. DORK

eeeef

‘it’s you, it’s always been you’, ‘finding you was like winning the lottery’ (pretty lame I know).

But we basically just threw it all together and made ‘92’, ha.

IRL Writing sessions where you have no real objective are the most fun, I think. It gives you complete creative freedom to do whatever you want (basically all we do in FF camp). I did a few sessions with my pals James and Joe and ‘IRL’ in its very basic form is what came from the first session. I came away thinking the chorus was a no-brainier but the song was just put to one side. Every now and again, Jack goes through all the hard drives to see if there are any demos or ideas we’ve missed, and we found ‘IRL’ and felt super inspired and excited to work on it. Despite having written it a while back, the concept coincidently fitted so well into the narrative of this year and with some lyrical edits and some structural re-writes we had a song that basically told the story of trying to build a relationship online. I’ve sort of loved hearing people’s dating stories from this year, and we just pooled them all together.

FINISH LINE And finally, leaving the best until last (I think so anyway). It’s no secret that we are quite open about our relationships with our mental health. It kinda comes with the territory. Creative? Tick.

Songwriter? Tick. Depressed and/or anxious? Tick. This life we have chosen is very much a series of peaks and troughs and forces you through a very emotional journey. ‘Finish Line’ is a conversation with my former self, but I also kinda pictured it being a conversation with a friend too. Perhaps they are the same thing in this scenario, I don’t know. Whoever they are, they’re in a dark place, somewhere I have been before.

They feel like waiting it out isn’t working and are growing impatient in their situation. I am there to reassure them that they just need to give themselves space and time. To talk about it. The one thing I can’t promise is a definitive finish line to this feeling. It’s about learning to cope and be the boat that floats on top of the waves that rise and fall. Living with mental illness is a journey, and it’s about learning to cope and understanding yourself better... it isn’t a case of curing yourself of all ailments and never looking back. P

Despite hitting the top ten with their debut ‘You Are Someone Else’ back in 2018, there’s still something of the underdog about Fickle Friends. After what they describe as a ‘tumultous’ time over the last three years, the Brighton band are back with this, the first of a planned series of EP releases throughout 2021.

With lockdown having put a big old blocker on releasing (and touring obvs) a second album for now, it’s still just pretty damn good to have them back.

Opener ‘What A Time’ lays the table for a band back in full creative control, a shout to the joy of escapism from everything *out there* right now as Natti Shiner cries “I don’t think about it when I’m getting high… I’m getting messed up to NERD”.

We’ve all been there. With a big club vibe building and building towards a climax that’s just begging for live action next year, it’s a huge rush of a song.

Better yet is ‘Million’, a bass-slapping funkbomb of a track that makes for a banger big enough for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And an after-pub drunk snack.

Just like life, it isn’t all parties and highs. The sweet ’92’ falls in love, ‘IRL’ worries about whether a relationship can last when it isn’t just happening on a screen, while the delicate ‘Finish Line’ casts a reassuring arm around those in need. Over just five tracks, it shows that you still underestimate Fickle Friends at your peril.

Weird years? Sure. Still, what a time to be alive though. Jamie MacMillan

You Me At Six

Kiwi Jr.

SUCKAPUNCH eeeef

Cooler Returns eeeff

Sure, You Me At Six’s latest album might contain a lyric about “trying to sound like The 1975”, but don’t take that as a steer for the actual sound of ‘SUCKAPUNCH’.

Instead, the quintet are sharpening up their edges.

It’s a welcome move from a band that always sound their best with the pedal to the floor, less concerned with streaming trends and mainstream recognition.

‘Nice To Me’ opens with a bang, and - while the filter may switch between all-out rock to industrial pop - that driving ambition never lets up.

2021 doesn’t feel like a year to stay quiet.

With ‘SUCKAPUNCH’, You Me At Six are back at full volume. Stephen Ackroyd

Kiwi Jr. are still making jangly indie tunes, but on their second album, they create a soundscape to fill a saloon. Though the instantly recognisable sound of guitar-driven indie-rock is ever-present, the soundscape across all 13 tracks is bigger and clearly more ambitious, but this does sometimes lead to things sounding a bit messy. Taking things in a more experimental lyrical direction, each song an intense and isolated story. Although this keeps things fresh and brings up some interesting topics - especially with the ridiculously specific scenario presented in ‘Only Here For A Haircut’ - it leads to a lack of thematic consistency that disrupts the album’s flow.

There’s never enough put into a singular idea to really make an impact.

Finlay Holden

The Staves

Anna B Savage

Good Woman eeeef It’s been more than a decade since The Staves began serenading us with their silken triple harmonies and downhome indie-folk sound.

Their fifth album, ‘Good Woman’ sees the trio incorporate smatterings of synth and distortion to caveat their trademark rustic vibe with a modern pop edge. There’s an earthy, tactile tone found within these tracks.

Ranging from muted, heartfelt solos to choral, symphonic melodies, the vocal performances of sisters Emily, Jessica and Camilla Staveley-Taylor fill the sonic space with a warm energy that imbues every song with emotion.

Deeply satisfying and rich in audible depth, it is a testament to The Staves’ commitment to add to their discography with yet more heartfelt bangers.

Connor Fenton

Arlo Parks

Collapsed In Sunbeams

eeeee The former Dork cover star delivers the goods.

“I see myself stretched out; open to beauty however brief or violent,” begins a languorous Arlo Parks on the eponymous song of her debut album ‘Collapsed in Sunbeams’. There’s something incredibly endearing about her simplistic acceptance of all that the world has to offer, regardless of its form, that makes Arlo’s music universally relatable and inherently cinematic in its wistful nature. With each song shrouded in a mist of melancholia and coming-of-age confessions, Arlo’s breathy vocals soften, and make palatable, the often harsh and uncomfortable realities of life. The use of metaphors and images of nature, nourishment, filmography and friendship offer vignettes of reality that is so near-perfect, you can almost taste it. From feel-good

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‘90s R&B which is used to disguise the reality of what it’s like being with someone who is in denial about how they feel about you (‘Too Good’) to the hazy neo-soul in ‘Bluish’ and a multitude lo-fi indie bangers that dive into the friction and dark side of companionship, and with a healthy dose of spoken word littered throughout, ‘Collapsed in Sunbeams’ is testament to Arlo’s mission statement of not pigeonholing herself so early on in her career. As a debut, it is a sublime body of work from the kind of artist who is meticulous in all aspects of her craft.

To put it simply - in the artist’s own words - she is “making rainbows out of something painful”, and we’re just so lucky enough that everything she touches turns to gold. Tyler Damara Kelly

A Common Turn eeeef

‘A Common Turn’, the first album from Anna B Savage, has been a long time coming. After releasing her strikingly honest debut EP back in 2015, she disappeared from the limelight entirely.

On ‘Dead Pursuits’, an early track on this record, she seems to explain why — “Three years and still worried / It’s a mediocre album” — though, ultimately, she proves to be wrong. Her sound palette has since expanded far beyond the raw, gritty reaches of the EP: brief sparks of electricity appear throughout. Though the record is littered with anxiety, Savage has never sounded more selfassured — it’s a complex, contradictory mix, but it makes for something deeply human. ‘A Common Turn’ is a defiant masterpiece. Jay Singh

Black Country, New Road

For the first time eeeff Black Country New Road are a band who don’t have time for the regular concerns that most bands have. Y’know, songs, melodies, things like that.

Instead, they just want to make noise and create their own unique blend of chaos and destruction.

It’s an approach they use to mixed results on their invigorating and ever so slightly bonkers debut album ‘For The First Time’.

There’s a whole lot going on; the band are resolutely doing things their way and nothing is going to stop them. The many devotees they’ve captured so far might be enraptured by their debut’s wild sonic abandon while others may just think ‘What a racket?’

Either way, Black Country New Road are making an impression. Martyn Young

Maggie Lindemann Paranoia EP eeeff

At some point over the last couple of years, pop got dark. Maybe not the surface level, unit shifting strand - but under the surface, weird things are afoot. Maggie Lindemann’s new EP is shinier and less subversive than some, but still more comfortable clad in a darker shade of black.

Propulsive and direct, ‘Paranoia’ is effectively pop-rock with an angsty grunge filter, but it works.

Opener ‘Knife Under My Pillow’ has a satisfying thump under its sweet sugar melody, ‘GASLIGHT!’ screeches and screams in a way that many others would back away from, and closer ‘It’s Not Your Fault’ finishes with a cry, not a whimper. Perhaps a little polished to not find itself with a foot in two camps, there’s still a lot to like.

Stephen Ackroyd readdork.com 47.

Psychedelic Porn Crumpets

Slowthai TYRON

eeeee After a triumphant debut album, Slowthai seemed to be on top of the world.

And then the NME Awards happened. With his second full-length, there’s something to prove.

The last couple of years have been quite something in the world of Slowthai. From muchhyped newcomer to an awardnominated genius with a triumphant debut album, for the longest time it felt like nothing could halt his glorious ascent.

Then, in one night in Brixton, things got muddy. An awards show incident, not the quality of his musical output, stuck a speed bump in the road.

Forgiveness is one thing, but a sense of unease is hard to forget. Where once it would have felt like a victory lap, there’s something to prove with second album ‘TYRON’.

One thing is for certain; he does not intend to back down quietly. Second track ‘CANCELLED’ is described in associated press material as addressing “the overzealous practice of tearing people down in the name of ‘progress’”. Insert thinking face emoji here. Beyond the personal drama, though, Slowthai still has that unique special something that pulls him ahead of the pack. A record of two halves - intended to show how there’s more than one side to every story - the front half of ‘TYRON’ goes in big. Titles in all caps, it’s in your face, full of attitude and swagger. With rough edges and a powerful personality, it sets its stall out larger than life.

It’s the second side where things get interesting though.

More complex and honest, it’s a lowercase musing on the man behind the mask of fame.

Struggling with self-acceptance and standing on your own two feet in a world that often seems determined to twist everything to its own agenda, it’s proof that sometimes the quieter moments echo the loudest of all. There’s more than one side to every story. Slowthai’s second chapter is at the very least a pageturner. Stephen Ackroyd

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SHYGA! The Sunlight Mound eeeef

On the follow up to 2019’s intricate and scuzzy ‘And Now for the Whatchamacallit’, it seems as though Perth-based psychonauts Psychedelic Porn Crumpets are coming for King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s crown as the kings of oddity.

‘SHYGA! The Sunlight Mound’ is on the one hand a shot straight to the bloodstream; fleeting from aqueous, kaleidoscopic psychedelia to bombastic post-punk cacophony. On the other, it’s fragmented and chaotic, like trying to piece together what happened the morning after the night before.

“That felt pretty good, right there, hey? That felt fucking great!” comes the final statement from the band, and we’re inclined to agree. Tyler Damara Kelly

Jimi Somewhere Nothing Gold Can Stay eeeff

Delving into the bittersweet feeling of leaving behind a fun period of your life, 22-yearold Norwegian singer Benjamin Schandy AKA Jimi Somewhere’s debut provides the perfect soundtrack for driving into the sunset with the roof down. The genre Jimi resides in here is hard to define, sitting somewhere between art-pop and dance/electronic, and the mood can shift very quickly. This can initially be quite confusing, but the latter half of the album is more consistent, and when the dust settles, this LP provides a full insight into the experience of moving on; it’s almost like a coming of age movie in music form.

What ‘Nothing Gold Can Stay’ occasionally lacks in punch factor, it certainly makes up for in scope.

Finlay Holden

STR AIGHT GIRL CHANTÉ AMOUR HLOE US TEN 7I N” TSH IEVNAMNG CLUB ORNING LIGHTS TA L KB OY & DENSEL A B E L SEA LEGS FA U X PA S

Black Honey Written & Directed

BECKY HILL BEABADOOBEE DECL AN MCKENNA T HE JAPANE SE H O USE HINDS OMO M AB U RGY T A ZR RIO WN ENTER SHIK ARI GHOSTPOET MOSES BOYD B AT FOR L A S HE S AITCH

E

eeeee Izzy and co. set their sights on a theatrical release.

Roaring out of the gates like a dragster in the dust, the new release from Black Honey is a record so ridiculously cinematic that it should come with a bucket of sweet and salty popcorn and an XXL drink on the side.

Phones off in the theatre please, the movie is about to begin.

The pace is set from the start with the stomping ‘I Like The Way You Die’, with Izzy B. Phillips in no mood for prisoners and an even lower tolerance for bs. “The monster in the dark is me” she warns in a statement of that empowers as much as it towers over you. To say that the first few tracks are fast-paced is one hell of a understatement, these are songs that will trample over anyone not paying attention and leave them in the dust. Following the power harmonies and lightning riffs of the turbo-charged psychobilly ‘Run For Cover’ with the delicious

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glamrock-meets-Amy of ‘Beaches’ is just glorious frankly, even if it isn’t *quite* a pace that they can maintain. Moments of sweetness arrive in the shape of ‘Back Of The Bar’, while ‘Summer 92’ (the second song this month to reference that year) is a gorgeous slice of nostalgia.

With horns and choirs one moment, colliding with crunching guitars in the next, it’s the sound of a band that have pulled no punches, not compromising their vision in the slightest and yet still seems even more sharply focussed than their debut. Reshaping the world around her, the spotlight is shining even more brightly on Izzy and is all the better for it. Already an icon to many, here she is using that status to empower and inspire a whole new generation to follow in her footsteps.

They’ve definitely done more than enough to get another sequel here.

Jamie MacMillan

WOMEN IN MUSIC I N ACD VLI CUE SS EIS SVI OINTS Y , LGBTQ THE MUSIC YMF CONVENTION D E M WEI TNH .T. .

I N C OV N VEE L R SO ATP ION HERFEST G L E EL A UN N C HT & ES I N V S PANEL E V ENT S

W W W . C P W M. C O

This month, it's...

Tate McRae Yes, Dear Reader. We enjoy those ‘in depth’ interviews as much as anyone else.

But - BUT - we also enjoy the lighter side of music, too. We simply cannot go on any longer without knowing if chart bothering popster Tate McRae believes in aliens. So we asked her. See? What have you got in your pockets right now?

Lipgloss, my phone, and gum What did you last dream about?

I have very vivid dreams.

Sometimes I can literally lucid dream, and wake up with so much detail of what it was about.

Sometimes I don’t remember anything - haha, last night was one of those.

How tall are you?

Almost 5’9”.

What is your earliest memory?

Age 2, dancing in our house in the Middle East with my whole family watching. I swear I would put on a (non asked for) show every night.

Do you believe in aliens?

In a sense, yes. I think there’s a lot

of things that us humans have no idea about. We are literally just a speck in a massive universe, I feel like there couldn’t not be a species like aliens out there.

What is the best present you’ve ever been given?

Probably my Tiffany necklace.

My mom used to wear it all the time and then when I started performing, she gave it to me as a good luck charm. It means a lot to me, and I wear it all the time, or at least have it on me in stressful situations.

If we gave you $10, what would you spend it on?

I really want a poetry book right now, so probably that!

What’s your biggest fear?

My biggest fear is losing someone I love.

Were you a rebel at school?

I am still in school! I, for sure, am one of the biggest procrastinators on earth, but at the end of the day, get it done.

I wouldn’t say I’m a rebel, but definitely not a teacher’s pet, haha.

What’s the most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to you?

When I was 3, at this hotel in

Down With Boring.

50. DORK

Dubai, I thought that this pool of water was glass! So I proceeded to step on it to perform. I realised it wasn’t a stage when my head was underwater.

Have you ever been banned from somewhere?

Nope.

If a genie granted you three wishes, what would you ask for?

1. To end this global pandemic!!

2. To finish my schoolwork for me.

3. To be able to perform on the Super Bowl stage one day.

What do you always have in your refrigerator?

Egg whites, turkey, apples.

What is your favourite time of day?

I love nights, I am a total night owl.

Have you ever seen a ghost?

When I was little, I always talked to my Omi - my mom’s mom, who had passed away before I was born. I would describe who I was

talking to to my mom. So, I guess I saw my late grandma.

What’s one thing people don’t know about you?

Maybe that I, my mom and her family were all born in Germany.

So I am 50% German!

as a singer, dancer, and actor for a long time. I mean, everyone knows she’s the coolest.

How punk are you out of ten?

A good 0/10!

What movie would you recommend to someone who hadn’t seen many before?

Elf. Obviously, I’m biased because I’m obsessed with Christmas, but it’s one of the best Christmas movies of all time.

Who’s your favourite new band?

I’ve been digging Wallows.

Have you ever sold your own CD or merch on eBay? No, I haven’t!

What was the last thing you broke?

My makeup pallet. I’m always dropping things.

What’s one thing you’ve always wanted to try?

I really want to skydive! I think it would be so scary but so fun.

Baths or showers?

Definitely showers!

What’s your breakfast of choice?

Oatmeal with berries or egg whites, cheese and turkey

If you could have a superpower of your choosing, what would it be?

To be able to fly, for sure.

Who would play you in a movie of your life?

If anyone, I’d want Zendaya. She’s somebody that I have admired

The week in music.

Dork Radio.

8pm.

Every Monday.

If you had to be on a TV gameshow, which would you choose?

Imma be honest, they all give me hella anxiety! But, probably Family Feud because then my family could help me out. P

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