Dork, May 2023 (Olivia Dean cover)

DOWN WITH BORING.

ISSUE 76 · MAY 2023 · READDORK.COM

PVRIS

Olivia Dean

SPOTLIGHT SHOW

SPOTLIGHT SHOW

SATURDAY 13TH MAY

FRIDAY 12TH MAY

ARLO PARKS

MAISIE PETERS

BRIGHTON DOME

BRIGHTON DOME

SOLD OUT CONCERT HALL

CONCERT HALL SOLD OUT CORE PROGRAMME

49TH & MAIN 7EBRA 86TVs ACID KLAUS ADMT ALICE LONGYU GAO ÁINE DEANE ALICE LOW ANNA B SAVAGE ARTHUR HILL ARXX BELLAH BENEFITS BILLIE MARTEN BLONDSHELL BOSLEN BUTCH KASSIDY C.O.F.F.I.N CAITY BASER CALUM BOWIE CHALK CHARLOTTE PLANK CIEL CIVIC COACH PARTY DEB NEVER DEBBY FRIDAY DEKI ALEM DOLORES FOREVER DYLAN JOHN THOMAS ENGLISH TEACHER ETHAN P. FLYNN FAT DOG FEET GIRLSOFGRIME GROVE GURRIERS HAK BAKER HANNAH GRAE HEARTWORMS I. JORDAN ISABEL LA ROSA JAMES ELLIS FORD JAMES MARRIOTT JAZMIN BEAN JESSICA WINTER JGRREY KATIE GREGSON-MACLEOD L DEVINE LAEL NEALE LAMBRINI GIRLS LANA LUBANY LIME GARDEN MAE STEPHENS MARIA CHIARA ARGIRO MCKINLEY DIXON MELIN MELYN MF TOMLINSON MICKEY CALLISTO MOONCHILD SANELLY NELL MESCAL NIX NORTHWEST O. PVA PERSONAL TRAINER RØRY SAD NIGHT DYNAMITE SAIMING SAINT HARISON SANS SOUCIS SIIGHTS SOPHIE MAY SORRY SPIDER STONE SUPERJAZZCLUB SURYA SEN SYSTEM OLYMPIA TAYLAH ELAINE TEETH MACHINE THE BIG MOON THE DREAM MACHINE THE GLUTS THE GOA EXPRESS THE HEAVY HEAVY THE JOY THE LAST DINNER PARTY THE MURDER CAPITAL THE PRETENDERS THE SCORPIOS ULA VENBEE VICTOR RAY VIJI VLURE WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR WILLIE J HEALEY YONAKA YUNÈ PINKU AND MANY MORE

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Issue 76 | May 2023 | readdork.com | Down With Boring

Hiya, Dear Reader. readdork.com

YOU MIGHT HEAR ALL KINDS OF PEOPLE

pitched as the nicest person in pop. And we're sure they're all Really Lovely People - but they're not Niall Horan.

One of this month's three cover stars, from the minute Niall proclaimed Dork is the "greatest magazine name ever", he was in our good books. But obviously he is. The man is an absolute legend.

Heck, it's a month of legends. Olivia Dean's new album 'Messy' is every bit as brilliant as the hype machine would suggest. When it lands this summer, it'll make waves. As will PVRIS' new record - a fizzing, genre-hopping monster that only conforms to expectations by utterly ignoring them.

All three front a brand new edition of Dork - revamped, in an all-new size. Ever so slightly smaller, but packed with just as much pop nonsense as ever, we've reworked our format to fit more easily in the hand. We hope you like it.

And if you think this issue is nuts... just wait to see what's coming for you next month. Ridiculous.

Utterly ridiculous.

Editor Stephen Ackroyd Deputy Editor Victoria Sinden Associate Editor Ali Shutler Contributing Editors Jamie Muir, Martyn Young Scribblers Abigail Firth, Dan Harrison, Dillon Eastoe, Finlay Holden, Jamie MacMillan, Jessica Goodman, Laura Freyaldenhoven, Neive McCarthy, Roman Jody, Steven Loftin, Sam Taylor Snappers Caitlin Ricaud, Daniel Topete, Elif Gonen, Frances Beach, Jamie MacMillan, Jennifer McCord, Jonathan Weiner, Neelam Khan Vela, Patrick Gunning, Ronan Park, Rosie Sco, Sarah Louise Bennett, Tom Pacitti PUBLISHED FROM WELCOMETOTHEBUNKER.COM

‘Editor’ @stephenackroyd

UNIT 10, 23 GRANGE ROAD, HASTINGS, TN34 2RL

Intro.

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04 08 10 12 14 15 16 18 18

Hype.

Incoming.

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SPILL TAB BLEACH LAB NOAHFINNCE SXSW FAT DOG THE GREAT ESCAPE DO NOTHING LOUIS TOMLINSON A DAY IN THE LIFE OF...LOZEAK MARK

STONE CAVETOWN

DOLORES FOREVER BROOKE COMBE NIEVE ELLA

Features.

30 38 44

NIALL HORAN OLIVIA DEAN MATT MALTESE

46 52

PVRIS FALL OUT BOY

REVIEWS PRIMA QUEEN

Get Out. 56

FLETCHER

Backpage.

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HATCHIE

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.

READDORK.COM 3.

INTRO.

s ’ b ta clear...

THE BEATING HEART OF POP NONSENSE.

For a hot min ute now, spil l tab has bee out practicall n sliding y per fect altpop gems. B brand new s ack with a ingle, ‘Windo w ’, and a new EP way, she’s fa st becoming on the one of the be game. But fir st in the st… anyone f or a game of pickleball?

Words: Mar tyn Yo

ung. Photos

4. DORK

: Jamie Mac

Millan.

SPILL TAB

→ “I’M IN GLENDALE, CALIFORNIA. It’s a nice location. I live in a building where it’s mostly retired grandparents. It’s a good vibe.” It’s fair to say life is pretty idyllic right now for Claire Chicha, aka long-time Dork fave spill tab. “I’ve just been working on music and finishing up the last two songs for the EP. It’s really nice to be home and reconnect with my friends and just be in one spot for a while.”

While she had the luxury of a little bit of time at home, Claire spent a good proportion of it getting involved in two distinctly different yet equally rewarding activities. You see, these pop stars are multi-talented. “As of late, like a little grandma, I’ve been getting so much into crochet and knitting,” she smiles. “It’s one of those things that once you’re relatively decent at it, you can pop on a TV show in the background. It’s sort of an added thing in the multitasking world, which is nice because I’m always just on my phone or laptop watching something and doing something else, so it’s a nice addition to that flow.”

Perhaps Claire can use her knitting skills to create an outfit for her other newfound passion. Pickleball. Hold on, let Claire explain. “There’s a huge trend in LA right now where everyone is getting into pickleball,” she enthuses.

“It’s like a smaller version of tennis.

You’re using these little paddles, and the balls are bigger and plastic softball size. I usually play doubles. It’s taken Los Angeles by storm. I’ve found myself constantly in that storm.”

Somehow within that storm, Claire has managed to create a new spill tab single, though, and it’s more than a bit special. ‘Window’ is a gorgeous slice of bewitching woozy pop that’s a reminder of just why spill tab is one of the most exciting artists in the world of alt-pop. Full of attitude and confidence, it’s the sound of an artist revelling in their melting pot world of pop experimentalism. “I was listening to a lot of Talking Heads and Unknown Mortal Orchestra,” she explains of the track’s genesis. “I was really into an organic drum thing with layered vocals and that kind of mood. I worked on it with my two friends, Austin and Wyatt, who I also did ‘Splinter’ with, so we had a working flow and we know each other a lot better musically now. It feels like a really dynamic trio. We like to switch roles a lot. It felt really good making it.”

The track is going to be included on a forthcoming new spill tab EP that collates the stunning singles she released last year - ‘Splinter’, ‘Sunburn’ and ‘Creme Brulee!’ - as well as more new songs. It was clear, though, that as soon as she wrote it, ‘Window’ was going to be a key track. “It felt right,” says Claire. “Within the first few seconds, I knew that I really wanted it to come out, which is always a good feeling.”

The song is a typically ear wormy spill tab lyric that details a hugely relatable feeling in an evocative whipsmart, clever way. “I like to pool from very real experiences but at the same

READDORK.COM 5.

INTRO

I like to take something that’s not such a big deal and make it the biggest thing in the world" S P I L L TA B

time I’m a huge embellisher so I like to take something that’s not such a big deal and make it the biggest thing in the world,” she laughs. “It’s coming from a place where you miss the beginnings of the partnership that you’re in and that early on excitement of recklessness and risk-taking and all-around scary but exciting feeling. The concept was, ok, if I’m in this relationship that is monotonous and heavy with a lot of baggage, then I’m reminiscing on the beginnings of it and how it used to be.

The push and pull between where you are now and where you used to be.”

Claire has been releasing songs as spill tab for exactly four years now, and as the project has grown and developed and the excitement has ramped up with each release, she has realised the importance of staying in the moment and not looking too far ahead. “I really take it one song at a time,” she explains.

“I’m trying to be a little more intentional and making sure that what I’m putting out is representative of how I’m feeling and the sound that I want to put out. Not that I release 30 songs a year or anything like that, but it can be quite difficult when consistently releasing music because it can get away from you.” For Claire, it’s always about trying to connect to that original feeling of inspiration that got her making music in the first place. “That’s where my head is at. I don’t have any direction beyond that, but I’m learning to be ok with that, and that’s cool.”

The peace of mind of being content in the knowledge that she’s free to follow her own path making exactly the music

she wants to make in new and inspiring ways, allows Claire to keep spill tab feeling fresh. Her restless creative nature finds her looking to adapt her creative process with the demands of trying to make a full-length project after a number of striking EPs and single releases. “I definitely have deep commitment issues,” she laughs. “At least with music, but I guess with everything else when I look at the patterns in my life. I have a terrible time just committing to one thing. I’m honestly surprised that I’m still doing music now. I love to try new things, and I love to explore new ideas and possibilities. I love the idea of newness and continuing to expand the universe in my mind and with my music. I love the idea of being able to try anything and everything at all times.”

The idea of a full album, though, where it once might have been dismissed, could perhaps be becoming more appealing. “I think the idea of an album, I used to not think this, but now I do, seeing artists around me

who I’m inspired by creating bodies of work, there’s something to be said about sticking to a concept or idea and fully exploring that and really going to its absolute length. I think that’s really cool and badass,” says Claire. “I would hope one day too to be able to do something like that and execute it well, but we shall see, we shall see,” she says intriguingly.

Exciting stuff.

Claire is very conscious of the fact that she’s working in a time when it feels like anything is possible. “There’s so much music, and there are so many people doing exciting things all in their own way, there’s the internet and Twitter, Instagram and TikTok, and there’s literally an audience for anything anyone wants to do which is so cool and different from how things used to be in the past,” she says excitedly. “For me, it’s just about creating something that feels new and fresh. It’s usually just a feeling, something in your gut that says, this feels really new. What’s exciting to me is finding ways to observe the rules that are

Black Country, New Road are going live, and going big → Black Country, New Road have followed up their recent ‘Live at Bush Hall’ film with a live album featuring the set from the same three soldout back-to-back shows last December. Streaming now, there’ll be a physical release on 28th April via Ninja Tune. The news comes alongside details for the band’s biggest headline shows to date at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire on 10th and 11th October, following their first ever tour of Japan and dates in Indonesia and Taiwan, and a heap of festival performances, including Glastonbury and Primavera Sound.

6. DORK

being set and break them a little bit and go against the usual norm. Sometimes it’s easy to just say, ‘oh, that’s working for somebody else, maybe I should do that’, but no, it’s working for them because it’s a representation of themselves, and that doesn’t mean that that’s going to work for you. I’m trying to follow my gut and what feels right for me. If people connect with that, then great, but if not, it’s ok.”

One of the things that characterises spill tab as an artist is the ability to have both massive pop hooks and warped oddball sounds and stylings working in harmony. She perfectly traverses the ground between accessible pop and more idiosyncratic sounds. There’s still an element of doubt, though, that makes her entirely relatable and human and informs the highwire act of her music. “I still have imposter syndrome like a lot of people have. It feels weird saying ‘I am this artist that produces and writes’, when literally in my mind I’m just doing my best,” she confesses. “I’m doing my best to create stuff that feels true and honest. It would be really cool to be seen as someone who’s a bit experimental and a bit weird. That’s the seasoning I like to put on the music.”

In the first few months of 2023, Claire has used her downtime to be musically creative, but she’s now looking forward to going back out on the road and bringing the whole spill tab experience to life. “I find so much joy playing live and so much excitement in putting together a live set and sharing it with people and interacting with people even if they have no idea about the music or who the fuck I am,” she exclaims. She’s currently in the middle of a tour with Dork cover star and undeniably very massive big deal Sabrina Carpenter that promises to be a landmark occasion for spill tab. “I’m so excited for the Sabrina tour because, in terms of long-term dates, I’ve not done that for a female act. I’ve had a lot of guy friends, which is really sick and I love them all but I’m so excited that it’s going to be a woman-heavy crew. I cannot wait to be up there.”

The rest of 2023 looks set to feature more experimentalism, more weird pop, more festivals, more knitting, more pickleball, more collaborations; Claire cites Empress Of as an artist she loves and would love to collaborate with in the future. “She’s really fucking cool. I’ve been listening to one of her songs so much, so that’s all I can think of right now.” There is one big ambition for this year, though. An ambition she needs to come back to the UK to fulfil. “I really, really want to go and have breakfast at Dishoom,” she laughs. “Someone told me that as much as there’s a lot of hype about the lunches and dinners but, apparently, the breakfasts are absolutely banging. I hope that I will be there soon.”

With a stunning new EP and a string of killer live sets under her belt, we’re sure that they would love to have one of the hottest names in alt-pop sample one of their breakfasts. Just make sure you remember to give us the star rating and review, though, Claire. ■ spill tab’s single ‘Window’ is out now. Her new EP follows in May.

JACOB COLLIER

Peter Doherty 13.04 Belfast w/ + TBC Limelight 14.04 Dublin w/ KÚ + TBC Opium Rooms 15.04 Cork w/ KÚ + TBC Cyprus Avenue 17.04 Dundee w/ PREGOBLIN + TBC Fat Sam’s 18.04 Glasgow w/ PREGOBLIN + TBC SWG3 OUT Stockton on Tees w/ PREGOBLIN + TBC SOLD 19.0 KU Bar 21.04 Newcastle w/ + TBC Riverside OUT Lancaster w/ SOLD 22.04 + TBC Kanteena 23.04 Hull w/ + TBC The Welly Club + LUKEWRIGHT + TBC 24.04 Norwich w/ The Waterfront 26.04 Manchester w/ + TBC O2 Ritz OUT SOLD 27.04 Liverpool w/ + TBC The Church Anfield 29.04 Bristol w/ + TBC O2 Academy 30.04 Falmouth w/ + TBC Princess Pavillion 02.05 Oxford w/ + TBC O2 Academy 03.05 Sheffield w/ + TBC O2 Academy 04.05 Birmingham w/ Special Guests TBC O2 Institute 05.05 London w/ + Very Special Guests Royal Albert Hall

... is coming in hot in 2023 September Wednesday 6th London, The Lexington Thursday 7th Oxford, Jericho Tavern Friday 8th Manchester, Yes (Basement) Monday 11th Leeds, Hyde Park Book Club

SOLD OUT

(Fat White Family / Insecure Men) SOLD OUT Thu 20 Sat 22 Sun 23

Adventures In Limbo Album Tour April 2023

Mon 24 Tue 25

by arrangement with primary talent international

T I C K E T S

A V A I L A B L E

SEETICKETS.COM ALTTICKETS.COM @CROSSTOWN_LIVE

F R O M

GIGANTIC.COM TICKETEK.CO.UK

/CROSSTOWNCONCERTS

TICKETMASTER.CO.UK

@CROSSTOWNCONCERTS

LONDON HEBDEN OXFORD

Windmill Brixton Bridge Trades Club Jericho Tavern

LONDON BRISTOL

Windmill Brixton Strange Brew

EXTRA DATE ADDED DUE TO DEMAND

BY ARRANGEMENT WITH PCL & AUTONOMY

INTRO

→ WHILE SOME HAVE spent

LIFE’S

A

A lot of things that I wrote about were things that I’d be too afraid to say to someone in real life"

8. DORK

Words: Jack Press.

the past few years buying up denim jackets, stealing their mum’s Kate Bush cassettes, and throwing dice for Dungeons & Dragons, a band from London were doubling down on the decade after. If Stranger Things took you travelling to the eighties, Bleach Lab are offering acid trips to the 90s.

An all-you-can-eat buffet of cotton candy dream-pop and sweet-and-salty shoegaze, their shimmering sepia-toned imagery is ablaze with ideas and their limited vinyl drops cause chaos amongst fans. After a slew of singles and a slingshot of rapid-fire EPs, they’re now gearing up to release their debut album, ‘Lost In A Rush of Emptiness’.

While their lyrics pine for the spoilt fruit of failed relationships and long-gone loved ones, the band themselves have constantly been evolving with one eye on their next step at all times.

“We never want any release we do to sound like the last one,” says drummer Kieran Weston, who describes their three EPs - ‘A Calm Sense Of Surrounding’, ‘Nothing Feels Real’ and ‘If You Only Feel It Once’ - as “testing grounds”. It’s a sentiment they all share, as vocalist Jenna Kyle explains that “the EPs were like a blueprint for our album.”

Not short of songs, ‘Lost In A With their debut album on the way, Bleach Lab are here to make a difference.

Rush of Emptiness’ came to life across three months. First came ‘Indigo’, with its splashy cymbals go through, that everyone goes very first EPs, which is ‘Counting think that about yourself. It’s and rhythmic riffs summoning through.” like being at war with yourself Empties’.” summer sunsets, and now Being relatable is what Bleach and dealing with this mammoth ‘Counting Empties’ came to ‘Counting Empties’, its marching Lab have been about since day issue that someone else is also life at Frank [Wates, guitar]’s band drums and spacious riffs one. For Kieran, it’s “one of the having to take on at the same kitchen table, where he and that crash like waves. Just like main things for me, since being time as you.”

Kieran would spend days their glittering soundscapes of in this band.”

‘Counting Empties’ will crush demoing ideas to send to the sunny days juxtaposing lyrics Early-era cut ‘Never Be’ a heart or two, but it’s the perfect band’s lyricists, Jenna and of grey sky days spent indoors has been the soundtrack to so primer for ‘Lost In A Rush of under covers, the two songs show bassist Josh Longman. “Every much summertime sadnesses Emptiness’. It’s an open book, both sides of the Bleach Lab coin. week he would cook us dinner, they might as well cover Lana, designed to be taken however we had this fabulous tofu While for Kieran, ‘Indigo’ is says Jenna. “We had someone you want, suggests Kieran.

Ottolenghi thing which was the “the biggest statement of come up to us in Bristol when Bleach Lab are no strangers to absolutely incredible - that is what the album was” when we played there, and she was late-night confessionals, and the taste of the album for me making it, for Jenna, it was their like, ‘this song was my whole their self-reflection this time and he would just give me some way of mixing things up from summer with this guy that I cuts closer to the bone than ever the off. “We wanted to put a bit of guitars, I would sift through had a whirlwind relationship before. Make no mistake, Jenna them. He’d cook dinner, and a mix-up and offer a little bit of with, and it got me through and Josh have travelled to the I would just demo songs, and a surprise with ‘Indigo’ because everything. We’ve broken up now, deepest corners of their minds to ‘Counting Empties’ was one of it’s so different to what we’ve and I listened to it all the time make this album. them.” had before.” It’s all part of their and cried’. She just had this real “The general themes are toxic Josh took to the song like a master plan. “We want to attract experience with it.” relationships, self-reflection, and J E N N A K Y L E duck to water, penning a heartdifferent audiences and tap into For a band just about to discovery about yourself; I found wrenching plea to a partner different genres because we’re drop their debut album, having from the perspective of someone a lot of things that I wrote about still exploring.” picked up a few books. He risen so quickly to the top of and said were things that I’d be struggling with addiction. With ‘Counting Empties’, on the said a lot of the themes in that the hype machine’s mountain, delivery from Jenna as delicately too afraid to say to someone in other hand, “exemplifies what collection of poetry reflect on the having such an impact on the real life,” reflects Jenna on what soul-destroying as a lateBleach Lab is and should be,” album, which was completely world around them is wild. It’s she says was “quite a cathartic night stroll through Lana Del according to Kieran. “We had to incidental.” a constant state of euphoria process.”

Rey’s repertoire, she interprets bridge a bit of a gap because ‘If Just like Josh finding a slice for the foursome. They hope, The title is taken from You Only Feel It Once’ had songs ‘Counting Empties’ in her own of the album’s soul in Leonard more than anything, that ‘Lost Leonard Cohen’s late-career way. like ‘Safe Place’, which is very Cohen, Bleach Lab hope listeners In A Rush of Emptiness’, will poetry collection The Flame.

“It’s asking for patience upbeat, so ‘Indigo’ sonically is find themselves in ‘Lost In A make a difference. ■ Bleach “We were in the studio, we hadn’t [also] very upbeat, a great impact and understanding and Rush of Emptiness’. Jenna wants Lab’s album ‘Lost In A Rush decided on a name, and Josh acknowledging that you’re not track, and then it was important the album to help people “not to was obviously there for really the person you want them to of Emptiness’ is out 22nd to come back to what we wanted feel alone with things that they long days and hours and had think you are, and you don’t September.

Bleach Lab to be, from those

INTRO

→ NOAHFINNCE JUST WANTS TO HAVE FUN. That desire for a

10. DORK

The song’s about knowing who you are, but not really knowing what to do with that" N OA H F I N N C E

NOAHFINNCE and Bears in Trees have teamed up for a new (suitably titled) track, ‘No Point Pretending (Song For Tour)’. A song about feeling lost in life and trying to choose the path to follow, it comes at a time Noah’s ascent seems pretty damn set on course.

Words: Ali Shutler

good time is scrawled throughout his boisterous back catalogue of positive pop-punk and sits at the beating heart of new song ‘No Point Pretending (Song For Tour)’.

Written alongside dirtbag boyband (their words, not ours) Bears In Trees ahead of a US tour together next month, ‘No Point Pretending’ sits somewhere between NOAHFINNCE’s bratty punk and Bears In Trees slacker pop. Simply put, it sounds “completely different” to everything NOAHFINNCE has ever released, but it’s still driven by a communal joy.

“I was nervous about going into the studio with them because there’s four of them, there’s only one of me,” admits Noah Adams, but luckily the whole process was a stress-free dream. The end result is “a good middle ground between our two bands,” Noah tells Dork, fresh from a weekend video shoot that saw them pushing each other about in trolleys.

As you do.

The first lyric written for the track is the first one you hear - “I can’t find my brain. Oh well, I think I lost it anyway”. From there, the collaborative group followed that path to create a song that deals with “feeling a bit lost in life.”

“The world feels like it’s moving so fast nowadays,” explains Noah.

“We’re all in our 20s, so we’re adults, but not really. The song’s about knowing who you are, but not really knowing what to do with that.”

Noah first toured with Bears In Trees back in 2021, and they’ve remained friends ever since. “I like how themselves they are,” he says, explaining how they share a likeminded attitude. “A lot of people are under pressure to try and fit themselves into something that’s easy for the algorithm to pick up. They’re just doing their own shit. I feel like we come from a similar place,” he continues. “We’re all a bit weird.”

‘No Point Pretending’ is the first proper collaboration NOAHFINNCE has been involved in, and it comes as the artist is trying to push himself out of his comfort zone. “I absolutely want to scare myself… just a little bit, though,” he says. Last month, Noah played his first-ever support slots, taking to the stage before Enter Shikari at their intimate UK residencies. “The shows were great,” he beams. “I didn’t realise how chill being the support act was, though.”

Like most Gen-Z musicians, Noah started his career in music posting covers on social media. He pivoted to YouTube from Instagram due to the latter’s 15-second video limit. When he came out as transgender in 2017, he used his growing platform to answer the many questions that came with it.

He went on to release his first original song ‘Asthma Attack’ in 2018 and was picked up by Hopeless Records (Taking Back Sunday, The Wonder Years) in 2020, with debut EP ‘Stuff From My Brain’ coming the following

year.

2021 also saw him play his firstever live shows. “The day we firmed up those initial touring plans, I spent most of it crying. I was worried I’d be no good,” he says. Once that first headline gig was over, though, “I realised, holy shit, this is the best thing ever.”

“I was in a room full of people who liked me,” which is always nice, but more than that, “It felt like I was surrounded by people who came from a really similar place and understood me.”

“Being signed during COVID does mean I skipped so many steps,” Noah continues. “It’s obviously been terrifying but nothing disastrous has happened yet.”

Because he grew up in the scene, going to gigs and making friends at shows, Noah says he feels “very confident with where I am. It’s just weird trying to figure out where other people are trying to place me.”

It’s going to get even harder with new songs that “don’t fit into what pop-punk should be.” Not that Noah cares. “They sound fucking sick.”

Noah uses his music to process what he’s feeling. “I don’t go into the studio with a plan. It’s more about how I’m feeling and what sounds cool,” he says. His two recent EPs are a reaction to a few years that have been “ridiculously intense”.

“I finished school, I came out, I started testosterone and then had top surgery. Then COVID happened, I got signed, started touring and yeah… a lot of crazy shit,” he says.

After releasing his debut EP, Noah started therapy to try and deal with the emotional whiplash of several life-changing events happening all at once. “It was great, but I think writing the songs was actually more helpful."

Noah constantly wants to look on the bright side of things. “I feel like it’s very easy to focus on negative things. In this scene, we all love emo shit. We’re all depressed. I don’t want to be that person who’s telling people, ‘this fucking thing sucks’, and that’s it.

I want my music to be more than just that.” ■ NOAHFINNCE's single 'No Point Pretending (Song For Tour)' is out now.

INTRO

DECENT EXPOSURE

Are Lovejoy the buzziest guitar band on the planet rn?

Yeah, probably. As anyone present at the London Electric Brixton date of their recent UK tour will confirm, you rarely see a reaction like this to a new band in 2023. But Lovejoy aren’t just any old band.

Inspiring the kind of scenes usually reserved for stadium icons, in truth, Electric Brixton already feels like a quite ridiculous underplay. With new music on the way, and big things on the horizon (eyes emoji here, Dear Reader – Ed), they’ll be playing much, much bigger places very, very soon.

Photo: Patrick Gunning

READDORK.COM 11.

INTRO

OSCAR LANG

Georgia has dropped her huge new track, ‘It’s Euphoric’, and announced a new album too → Georgia has returned with news of a new album, ‘Euphoric’. Set for release on 28th July, the record was co-produced with Rostam (Haim, Carly Rae Jepsen, Clairo), and is the first time that Georgia has worked with another producer on her own material. Georgia has also announced an intimate show at London’s Omeara on 20th April.

You can check out the first single from the album, 'It's Euphoric', on readdork.com now.

→ Oscar Lang has returned with new track, ‘A Song About Me’.

It's the first single to be taken from Oscar’s forthcoming album ‘Look Now’, set to be released on 21st July via Dirty Hit. About the track, Oscar says: “’A Song About Me’ is a break up song that is honest and open but self-aware. I wanted to write in a similar world to you’re so vain by Carly Simon or love song by Sara Bareilles.

A break up song for all the people that have had their hearts broken, it’s got bit of bite but at the end of the day means well.”

5 SECONDS OF SUMMER

→ 5SOS have a new live album. They're commemorating their 2022 London show with ‘The Feeling of Falling Upwards – Live From The Royal Albert Hall’.

It's streaming digitally now, with physical copies following up on 14th July. The band have also announced their 2023 World tour, which includes dates across the UK, EU and America. They will play Glasgow, Manchester and London in October.

Y NOT FESTIVAL

Soft Play are the final main stage headliner to be announced for 2000Trees Festival → Soft Play - the newly rebranded name for Slaves - have been announced as the final main stage headliner for 2000Trees Festival.

Other acts announced to join the line up include Dinosaur Pile-Up, Hell Is For Heroes, Love Is Noise, NOISY and more. They join a line up that includes Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, Bullet For My Valentine, Eagles Of Death Metal and American Football. The event will take place from 5th – 8th July at Upcote Farm near Cheltenham.

12. DORK

→ Y Not Festival have revealed more names for their 2023 line up, including CMAT, Sea Girls, The Lathums, The Pigeon Detectives, Phoebe Green, Mystery Jets and more. They join headliners Royal Blood, Kasabian, Paul Weller and Bombay Bicycle Club. The event will take place between 28th – 30th July.

HERE’S THE BEST OF WHAT WE SAW AT

→ THIS NEVER HAPPENS DOWN THE WINDMILL. People on horses

have turned up and it’s all kicking off during Bristol hopefuls Saloon Dion’s opening day set. Tucked away on a wooden patio outside a barbecue shop in the fiery Texan sunshine, the band are briefly watched by a couple of honest-to-God Texan cowboys / girls as they wander past with their fists raised in celebration, pausing for a moment while the horses take in this particular little slice of post-punk goodness and the photographers try to avoid being trampled on. Welcome to SXSW. Every year, the super buzzy city of Austin fires the gun on new music festivals and shines a fierce light on the current crop of hype acts from around the world. A literal endurance test of a festival, countless venues around the city (and car parks, hotel basements, rooftop spaces, cupboards, airport departure lounges, and hardware stores… you get the picture) sees your next favourite acts battling for exposure and momentum in the wildest environment around. There has been plenty said recently about the darker side of SXSW’s ‘pay to play’ set-up, and while that rumbles away throughout the week amongst the artists, it is also a vital opportunity for those acts to begin breaking America - as well as building a head of steam going into the UK and European festival season.

It’s pretty much impossible to see everything, even in a week - so here are some of our highlights…

CLAIRE ROSINKRANZ

→ Claire Rosinkranz has announced her debut album. ‘Just Because’ will be released on 5th May via slowplay/ Republic Records, just ahead of her support slot with Dermot Kennedy on his North American tour this summer. “Just Because is a collection of songs I wrote about my life as an 18 year old,” Claire explains. “It’s a window into my world as I’m growing up and navigating life. Enjoy stepping into my lil movie.”

↑ Heartworms only play a handful of shows, but each one seems to confirm what we have suspected for a while - that this is a very special artist indeed. Mysterious, fierce, with a live show that is full of shades of darkness and jagged spears of lights - JoJo Orme and her band quickly become one of the ‘did you see that’ experiences, goosebumps being raised to skyscraper level by her screams of anguish during ‘Consistent Dedication’.

SXSW 2023

← Genesis Owuso swings in for one single set, and as the heaven explodes into one of the most fearsome lightning storms that the city has seen recently (causing people to scuttle for safety in hotel lobbies and basements), it is as if something has decreed that there was no point in anybody trying to follow up on his hyperactive and electrifying hip-hop and funk performance.

Words + photos: Jamie MacMillan.

↓ Been Stellar and THUS LOVE seem to be constantly playing somewhere, and the work pays off. The former band, quickly growing into levels of ‘if Fontaines D.C. were from New York City’ coolness and excitement, in particular are very much The Real Deal. We have rarely been surer that a fledgling band are going to go stratospheric than on the evidence of these shows. To paraphrase what someone once sung, they’re gonna be big.

↑ English Teacher show across a number of sets that they are beginning to build a real name for themselves across the water. Seeing one of their American superfans join them on stage and take over vocals on ‘R&B’ is one of the highlights of this, or any other, festival.

↖ Bringing with them some good old-fashioned British live chaos, both Panic Shack and Sports Team generate bumper crowds and cause what is the rarest of SXSW scenes as (admittedly gentle by UK standards, probably due to the $15 beers) mosh pits emerge amongst startled Texans.

“Hey, I don’t think you can do that in a gig?” sighs one punter as he is caught up in a brief outbreak of frantic moshing. Cowboys and mosh pits, a true cultural exchange then.

READDORK.COM 13.

LIVE MUSIC, FROM DORK

REPORT

Fat Dog bring buzz and chaos to the 100 Club + BUTCH KASSIDY + COWBOYY

PHOTOS: PATRICK GUNNING.

playing chicken with the world in seeing how big they can get without releasing night brings a full-on assault on all of the a single note of music, there is pure senses with Dork’s Night Out, starring the electricity in the air before they even join the stage as a circle pit opens just to their none-more-buzzy Fat Dog at The 100 intro music. Half the crowd are barking or Club. chanting ‘woof ’, the other half are trying It’s not a night for the faint of heart from the opening math rock onslaught of to work out what the hell is happening Cowboyy onwards. The South Coast band as the room descends into a state of feral have gained a big reputation for their noisy moshing for the duration. Even frontman live shows, and this one seems even beefier Joe, a man known for enjoying a wander through the crowd, seems to think better of than normal as frontman Stanley Powell coming too far into a moshpit that seems wrestles and wrangles his guitar to death to have its own gravity - anyone getting while a storm of unpredictability swirls around him. Moshpits open up, heads are too close is immediately sucked into the fray. People are singing every word to lost, scenes are had. songs that haven’t been heard away from Butch Kassidy are next up, their heavy a gig, various band members are either sound swarming into the darkness as the lights are turned down. There are no half- up on each other’s shoulders or swinging measures with this band, ever, and tonight members of the crowd around their heads - occasionally, they’re all playing music, but is as oppressive and beguiling as always it’s hard to tell, really.

- just like Cowboyy, they are moving It’s all over in what seems like minutes, confidently forward from the cultdom that has grown up around them into whatever the band walking off before remembering to say that they have finished. Whatever counts as ‘mainstream’ for a band as happens with Fat Dog when they do get mysterious as this. around to releasing music, it doesn’t matter And then Fat Dog. It’s hard to describe Fat Dog, except for saying that they are an a single bit on nights like this. JAMIE experience to chuck yourself fully into. Still MACMILLAN → HOW’S YOUR EARS TODAY? SPEAK UP, WE CAN’T HEAR YOU YET. Friday

14. DORK

Must see...

Swim Deep’s debut album turns 10 with Down With Boring → Who doesn't love a bit of the old nostalgia, eh, Dear Reader?

Thinking back to a time when all of this was fields, and indie was a more innocent place. Imagine our terror, then, when we realised that actually, Swim Deep's debut album 'Where The Heaven Are We' first arrived a decade ago. We know. Horrible. But also great - that's why we're teaming up with the band for a night of stories about the record, including a full album playback, special guests, DJ sets and even a raffle. We do love a raffle. It'll take place at The Boogaloo in Highgate, London on 27th April. Tickets are available now at the bargain price of £3 a go. Head to readdork.com for more.

You know where to come for the best new music. Dork will be pulling up to Horatio's on Brighton pier on Thursday 11th May with...

DORK’S NIGHT OUT AT ‘THE FESTIVALS’

THE GREAT ESCAPE 10TH - 13TH MAY 2023

ENGLISH TEACHER

→ A band that should by now need no introduction, fast-rising faves and Dork regulars English Teacher are unmissable on their way to indie stardom.

LIME GARDEN

→ Brighton locals Lime Garden have already appeared on every tips list going; their hometown set at The Great Escape is a banker for a good time.

HANNES

→ Hannes has been steadily making a name for himself in Sweden over the past few years, working his way around the edges of alternative R&B, pop and soul.

Dork’s Day Out is back! Back!!

Back!!! → After last year’s inaugural edition, Dork’s Day Out will return this August. Bringing together some of our favourite bands, DJs and more at London’s Signature Brew Blackhorse Road, it’ll take place on Saturday, 5th August. Following last year’s edition with the likes of FEET, STONE, Pip Blom, Coach Party, Chilli Jesson, L’objectif, Mollie Coddled and more, we’re teaming up with our friends at Signature Brew and CloseUp to put together a line-up worth getting excited about. We’ll have more of that very soon indeed, but before then you can grab super-limited early-bird tickets from readdork.com right now for an absolute steal.

Dork x Chess Club Not content with one showcase at this year's The Great Escape, we're also teaming up with super cool, super buzzy label Chess Club for a showcase featuring Coach Party, Lip Filler, Trout and Cole Bleu at The Arch on the Saturday (13th May). Find out more on readdork.com now.

Victor Ray

→ Busking in Newcastle and London to fund his dream of attending music college, Victor Ray's hard work is paying off with sold out shows and an EP on the way.

Slaney Bay

→ London-based trio Slaney Bay pen comingof-age tunes that explore the hardships of growing up. Their debut EP, 'A Life Worth Living', is out now.

→WE ALWAYS START THESE THINGS WITH A SEASIDE PUN. It's tradition to blast

out a weary verse of 'oh we do like to be beside the seaside', or find ourselves scraping so far towards the bottom of the barrel we end up namechecking The Ordinary Boys' debut album 'Faded Seaside Glamour' (depressingly, ask your parents - Ed). But the salty shores of Brighton - as nice as they are - aren't the reason we're perennially so excited about The Great Escape. It's 'ver music'.

Yes, Dear Reader. We are predictably - back again for another instalment of the UK's

premier new music festival, with a showcase at the end of the pier in the legendary Horatio's, packed to the rafters with Hot New Talent. Featuring the likes of Hype List alumni English Teacher and Lime Garden, we'll introduce you to the bands we're bringing along for 2023 over there (*gestures to the big red bar on the left*) - but there's so much more happening across the festival as a whole. There's showcase sets from Arlo Parks and Maisie

Peters, plus appearances from buzzy upstarts like The Last Dinner Party, Jessica Winter, VLURE, Heartworms, Fat Dog, Dolores Forever, STONE, Spider, Venbee, and Blondshell, as well as more established heroes The Big Moon, Sorry, Willie J Healey, The Murder Capital and more.

A lot to get excited about, then. The Great Escape takes place between May 10th and 13th in various venues across Brighton. You can find out more now at greatescapefestival.com.

READDORK.COM 15.

REPORT

There’s nobody quite like Do Nothing as they wow at Sebright Arms + MARY IN THE JUNKYARD

PHOTOS: PATRICK GUNNING.

→ DROPPING INTO LONDON'S FAMED

Dork is bringing double-trouble back to Live at Leeds: In The Park → Dork is back off to Live at Leeds: In The Park this May, and we’re bringing all the best new talent with us. We’ll be rolling up with some of the hottest fresh acts about for two stages of back-toback, always on brilliance. Headlined by force of nature Panic Shack and the awesome Brooke Combe, we’ve also got Afflecks Palace, Deadletter, Dolores Forever, Enola Gay, Kingfishr, Low Hummer, Modernlove., Opus Kink, Prima Queen, Psymon Spine and Rose Gray. They’re part of a larger line-up, including headliners Two Door Cinema Club, DMA’s, Black Honey, Cavetown, Crawlers, CMAT, The Big Moon, Gengahr, Pillow Queens and more. Live At Leeds: In The Park takes place on Saturday 27th May at Temple Newsam. Tickets are on sale now.

And in OTHR news... → 110 Above Presents: OTHR Festival have announced a bunch more names for this August’s event, and Dork is coming along for the fun. Held while the main 110 Above recharges its batteries, the fresh OTHR edition will see one of the best-curated festivals in the UK concentrate its energy on its Old Town Hall and Gopsall Inn stages, while also returning some secret spaces and new hidden gems. The phase one announcement already included the likes of Circa Waves, Jack Garratt, Twin Atlantic, Caity Baser, Daisy Brain, Walt Disco, Dolores Forever, Cate, Lexie Carroll and more. Now, a whole load more are signing up. Black Honey, Coach Party, Lauren Hibberd, Chappaqua Wrestling, King No-One, Fatherson and The Howl & the Hum are all amongst today’s new additions, alongside the announcement of a new stage – Platform 110 – which will host brand new artists the festival is tipping for big things. On the Friday, Dork is rolling into town to co-curate the Gopsall Inn stage. Teaming up with 110 Above and CloseUp, we’ll be bringing down Courting, Swim School, Priestgate, Lizzie Esau, Mollie Coddled and Delights.

110 Above Presents: OTHR Festival takes place on Gopsall Hall Farm, Leicestershire, from 10th - 13th August.

16. DORK

SEBRIGHT ARMS FOR DORK'S NIGHT OUT, Do Nothing are ready to embark

on their most glorious chapter to date with a night full of celebration and special looks at what's to come.

But first, having become the talk of London Town very quickly indeed, openers Mary In The Junkyard are the latest must-see new band. Tight and bubbling guitars stretch across primal raw licks in the sort of undeniable manner that leaves you wanting to know and hear more. Lush and almost orchestral at one moment, ripping with grunge energy the next. With no music out, they're as new as you can get yet already sounding fully formed. It's an experience that will have you rushing to WhatsApp your mates to tell them about a band that EVERYONE will be talking about come 2024. You heard it here first.

For a band who cut their teeth commanding venues like this, Do

Nothing step onstage tonight continuing it drops late in the show), and always to push things forward in a way nobody taking sounds past boundaries that most bands would live comfortably within. else is doing right now. Expanding 'Happy Feet', the first taste of Do to a five-piece live, their presence is Nothing's next moves, is a firecracker dialled up to new heights. A band live. 'Amoeba' is a menacing evolution, hungry to seize every moment and 'Nerve' embraces ambition with an possessing the sort of locked-in sound instant-classic edge that pulls at rock that immediately has you hooked, they storm through a set that both celebrates more than ever before, while 'Snake the already frankly ridiculous catalogue Sideways' (introduced as the title-track for their anticipated debut album) of bangers they've amassed while also sees them go further with a hypnotic, offering a glimpse into what's to come spacious, glitchy and emotionallywhen that anticipated debut album powerful statement of intent that may does land. just be one of the finest cuts Do Nothing 'Lebron James', 'Glueland' and have ever made. the sizzling 'Contraband' are electric As 'Gangs' sets fire to a night of favourites unstoppable in nature, while undeniable brilliance, Do Nothing put 'Uber Alles' and 'New Life' cut through their marker down for why 2023 is theirs the room with frontman Chris Bailey's croon stopping everyone in their tracks. for the taking, and bigger stages are just waiting to be seized. A force desperately It's in the balance of the two where needed in guitar music right now, there's Do Nothing have always shined (as demonstrated with 'Handshakes', which nobody quite like Do Nothing. JAMIE is met like a national anthem when MUIR

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INTRO

Tommo-vision FILM REPORT

Former Dork cover star and all round legend Louis Tomlinson has just dropped a new documentary, ‘All Of Those Voices’. It’s very good too. Jessica Goodman reports in. →WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN IT’S ALL OVER? Not just a badly

paraphrased Elton John lyric, this is the question that Louis Tomlinson’s documentary sets out to answer right at the start. More than a story of fighting for success against all odds, ‘All Of Those Voices’ is a love letter to the people who made his career what it is today.

Rewinding the clock from Louis’ triumphant show at London’s O2 Shepherds Bush Empire last December to his televised X-Factor audition in 2010 (after declaring “I hope it doesn’t make any part of this movie” in ‘This Is Us’, this time his audition performance is not shown), the film opens with a rapid-fire rollercoaster of emotions.

We see the immediate success of One Direction at odds with the heartache of not being featured on the band’s early singles, achieving more songwriting credits than any of his bandmates is juxtaposed against not being prepared – or even feeling any sense of closure – when the group took their hiatus. All of this occurs in the space of about ten minutes.

“By the end of it, I knew exactly who I was – in the band,” Louis tells the camera. “There’s no guarantee and there’s no security,” he adds later. “Anything could happen next.”

What happened next is the story this documentary was created to tell. Through loss and love, both personal and professional, this is – as Louis declared when the film release was announced – “my story with you in my own words.”

‘All Of Those Voices’ is a story of love and family – both the kind you grow up with and the kind you find for yourself. If grief is love with nowhere left to go, this documentary is Louis’ way of expressing that.

Heartfelt conversations with family at home in Doncaster pay tribute to the life and legacy of the family he’s lost, while humorous conversations to camera on the road honour the family that’s been found along the way.

Family, friends, colleagues, and band are just as crucial to this story as Louis is. Whether they’re offering testament to his character, guiding him through vocal warm ups turned stage performance therapy sessions (sir, we’re going to need to hear more of those lower registers), or leaning into the camera as if sharing a secret to declare “it were better than one of the One Direction gigs!” of

18. DORK

This is all I fucking ever wanted" LO U I S TO M L I N S O N

one of Louis’ own headline shows, though all the ups and downs, this documentary is a celebration.

There are sad moments and there are soft moments (find a more adorable moment in any documentary than Louis’ son Freddie drawing his dad’s logo with a stick in the sand, we dare you), but through it all, ‘All Of Those Voices’ is a celebration of the graft, the grit, and the people who make us who we are.

It’s not comprehensive. Louis’ annual Away From Home festival isn’t doesn’t get as much as a mention (given that there’s an entire documentary devoted to the first event, a lack of focus on this makes sense), and breaking his arm twice in the space of a year is also glossed over (though, to be honest, we probably wouldn’t own up to that either).

What this documentary is, is connective. We see the band become a tight unit, celebrating not only the music but the fun they’ve had playing it along the way. Drinking

in the bus back lounge and playing a game of odds that results in garish gig attire and on-stage planking and push-ups, the film is a celebration of shared experiences.

As is customary with anything Louis does, his fans play just as important a role as he does. We see fan projects in action, light displays created by the crowd in appreciation of the person in front of them on stage. We also see a fan holding a sign saying ‘I’m 13 but I’m taller than you’.

A particularly heartfelt moment sees a fan read out an essay they wrote convincing their family to agree to them camping out before the show. When they finish, their friends tell them “I love you.” It’s unclear how long they’ve actually known each other, but all of this is what the fandom is all about: sharing enthusiasm, feeling connected, and supporting something you love – and having fun with it.

What’s next is anyone’s guess, but what’s clear is this is only the beginning. With a number one album in the bank and an arena tour set for later this year, Louis and his fans successes seem only set to grow.

“This is all I fucking ever wanted,” Louis tells the camera as the film reaches its conclusion. If it’s not too cheesy to wrap up a review by quoting his own lyrics, then we think it’s fair to say “we made it.” ■ Louis Tomlinson’s new

documentary ‘All Of Those Voices’ is out now.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF...

LOZEAK

You know what’s easier than following around your fave pop stars, day in, day out, to see what they’re up to right that minute? Asking them. This month, lozeak lets us in on what she’s up to.

9:00AM → I woke up 5 minutes before my alarm today, like every other morning, because I have a fear of missing it.

Sometimes I even dream that I missed my alarm and I fucked everyone’s plans up for the day, but that’s never happened. I usually consume a lot of media before my brain has even figured out what day it is, and this morning, I sent kitten videos to my mum. I always check my DM requests and reply to messages / notifications first thing in case I’ve been cancelled on TikTok. 10:00AM → I fell over bin bags of clothes that are shoved in my kitchen on my way to breakfast this morning. I got home from tour last night (our last show is tonight in London) and decided to use my “chill” night to sort out my entire wardrobe at 2am. I found lots of weird costumes I don’t remember buying. I think I’m gonna sell everything I don’t want/ need anymore at a fan listening event I’m doing on Friday, so at least my time wasn’t wasted.

For breakfast, I had those little pancakes you put in the toaster with grapes and golden syrup. I usually have this because I love sugar.

11:00AM → My speaker was dead as always, so I put on my liked songs on Spotify on my phone. This means I have to skip a song every 5 mins, but for some reason, it still seems less effort than making a playlist with all my favourites on. It’s show day today, so I got in the shower and washed my hair after not washing it for two weeks on tour. (Girls with bright coloured hair, you get me.)

I only shaved the middle section of my legs because my boots cover up the bottoms. Lol. I accidentally used the wrong towel to dry my hair, so now I have two towels stained bright red.

INTRO

1:00PM → Usually, by this time, my brain is in full force. Before 1pm, I sort of pace around my flat, looking for things to do and use up my time. Once I know I’m running late, it’s much easier to get ready. I am now fully ready. I took about an hour to do my makeup today because my skin was dry, and I kept having to take it off and re-moisturise. I then put my set list on for tonight to listen through and remember my stage movement / any lyrics I feel like I’m gonna slip up on.

I tried my outfit on for tonight, and I had to DIY my skirt again. The zip broke at a show in Brighton, so I spent this morning fixing it and cutting out the shorts from the bottom, so it fits. It looks really good, tbh. I also Amazon Primed a black tie last night to be delivered today, but I think I’m still gonna wear my blue tie. IDK, I’ll bring both and decide at the venue.

I cooked salmon and rice for lunch. I love salmon, and it makes me feel like I’ll have energy for the show.

2:00PM → I’m with Monty. Monty is my best friend because we share a love for music and red hair. Monty’s coming early to the venue with me today, which makes sound check more fun. And he got me a Red Bull. I’m playing Electric Ballroom tonight, supporting Cassyette; I AM SO EXCITED. 3:00PM → There’s lots of waiting around on show days, so I use this time to create content or plan meet-ups with fans before shows.

I then texted my group chat of people that are coming to shows and asked whereabouts we could all meet. I hate calling them fans because I genuinely have relationships with these people - we speak like friends on a daily basis, and we all update each other with our lives. I love them.

5:00PM → I went outside to meet everyone and take pics. Meeting the crowd before the show always helps with nerves.

Soundcheck went well. I always sing ‘drag me to hell’ in sound check because it’s my favourite song to perform. My band are the best; we are practising new songs in our soundcheck time (30 mins a day) in prep for my headline show. We don’t have a rehearsal date, so we are using this time to rehearse!! It’s working, though.

6:00PM → Around this time on show days, we have an “hour of power”. It’s when I do my vocal warm-ups, and we put loud music on to hype ourselves up.

Today we played Fred again...

9:00PM → THE SHOW WAS INSANE. I loved every moment. I love performing!!!

After the show, I went to the merch stand to sign posters and meet more fans.

10:00PM → Because it was the last show of the tour, we all went for a few drinks.

I ended up at a sit-down restaurant in Soho at 4am eating fried chicken. This is usually how my nights out end. lozeak’s mixtape 'Gut Feeling' is out now.

Two tiny shows and a new album...

Peace are back! Back!!

BACK!!!

Peace are back with two new shows, and a new album. The band – now a duo of Harrison and Sam Koisser – will play Birmingham’s The Mill and London’s The Colour Factory on the 31st May and 1st June, respectively.

More than that, anyone grabbing tickets to the show will be emailed a code to hear their brand new album direct from the band’s website, before it gets a full commercial release later this year. We've listened. It's great.

In a statement on Instagram, the band write: “Hello. You can listen to our new album in full right now on our cool new website peaceforeverever.co.uk. We will email you a password with every ticket to these shows.

The record will be commercially released later this year but for now this is how we are going to share our music with the people that it means a lot to.

“Also, as some of you have noticed, we are no longer a 4 piece band. D&D have taken a different flight path and are soaring across different skies. But all with monstrously good vibes. So yes, we are a duo. We are not replacing them and Peace is entering a new era in an extremely meaningful way.

“These shows mark the explosion of a newer universe. A 2nd big bang. More to follow. "

READDORK.COM 19.

INTRO

What would you do if Gordon Ramsay said you couldn’t cook an egg? For NCT’s MARK, there’s only one solution – turn it into a stomping megabop.

Mark had made to the famed So when it came to putting out chef, and he wasn't impressed. a solo single, that sound was around the K-Pop industry "I have a long history with eggs; almost completely abandoned. year after year, searching I had to put that in a song 'Child', released a year ago, for a new idol to attach itself because that's just what I do." leaned into a more alternative to, certifying their pop star The song it ends up in is sound, favouring strippedabilities as a singer, rapper, just as ridiculous as its origin back production that mirrored dancer and more. It's a term story. A hip-hop track built on its more emotional subject often aligned with MARK, growling guitars and pounding matter, and more vocals than who's all of the above and has always shone in his group NCT drums akin to those on Kanye's rapping, a first for Mark. It's a 'Black Skinhead', multiple change-up he largely credits to as a result. With his second beat and tempo switches Dress, too. solo release, 'Golden Hour', keeping the surprises coming. "'Child' was the first song dropping today (7th April), Lyrically, it's more than just a that I made with Dress, it was he's still finding new ways Gordon Ramsay call out; it's our first session, and I honestly to surprise, and discovering cheekier and more grown up didn't really feel like it was my himself along the way. than anything he'd get away style. But he had this vision of It's hard to imagine there's with in his group, lines like "I me not just rapping; I guess he a side to Mark we haven't got a really big… I got a really felt like it's too cliche for me to seen yet, given his extensive big problem" surely crafted to just be rapping, and he felt like output since his debut in make heads spin.

I had the potential to vocally 2016. Launching his career as Mark worked on the track do a song." a teenager in NCT, he's been with Dress last year – who, if He explains that 'Child' part of sub-groups (or 'units') you're a K-Pop fan, you might wasn't even his first choice for NCT 127 and NCT DREAM know from his work on EXO a solo debut, that he'd actually almost consistently ever since, member Baekhyun's solo debut brought a different track to alongside their rotational 'UN Village' – admitting it was the label that he was certain unit NCT U and an inclusion the only song he worked on of, but they didn't feel the in SM's supergroup project SuperM, there's no denying his with the producer in that time. same and rejected it. Although "I was just that busy," he unintentional, it still comes work ethic is exceptional. says. "I think I discovered a back to Mark's desire to do "I always kind of had that new side of my own self on this, something unexpected. urge to give my fans a concept you know, and I really want to "I didn't have all this planned that they wouldn't really acknowledge and appreciate from the start," he says. "But I anticipate, along with the Dress, who extracted that out have to say, I have this feeling story of the song, not just the of me. Like, I didn't even do for almost all the things that genre," says Mark about the it myself. It's impossible for happen to me in life, not just new track. We're chatting over me to make a song alone and music. The way situations Zoom, and he's just landed make 'Golden Hour'." kind of unfold themselves. In in Berlin for the third stop of A string of early tracks with hindsight, I feel like it was NCT DREAM's first European NCT (particularly 'The 7th probably destined to happen tour. In the few days since he Sense', 'Cherry Bomb' and 'Mad this way." performed in London, he's City') meant that by the age With 'Child' exploring changed his hair colour and of 18, Mark had established Mark's adolescence and started teasing 'Golden Hour' himself as one of the best 'Golden Hour' representing a on social media. The leading rappers the K-Pop industry new, more mature side to him, emoji tease? An egg in a frying had to offer. Him rattling off at 23, Mark's coming of age is pan. light-speed bars back to back upon us. It feels like an odd "It's about the incident that with 127 leader Taeyong was an thing to say about an artist I had with Gordon Ramsay," instant NCT staple and shaped who, for most fans, has grown he explains. The incident their sound over the years, up right in front of them, but he's referring to involved a bleeding over into SuperM's internally it's taken Mark a fan tweeting a picture of a sad-looking fried egg (or discography, where they were little longer. scrambled, it's hard to say) that hired as the group's rap duo.

"I think music made me

→ THE TERM 'ACE' floats

20. DORK

grow up the most. After diving into music, I guess then wanting to be the best musician that I can be, that made me have to explore myself, and that exploration made me think of a bunch of complicated things. That kind of links with the story of 'Child'; it talks about my complexes too. For that to be my first solo, it builds my narrative.

"There's so many different ways for me to explain this," he continues, "but I feel like the biggest one is I'm stepping closer and closer to knowing who I truly am. I think that's a vital factor for all artists, to know your identity. Naturally, it just comes out in your art, so to really be the true artist you want to be, you have to know who you are. I think that's the biggest development that I've had from my debut to now."

Identity is something Mark has always struggled with.

Born in Toronto, moving to New York and back to Vancouver throughout his childhood, before coming to South Korea in his high school years to join SM Entertainment, he notes he never really knew which city felt like home.

When he debuted, he was caught between being the near-youngest of 127 and the oldest of DREAM, feeling the pressure to deliver in both groups.

"I can go very personal with this," he says. "But I honestly felt like my whole life has led me to that question: who am I truly? And that's why finding who I really am, it was imperative for me to get that answer, which I'm still kind of finding. It was a similar feeling to how I'm juggling everything, all the teams that I'm in, and

My whole life has led me to that question: who am I truly?"

MARK

I feel like the more I do it, the more I realise that I really can juggle all of them at once as long as I know who I am. I try my best not to affect my team or bring damage to my team in any way. I just try to do my best and bring the best quality that I can."

We reassure that no 23-year-old has truly found themselves. "A lot of people told me that," he replies. "But I'm not really good at taking other people's advice with my internal stuff."

As young as Mark still is, he's made enough of an impact on the industry for the next generation of idols to look up to him. He recalls how younger groups would approach him at music shows (FYI, South Korea still runs weekly chart shows where artists perform their latest releases and fans vote for a winner – think Top Of The Pops on steroids) to let him know they admire him.

"Wow, am I already at that position right now?" he seems

Words: Abigail Firth. Photo: SM Entertainment.

MARK

surprised at the notion. "I don't even feel like I finished half my journey." Being a person who's been at both ends of the age spectrum, it's sometimes strange for him. "I honestly prefer to be in the position where I have a lot of seniors above me rather than me being a senior and having a lot of juniors. That's my comfortable stance. But I guess it's just the way time goes, and you gotta adjust to where you're at. That makes me want to be better so that I can be worthy of their respect, you know?"

Mark is right; his journey is far from over. There's no time to ask where he's going next – we snag 20 minutes with him in between a rigorous touring schedule – but it's likely he doesn't have that planned out yet. He's been listening to Slowthai's latest album 'UGLY', noting that he admires his artistry and shouts out PinkPantheress, for whom the love is mutual.

"I saw that she was following a couple of our members myself, and I feel like I need to do a collab with her; I don't know if she would do it with me," he wonders.

Considering she dubs NCT 127 her favourite K-Pop group, she'd probably jump at the chance (although he's gutted when we let him know neither PinkPantheress nor Ice Spice selected him as their favourite member in a recent TikTok).

For as far as Mark's journey has taken him, there's one place he's not too fond of: the kitchen. His inability to cook an egg is nailed on for life.

"I'm better than I was when all this first started," he admits, "but I can't say that I'm a pro yet. I'm gonna be honest; I'm kind of leaving myself that way, though.

I feel like I always have to be bad at cooking. It's part of who I am now." ■ MARK's single 'Golden Hour' is out now.

READDORK.COM 21.

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→ IF YOU ASK US, every band should

have at least one dance routine in their repertoire. Thankfully, Liverpudlians STONE are on the same page. Their strutting new single ‘Left Right Forward’ is another slice of wide-eyed punk, but this time there’s a cheeky side at play.

“It’s the punk Cha Cha slide!” chortles frontman Finlay Power. Indeed, you may just find yourself head-bopping along, diligently following the chorus instructional call of “left, right, forward, and bring it back.” “I do it live!” he blurts, offering up a preview.

It’s a swaggering dose of Fin’s subconsciousness. A patchwork quilt of things he’s overheard and witnessed, along with the most random of thoughts.

Chatting to him, it’s quite easy to see why this bunch of everyday scenarios strung together so easily. Fin chats at a dizzying speed, while drummer Alex Smith, who created the music to the track, often expands with his own take in the eventual spaces. Which is all to say, this makes for a glorious bangerladen formula, mostly because it just… happens.

That is very much unlike STONE. They’ve been on a mission from the moment the idea popped into Finlay and guitarist Elliot Gill’s head. After the dissolution of their first group, they finally managed to get the band together, though not before a few more failureto-start iterations. The plan soon pelted full-throttle after the release of the soaring ‘Leave It Out’ back in 2020. Soon, they were rapidly building a fanbase with rabid live shows and a caustic, don’t-give-a-fuck post-punk attitude.

Before long, they were out on the road, spreading their brilliantly good word, including support slots with Left, Right, YUNGBLUD and Forward Sam Fender. → STONE Since then, are they’ve been going unapologetic from strength to in the best possible strength. “Two way. years ago now, I Gloriously Scouse, remember sitting punching the air with their on a flower bed directional chants, 'Left in the park. It was Right Forward' is equal lockdown, and parts mega banger and I was like, my rock 'n' roll line dance. Like career - it’s just not a ramshackle soapbox gonna happen,” rattling at speed down Fin recalls. But mainstream music's overly contrary to that, he slick surface, dropping - along with Alex, loose bits as it goes, it's a Elliot, and bassist track that moves fast, Sarah Surrage breaks things, and have indeed made ultimately reigns supreme. it happen.

Words: Steven Loftin. Photo: Lydia Clear.

K

THE

rock

C

New

G TRA

BI

BI

Firmly established under that most fearsome of tags - buzz band - STONE are back with a brand new track, proving they more than match up to the task.

G T R AC

THE BEST NEW MUSIC, 24/7/365

Stone

revolution 22. DORK

We’ve been focused on big choruses" F I N L AY P OW E R

“Bang on a year from then, we got signed to a major label,” Fin remembers, smiling. “And a year after that, we’re quite a hot up-and-coming band. When I’m looking at it that way, it’s surreal generally, but I think the band always just had our eyes on the prize and tried not to take our foot off the pedal - in a healthy way!”

Through a handful of singles and one rip-roaring EP - 2022’s ‘Punkadonk’ - STONE are swiftly establishing themselves. But most importantly, they’re rooted in the greatest concept of all - having a bit of fun with your mates. This is where ‘Left Right Forward’ comes into play.

It’s nonsensical in the best way possible. Fin is currently recalling how he was on his way to band practice when Alex sent him through the empty track. “I think it’s alright, this sounds alright,” he replicates tossing the idea of the sounds around his noggin’. “I just started walking, and it came into my head while I was on my way to meet the band.” Before he knew it, Fin had scribbled down the lyrics, and he’d not yet even set settled into his seat on the bus to rehearsal.

Thus a banger was born. “By the time I got there, 15 minutes later, I was like, ‘come on, we’ve got the song’. It was all written, and we didn’t change it.”

It would seem there’s a part of STONE that just can’t get enough of writing anthemic songs. It’s always about finding a way to bring everybody on board. “We touched on that with ‘Money’, of course - that’s huge,” Alex says. “It’s funny; I think the ‘Left Right Forward’ chorus is just as big, but I definitely feel in a different way.” Though Fin does admit, “we have probably enough alternative concept crazy songs to sink a ship, but we’ve really been focused on these big choruses.”

When it comes to building up their arsenal of tracks, Fin mentions that their plan of attack stems from a timetested idea. “A lot of the greatest punk bands, like the Sex Pistols - I look back at them, and the songs sound so simple. Old-school punk was kind of meant to be a bit crap. ‘Left Right Forward’ was an obvious song, but then it just sounded great to me. All the sections are great. And how it was just two chords… that’s why I think I wrote quite weird lyrics to it. It just needed that, d’ya know what I mean?”

Fin reckons ‘Left Right Forward’ was a “strike of gold”, a feeling that is getting more common, but still one that when it crops up, he certainly knows about it. “There have been a

On the Playlist FLO

Fly Girl (Feat. Missy Elliott) → The buzz around FLO might be loud, but it's also most definitely justified. After all, if you can pull in Missy Elliott for a featured slot before you've even got as far as a debut album, you've definitely got something going on. 'Fly Girl' certainly meets that description - a free-flowing, iconic-sounding bop, it's yet another addition to FLO's fast-growing, brilliant catalogue of smash hits.

Nell Mescal In My Head

→ It's not that Nell Mescal's previous songs were anything but utterly brilliant, but her latest - 'In My Head' - is something else entirely.

From the moment it explodes into a diamond-sharp piece of pop perfection, there's no

question we're dealing with an artist capable of beating the highest of bars. Like Robyn's 'Dancing On My Own' before it, this is transcendent genius. Less one to watch, more one to obsess over.

Maisie Peters Lost The Breakup

→ As the journey towards Maisie's second album gathers pace, it becomes increasingly obvious she's perfected that ability to tap into that world of confessional relationship drama that catches like wildfire. 'Lost The Breakup' is empowering, catchy-ashell and oh-so-identifiable.

That's some damn good witchcraft.

The Japanese House Boyhood

→ Amber Bain knows how

to take her time. It's been a hot minute since we last heard new material from The Japanese House, but - as ever - good things do indeed come to those who wait. Perfectly pitched, impactful, emotional music that scratches itches nobody else could reach, that upcoming second full-length is certainly one of the most anticipated of the year.

Thomas Headon

I Loved A Boy

→ Our Thomas' first song written from a perspective other than his own, 'I Loved A Boy' doesn't sound at all like a learning process. Matching bedroom pop smarts with something more ambitious, it's an intimate story for wide horizons. Yet another winner from the boy Headon.

couple songs in my life. There’s one…obviously, that’s gonna be coming out eventually,” he says, catching himself before letting anything slip. “It’s probably going to be on our album, but it’s definitely not recorded yet.” Now that he mentions it, there is also the matter of that debut album… any word, at all? “When things are ready to come, you’ll know about it,” Finlay cackles again.

Learning to relish in their success, STONE are embracing how far they’ve come. Not only that, but how far they want to go.

Though this concept didn’t come as easily through their stream of consciousness. “I don’t really stop and actually smell the flowers,” considers Fin. The flower bed that comforted him a couple of years ago cries in the background softly. “I’m so focused on the next thing. I sometimes forget to smell the roses, but I’ve started trying to appreciate where we’re at.”

“The ambitions have been the same since day one with this band,” he continues. “I’ve always said, I’m going to be a professional musician. I don’t want fame, I want success, and I’m going to make it. When I met Smithy, he was on the same page. He was like, let’s do it. This is our job - even without earning money. Anyone who joined the band, it was like, ‘No, we won’t be in two bands, we’re in one band, and we make this the best thing’.”

With their place as a guitartoting, banger-laden punk band well established, especially with ‘Left Right Forward’’s release, STONE are setting off on another tour later this year too. Almost totally sold out; it includes their first hometown show in over a year. It’s in this space the four-piece relish. “I can’t wait for carnage!” Fin says, a smirk swiftly curling up with the very thought. “I can’t wait to absolutely dive off the stage and crowd surf, and I can’t wait to have the emotions of people singing it back. And be with my best mates.”

“I’m always really hyped up as we go on,” Alex says. “And then when I’m actually playing, I’m just in totally in the moment.”

It would seem STONE have everything under control. The journey is well underway, yet there’s no time to lose. It’s all about forward, forward, forward. But not before one last acknowledgement of their power and path so far. “If you’d have told me a few years ago that we’d be doing the things we’ve been doing, I wouldn’t believe you,” Alex marvels. “I’d say shut up and go away!” Fin nods enthusiastically in agreement, beaming, “Yeah!” ■ STONE's single 'Right Left Forward' is out now.

READDORK.COM 23.

THIS MONTH ON...

Down With Boring.

Check out these episodes of our flagship podcastslash-radio show

DWB #0108: CAVETOWN → Fresh off announcing a huge show at London's Alexandra Palace later this year, we catch up with former Dork cover star and all round legend Robin for a lovely catch up. You can get a preview of it over there.

DWB SWIM

#0109: SCHOOL

DWB GRETEL

#0110: HÄNLYN

DWB DO

#0111: NOTHING

→ Swim School are one of the very best new bands in the country right now - so they should have been expecting a call up. Ones to watch.

5 things we learned from Cavetown on Down With Boring → TRUSTING YOUR INSTINCTS IS KEY When it comes to making music, Cavetown emphasises the importance of trusting your instincts. "I can tell when a song needs something, I guess. When it doesn't. But I might not necessarily know what it needs," he explains.

This trust in his intuition has served him well, as evidenced by the success of his latest album, 'worm food.' → THE GROWTH OF HIS MUSIC REFLECTS THE GROWTH OF HIS TOURING CREW As Cavetown's music career has grown, so too has his 24. DORK

crew. "We keep adding more and more gear... learning how to work with different ways of having the tracks playing and stuff," he notes. And their van has increased in size, too. "The size of the van really kind of shows me how things have grown." → CONNECTING WITH FANS IS STILL THE HEART OF HIS MUSIC Despite his growing fame, Cavetown remains connected to his fans. "It's really cool having getting to see familiar faces," he says.

He recognises fans who have been with him for a long time and still get excited about new music. This connection

serves as a constant reminder of why he makes music in the first place. → COLLABORATING WITH OTHER ARTISTS IS A PRIORITY While Cavetown is focused on his own music, he's also excited about collaborating with other artists. "I've already had made a start on ping some writing sessions with some artist friends of mine," he reveals. Working on production for collaborative projects or other artists' music allows him to expand his creative horizons and explore new sounds. → THE FUTURE OF

CAVETOWN'S MUSIC IS UNPREDICTABLE Despite his plans for collaborations and future projects, Cavetown acknowledges that the creative process can be unpredictable. "I can't really start a project with the full intentions mapped out," he says. "I kind of have to see how it goes as it goes." He's open to where his music takes him and is excited to see where his creative journey leads.

Listen to Cavetown on Down With Boring #0108 available via the Dork Radio App and all good podcast platforms now.

→ Gretel's new EP is more than a bit good. We caught her for a debrief with one of the most exciting new names on the circuit,

→ Recorded live at our Dork's Night Out show at the start of April, we're embracing the chaos of a band who are on the road to dropping one of the most anticipated debuts of 2023. More on that very, very soon.

Down With Boring #0111 broadcasts on 17th April. Listen first on Dork Radio at 8pm BST, or grab the podcast after.

Discover Dork Radio Tune in to Dork Radio anytime, anywhere with our app. Compatible with iOS and Android, enjoy live streaming, full access to Down With Boring episodes, and all the latest music news.

Search ‘Dork Radio’ in your app store and download free now.

SPOTLIGHT SHOW

SPOTLIGHT SHOW

SATURDAY 13TH MAY

FRIDAY 12TH MAY

ARLO PARKS

MAISIE PETERS

BRIGHTON DOME

BRIGHTON DOME

SOLD OUT CONCERT HALL

CONCERT HALL SOLD OUT CORE PROGRAMME

49TH & MAIN 7EBRA 86TVs ACID KLAUS ADMT ALICE LONGYU GAO ÁINE DEANE ALICE LOW ANNA B SAVAGE ARTHUR HILL ARXX BELLAH BENEFITS BILLIE MARTEN BLONDSHELL BOSLEN BUTCH KASSIDY C.O.F.F.I.N CAITY BASER CALUM BOWIE CHALK CHARLOTTE PLANK CIEL CIVIC COACH PARTY DEB NEVER DEBBY FRIDAY DEKI ALEM DOLORES FOREVER DYLAN JOHN THOMAS ENGLISH TEACHER ETHAN P. FLYNN FAT DOG FEET GIRLSOFGRIME GROVE GURRIERS HAK BAKER HANNAH GRAE HEARTWORMS I. JORDAN ISABEL LA ROSA JAMES ELLIS FORD JAMES MARRIOTT JAZMIN BEAN JESSICA WINTER JGRREY KATIE GREGSON-MACLEOD L DEVINE LAEL NEALE LAMBRINI GIRLS LANA LUBANY LIME GARDEN MAE STEPHENS MARIA CHIARA ARGIRO MCKINLEY DIXON MELIN MELYN MF TOMLINSON MICKEY CALLISTO MOONCHILD SANELLY NELL MESCAL NIX NORTHWEST O. PVA PERSONAL TRAINER RØRY SAD NIGHT DYNAMITE SAIMING SAINT HARISON SANS SOUCIS SIIGHTS SOPHIE MAY SORRY SPIDER STONE SUPERJAZZCLUB SURYA SEN SYSTEM OLYMPIA TAYLAH ELAINE TEETH MACHINE THE BIG MOON THE DREAM MACHINE THE GLUTS THE GOA EXPRESS THE HEAVY HEAVY THE JOY THE LAST DINNER PARTY THE MURDER CAPITAL THE PRETENDERS THE SCORPIOS ULA VENBEE VICTOR RAY VIJI VLURE WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR WILLIE J HEALEY YONAKA YUNÈ PINKU AND MANY MORE

YOUR ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO THE BEST NEW NAMES.

26. DORK

DOLORES FOREVER

Dolores Forever are on a constant quest to be brilliant – and with their latest track ‘Good Time All The Time’, they’re certainly managing it.

Words: Ali Shutler. Photo: Francesca Allen.

→ “OUR AMBITION HAS ALWAYS BEEN THAT WE WANTED DOLORES FOREVER TO BE EXCELLENT,” says

Julia Fabrin, one-half of the brilliant indie-pop group. The band released the shimmering, euphoric ‘Kilimanjaro’ back in 2021, and every track that’s followed has stuck firmly to that focused mission statement. New song ‘Good Time All The Time’ is another burst of jubilance, tinged with an all-too-relatable weight. It is, as the band promise, excellent.

The “contradictory single” came about after the pair started talking about the pressure everyone seems to be under.

After speaking for hours about painful nostalgia, uncomfortable family politics and the unspoken need to constantly present the best version of yourself on social media, the pair landed on ‘Good Time All The Time’. “Everything can quickly feel very performative,” says Julia, before explaining that the song is about “accepting that you can have a bad day, and you shouldn’t feel bad about it.”

“Sometimes, shit can just be a bit average,” continues Hannah Wilson.

‘Good Time’'s sunny chorus of “It’s always on my mind that we’re all going to die. Doesn’t have to be a good time all of the time” might sound moody written down, but Dolores Forever have a habit of offering uplift. Part of that comes from being in a band with your best friend, but it also helps that “Julia is such a sunshine and rainbows person,” claims Hannah.

“It’s not a good time now, but it could be a good time later,” she grins, right on cue.

Speaking about the shared vision for Dolores Forever, Hannah says the band has been “years in the making”. It started when they met at a house party, introduced via a mutual friend and the pair “vibed straight away.”

“We weren’t looking for this,” Hannah continues. “I’ve been shit scared of performing live forever and completely resisted it.” But with both Hannah and Julia already working as songwriters, they did start toying with the idea of working together, before curiosity got the better of them.

“We had more ideas about what we didn’t want it to be though,” Julia explains. To begin with, the pair would write at each other’s flats on acoustic instruments but didn’t show anyone

anything because they didn’t want to be seen as an acoustic duo. “We wanted to define it before anyone else could,” she continues. “That, and we always wanted it to sound stadium.”

“Since then, we’ve been chipping away at our sound,” says Hannah, with the pair enjoying a mutual appreciation for big choruses and nerdy parts of song structures. For obvious reasons, COVID slowed things down “but it also gave us a lot of time to explore and share ideas.”

That exploration is still key to Dolores Forever. Rather than heading into the studio with a clear vision of what they want each track to be, Hannah and Julia start with a nugget of something that excites them, and take it from there. “We’re very persistent,” says Julia. “We just try stuff out until it feels like we’ve cracked it.” They enjoy working in studios with a lot of physical gear because “you have to have that playground for creativity to flourish,” she continues. “Even if it sucks, at least you gave it a go.

“You can always write another song,” adds Hannah. “We’re not precious.

Maybe you have to dig past a few shit ones to get to another good one, but that’s alright,” she continues. “I don’t know if there’s anyone else it would be as fun with because we trust each other so much.”

“It would be terribly boring if you just went from point a to point b without any exploration in the middle,” adds Julia.

With a solid handful of tracks out in the world, Dolores Forever have been compared to the likes of MUNA, Taylor Swift and Maggie Rogers. In the past, they’ve described their own music as “sonic glitter”, and for a while, their bio read “Fleetwood Mac without the husbands.” They’re keen to not align themselves too closely with a particular scene though. “We want it to be more inclusive than any one scene,” explains Julia, who’s got no time for arbitrary rules. “We joked that our debut would be a double album until we realised the cost.”

Since that first track, there’s been a constant buzz around Dolores Forever.

Hannah thinks the hype is “an awkward concept to comment on,” but we insist.

“Decent songwriting never dies, so maybe it’s good songs,” she suggests. “Also we’re inspired by classic music and current stuff, so perhaps our music is a nice blend

We had more ideas about what we didn’t want it to be"

THIS

MONTH

IN

NEW MUSIC

DEB NEVER HAS A NEW EP ON THE WAY, ‘FYI’ → Deb Never has announced that a new EP is on the way. ‘Thank You For Attending’ will arrive on 28th April via Moonlanding. “Thank You For Attending is my final act and close out statement to EPs as I move onto an album,” says Deb. “I’ve made so many fans and had such great support, I thank you for sticking with me on this journey. I hope you enjoy it as much as I loved working on it.”

J U L I A FA B R I N

of the two…but I don’t know.”

“It’s easy to be surprised by everything but if we put out a song that’s my favourite ever song, of course I’d hope other people would connect with it,” adds Julia before telling herself off for being humble. “Me and Hannah have worked hard, for a long time to be good songwriters. That’s an important part of the story. We worked hard, we’re strong women and we’re putting out awesome choruses."

The pair then tease the fact they’re “building towards something” following an EP that’s hopefully coming out this summer. Speaking of which, the band have already played Glasto and appeared at last year’s Reading & Leeds but they consider that a trial run for this year. Over the next few months, Dolores Forever will be appearing at Barn On The Farm, Latitude and The Great Escape alongside a highly coveted slot on the Dork Stage at Live At Leeds: In The Park. “It’s going to be hectic but it would be terrible if it wasn’t,” says Hannah of the coming year.

Promising an "all killer, no filler set", Hannah believes Dolores Forever’s live show is “just getting stronger and stronger,” especially now they’ve got more than enough songs for a set. “It’s going to be a Dolores of choruses,” she says with a smirk.

Dolores Forever are a band who’ve always said yes to everything. “We joked about stadiums since the start, but that’s more my sense of humour than it is ego,” says Julia who knows they’re still a “long way off ” from Wembley.

“Dolores Forever is not a small, insular art project,” Hannah adds. “It’s about big songs that belong in big places.” ■ Dolores Forever’s single ‘Good Time All The Time’ is out now.

HOTWAX HAVE ANNOUNCED THEIR DEBUT EP → HotWax have announced their debut EP. ‘A Thousand Times’ is out on 19th May via Marathon Artists.

“The EP is a homage to mine and Lola’s relationship growing up together and the arguments we’d have a thousand times,” explains vocalist Tallulah. They’ve also announced a launch party at Hastings Printworks on 20th May, with support from Snayx and a Borough Council DJ set.

WALLICE IS CALLING OUT MR BIG SHOT → Wallice has a brand new EP on the way. It's called 'Mr Big Shot' and is set for release on 23rd June via Dirty Hit. Wallice has just wrapped up a US tour with JAWNY and has been on tour in Asia and Australia supporting label mates The 1975.

She’s announced a series of UK headline dates for later this year, including London’s Moth Club, then will roll right into a headline US run of shows this summer before returning to the UK for Reading & Leeds.

READDORK.COM 27.

BROOKE COMBE Brooke Combe is on a mission to bring back British soul.

Words: Martyn Young. Photo: Jamie MacMillan.

→BROOKE COMBE’S BLEND OF INTOXICATING, SOUL-INFUSED ALT-POP has caught many an eye over

the past few years with an increasingly impressive live show that has seen the Scottish singer grow into a seriously formidable performer. That focus on gigging and honing her craft has taken her from performing covers in her bedroom in Edinburgh to headlining stages and playing at SXSW. “We’ve just finished SXSW. We had a really good time there,” she says down the line from LA, where she’s stayed on to do some writing. “I went out a little apprehensive about it because it’s quite a daunting thought, but it was good to see how the American crowd reacted and what tunes they liked in the set. It has shown me quite a lot.”

Brooke is one of those artists who thrives in the live arena. The past few years have seen her undertake tour after tour both on her own and supporting the likes of Blossoms, whose early support also saw the band’s bass player Charlie work with her on her first recordings as well as their long-time producer and The Coral legend James Skelly. “It’s been a wild one,” she says as she remembers where she was pre-pandemic. “I had never done a real gig before. It’s been mad, but it’s been nice getting thrown in the deep end.”

Now we’re coming to the most exciting part of that ride. With new songs and a spot headlining one of Dork’s stages at Live At Leeds this summer, Brooke is riding the crest of a wave. Channelling all the primal energy of her live shows on record, she has collected the songs from her initial songwriting experiments up to now on her striking mixtape ‘Black Is The New Gold’.

“It’s got some released songs and then new stuff,” she explains. “It’s a nice timeline for me. It shows where I started and where I’m at now. I was looking into and researching my heritage. I had a bit of a penny-drop moment. I’ve grown up in a fairly white environment; being mixed race, it’s like, where do we fit in? I didn’t feel that connected to my Black roots. I was like, omg, I love soul music, I love funk, this is maybe why. It’s so important now.”

Within those songs are the sharp bursts of energy that make Brooke’s music so resonant and direct. She deals with universal feelings and broad emotions like the thrilling rumble of her breakthrough track ‘Are You With Me’ or the evocative exploration of the title-track.

“Maybe that’s being Scottish!” she laughs when considering the self-assured directness of her music. “I’m not here to play games. I’ve got nothing to hide. Why not be direct? Those songs that are such a riddle, I love Arctic Monkeys and Alex Turner, but I find myself just questioning what the fuck does that mean?”

The grounding of her live experience

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has helped mould Brooke into a supremely confident performer and dynamic artist, which is in contrast to growing up when she took a while to gain the confidence to realise music was something she could actually properly do.

“Growing up the music I was always coming back to was funk and Motown and R&B. I was fairly shy to a fault growing up. That hindered me, a lot of times I had performances I would just never do them,” she says. “Fast forward to about 17 and having my music teacher have a little bit of confidence in me to say

You just need one person to believe in you" BROOKE COMBE

you do have a good voice, and I think that you should do music and take it more seriously. You just need one person to believe in you.”

2023 promises to be a massive year for Brooke Combe. A year to fully realise potential and a year to take things to a whole new level. “The vision for me is bringing back British soul. I want it to be massive,” she says excitedly. “I’m not going to hold myself back. I want to try as many ideas as possible.” ■ Brooke Combe’s debut mixtape ‘Black Is The New Gold’ is out 21st April.

NIEVE ELLA

Nieve Ella might still be coming to terms with her own stellar potential, but with a genuine sense of connection, it’s only a matter of time.

Words: Ali Shutler. Photo: Frank Fieber.

was missing out on. "I wanted that record to come across as fun, though. I didn't deserved self-confidence and waiting want it to sound too sad." for her music career to be revealed as The EP was released in January, and an elaborate prank. "I am the best at despite downplaying her talents at every faking it 'til you make it," she explains, encompassing both moods at once. "Even opportunity ("I've only been writing now, I'm just pretending to know what I'm songs for three years," she says at one point), it showcased a brilliant, confident talking about." and fearless musician. The reaction was See, Nieve has never been one to shy "everything I wanted," says Nieve before away from telling the truth or making admitting she was "so unsure of how things up as she goes along. Her debut EP people would take it. Nobody's ever heard proudly labelled her 'Young & Naïve' as of anything I've done before, so coming she figured out how to write songs after from nothing to having people embrace picking up her dad's old guitar during what I do in such a positive way just feels lockdown, while the vulnerable lyrics were so rewarding." written after a coming-of-age crisis.

Her first and second-ever tours soon "A boy I liked didn't like me back. Then followed, with Nieve supporting rowdy I realised I was about to turn 19 and hadn't rockers Inhaler around the UK before a ever been in love," she explains. "I wasn't stint with pop superstar Dylan in Europe. going to festivals; I wasn't going out "I thought touring would be loads of clubbing." She felt like there was a lot she boozing and getting crazy, but really, most

→ NIEVE ELLA FLICKERS between well-

of it is just sitting in a van," says Nieve. "I loved it, though. I never had parents that understood the industry. None of my friends did either," she adds. "I literally don't know what I'm doing. Everything shocks me."

Nieve certainly seems to be taking it all in her stride, though. She's signed to AWAL (home of everyone from mxmtoon and Alfie Templeman to Little Simz), and speaking to Dork from their fancy central London headquarters, she proudly explains how banging new song 'Big House' sees her comfortably entering a new phase.

"It's literally about how much I love my boyfriend, and I want to live in this big house with him," she says. "It feels so confident."

"I feel like I'm just entering the love era of Nieve," she continues. "You've had the loser who wants to be loved, and now

I want people to feel like I'm singing about their life" NIEVE ELLA

she is. The next era, she'll probably be heartbroken, but for now, this is the love era," she adds with a laugh.

While earlier songs were inspired by Billie Eilish, the past year has seen Nieve "obsessed" with Sam Fender. "Everything he writes just resonates with me so much.

I wanted 'Big House' to feel like my version of a Sam Fender song. It's what I would sound like if I played in a band."

"I want people to feel like I'm singing about their life," she adds, hoping people to live out their own pop star dreams in front of their bedroom mirror. Nieve also adores Phoebe Bridgers. "To know that she can write like that, it makes me want to write better."

While that debut five-track EP saw Nieve conjuring pretty, delicate and restrained songs, 'Big House' is a fullblown rock anthem. "I wanted to show people I could be loud. I wanted big drums; I wanted guitar solos. I can be messy," she explains, with one eye now on causing chaos at live shows. "I can't wait to see people getting smashed in the mosh pit at Reading & Leeds later this year."

'Young & Naïve' might have seen Nieve working out what music she wanted to make, but she's "still figuring things out now". "'Big House' feels like where I'm supposed to be going, though," she continues. "These new songs I'm going to be releasing aren't drastically different to what 'Young & Naïve' was; they're just a bit more mature and a bit more certain.

I'm definitely not as certain as I want to be, but it's a step in the right direction."

As for her ambitions, Nieve "doesn't know what the next step is." Ahead of a gig at Shepherd's Bush Empire last month, she really didn't understand why everyone was so excited for her until she walked out onstage and "got it."

"I don't want to be Lady Gaga," she continues. "I don't want to be the biggest person in pop, rock or whatever. I just want the most people to resonate with what I'm saying. I just want the most out of it."

She sometimes confides in her manager that she'd love to play a certain venue or support a certain artist and has to be told, 'Nieve, you can do that, y'know?'

"I'm still at the stage where I feel like this is all a joke. I really don't understand it," she continues.

"But I obviously have dreams. I have dreams of playing Glastonbury; I have dreams of supporting Sam Fender. I need to stop worrying about it all, though. I have to keep telling myself, 'Nieve, you know what you're doing. Nieve, you know why you're here', because I do." ■ Nieve Ella's single 'Big House' is out now.

READDORK.COM 29.

COVER STORY

About to release his third full-length solo album, NIALL HORAN - quite probably the nicest man in pop, dontcha know - wants us all to join Team Lovers.

WORDS: JESSICA GOODMAN. PHOTOS: SARAH LOUISE BENNETT.

The

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Great

test

NIALL HORAN

Show

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COVER STORY

INGER. SONGWRITER. MUSICIAN. MODEL. MANAGER. MENTOR. GOLF PLAYER. CANDLEMAKER. At this point,

it seems like there's very little Niall Horan can't do.

"I could probably talk about The White House, couldn't I?" he grins. Sitting down for a chat on an unexpectedly snowy day in north London, Niall is all smiles and excitement. "I got invited to the White House to perform on St Patrick's Day," he beams disbelievingly.

"I don't even know what to think or say, but that's what I'm doing next week."

About to release his third album as a solo artist, he's come a long way from being the boy who'd get kicked out of geography class for singing traditional Irish songs at the back of the room. After achieving success in one of the bestselling boy bands of all time, Niall has since earned worldwide acclaim singing songs about love, lust, and heartbreak, becoming one of pop music's most beloved comfort characters.

Spend any time with him, and it's immediately clear why. Singing along to a playlist of indie anthems and shouting "DORK!" at random intervals throughout our photoshoot ("greatest magazine name ever," don't you know?), his sincere excitement for every part of his craft and his affection for the audience he shares it with are boundless.

"I really wanted to make it an actual era," he explains of his decision to find new ways to tease new material with his fanbase. Rather than following the industry standard steps of kicking things

I wanted to create a whole world that we all lived in for this album" NIALL HORAN 32. DORK

off with an announcement, this time, he decided to do things a little differently.

For this album, it started with a candle.

Naturally.

"The candle was an idea because I love candles," he laughs. Well, we don't think anyone can really argue with that. Sent as a gift to fans in different parts of the world, this cloud-decorated candle directed fans to a website where they could watch a virtual version of it burn down over several days (when it did, it was timed to coincide with the announcement of this era's first single).

From there, excitement spread like wildfire.

"I wanted to create a whole world that we all lived in for this album," he continues. "Then the fans can be part of that world, come in and get all their little extras." Spurring on the excitement by sharing videos of hummed halfmelodies and snippets of quickly cut-off recordings on social media, excitement for Niall's new music was at an all-time high when lead single 'Heaven' eventually dropped.

"The biggest cliché in music is when an artist goes, 'I get so nervous before I release a song...'" he admits, "but it's so fucking true." As a multi-platinum certified artist who's been No. 1 around the globe, it's a testament to how deeply

he cares about his music and how deeply he cares about his fans that he still feels this way. "When the song came out, I was lying in bed just scrolling on Twitter," he recalls. "I never do that. I think it can be a dangerous hole to fall into." An earworm of the most euphoric kind, listening to 'Heaven' now, you almost wonder what it was he worried about.

"You don't want to over-tease," he says of the single rollout, grinning as he adds, "though we definitely did. I definitely teased for, like, eight weeks." (He's not even a little bit sorry for that – later, talking about the rest of the new album, he vows, "I'm going to tease more of it".)

"It's just really fun to watch. It keeps it interactive, too."

Right now, Niall is in his influencer era. Eager for new music? He's teasing his entire record. Looking for skincare tips?

He's shared his complete routine. Pranks?

Laughs? He's got it all. From CGI filters, through trend-ready dance routine attempts, to an open verse for fans to collaborate on their own version of his latest single ("some of them were making up better verses than the original one," he mock-complains through a grin, "the talent that's out there is insane"), there's something for everyone.

"That's what it's about! They love that!" he enthuses of teasing new material and

NIALL HORAN

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Fans love being involved and figuring stuff out. They think I'm like, some cryptic king" NIALL HORAN

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NIALL HORAN

interacting with his fans online. "They love being involved and figuring stuff out.

They think I'm like, some cryptic king."

He might give himself that title in jest, but he doesn't actually deny that it's true.

Since he started teasing the release of new material back in December, excitement and speculation across his fanbase has run wild. One particularly popular fan theory that gained momentum online suggested a potential collaboration with a certain former bandmate. While Niall's since denied there's any truth to that rumour, the dedication that went into decoding these theories – or, more accurately, the enthusiasm that drives them – is something he thrives on.

"Yeah, it's just fucking exciting," he grins. "It just makes me more excited for everyone to hear the rest of the album."

Talking about this new record, one thing quickly becomes very clear: Niall Horan is a chaotic mastermind. "People will be expecting a certain type [of music]," he teases of the new album, "then when they hear it…." Trailing off, he grins.

Teasing snippets of new material through stripped-back piano performances shared on TikTok and singing with an acoustic guitar on Instagram lives, all the clues seem to point towards a return to the songwriting form that shaped his debut album, 'Flicker'. "They probably think that they're just getting a full acoustic album now," he smirks.

Written and recorded over eighteen months, work on 'The Show' started out as a way of being creative through lockdowns and later took shape during a working retreat outside of LA to Joshua Tree. "Having time to sit on the last album and watch what happened, I think I realised I'm best when I'm guitar-inhand and I just singer-songwriter it up a little bit," Niall reflects.

So that's what he did. Trying to find his creative flow in a world that felt like it was on pause wasn't something that came easily. With little going on around him, and even the art he was consuming not quite lighting the match of inspiration ("I watch a lot of true crime, so that'd be a different album altogether," he laughs. "There's no way Tiger King is gonna influence my album, you know?"), it was the surreal nature of the moment that proved to be the first spark that fuelled the rest of the record. The seed it all grew from? Concept and title 'The Show'.

Forced to hole up at home when he'd planned to be out on the road touring second album 'Heartbreak Weather', it took a while for Niall to find that direction. "Sat around in your apartment, living in your head 24/7, you're not out and about seeing shit," he recalls. Instead, the songs that make up 'The Show' were born out of an extended period of selfreflection. "You're thinking about life and

the bigger stuff, stuff that you generally wouldn't think about," he continues.

Facing up against existential questions like 'what am I doing?' and 'where am I in life?' had its own influence on his music.

Rather than flourishing in the details, writing songs about people, places, and things like he's always done so well in the past, on this new record it's emotion that sits at the forefront of the songs. "I wasn't trying to look for specifics," he describes.

Glancing around him, he tries to pull together an example. "'In this room with a red brick wall, she had a cardigan on...'" he sings, laughing (a breakaway pop hit if we've ever heard one – Ed). "It's not like that."

'The Show' is a collection of songs written emotion-first. And while writing them might've taken Niall back to his singer-songwriter roots, the album he's made is wall-to-wall bangers. "It's quite a dynamic record," he teases. "There is a lot going on." Starting the process by going back to basics – "basically how I wrote the first album," he describes – the result is his most cohesive project so far.

"They're always the best albums, the ones that make so much sense from start to finish," he reflects. "That's why I think this is my favourite body of work I've done."

Bound together by intricate throughlines and recurring themes, with enchanting interludes bridging the spaces between, 'The Show' is Niall at his most accomplished yet. "It was so fun. It was just a fun record," he enthuses of piecing the album together. "You're always trying to get the best out of the song, then dress it up as you see fit."

Building up from the basics, Niall did something he's been renowned for ever since the days of One Direction: he took a chonce (we're so sorry, couldn't resist – Ed).

I realised I'm best when I'm guitarin-hand and I just singer-songwriter it up a little bit" NIALL HORAN "It was cool to experiment with new stuff, stuff I'd never really done before," he describes. There's plenty of that on 'The Show'. Working not just with colossal harmonies, like we've heard on 'Heaven', but also with strings, synth, and saxophone, composing whistling melodies and even picking up the harmonica on a song ("there's only four notes that I can play," he laughs), we think we can honestly say that he's never sounded this good. Quite the feat, given the quality of his back catalogue.

From the stadium-sized chorus of 'Heaven' to the acoustic-led devotion of 'You Could Start A Cult', these songs might be tied together in concept and in theme, but there's no shortage of variety on show. There are songs written for the stage ('Must Be Love'), written for the READDORK.COM 35.

COVER STORY

fans ('Meltdown'), and even written just to blow your mind ('On A Night Like Tonight').

"It feels like they're from the same record," Niall expresses of the album's eclectic sound, laughing as he continues, "obviously, 'cause they will be on the same record." Clarifying his meaning, he says, "this feels like it's all from the same place." Even in the album's more subdued moments, these songs boast the same earworm quality as the record's lead single, all capable of embedding themselves as the screensaver to your mind (if you're not consciously thinking about anything else, these chorus hooks will be there).

'Meltdown' is the album's second single. A song about feeling anxious and a reassurance that's okay, while it might not read like the most toe-tapping topic on paper, this is a song made for dancing.

"It's one of those things, isn't it? We all have it," Niall tells us. "We all have these panicky moments where you feel like it's all crumbling." While the verses race at a restless speed to echo that feeling, the song's soaring chorus is purpose-crafted to be a message of comfort.

"You're constantly telling yourself, 'I'll be alright'," he continues. "That's what you keep saying to yourself to calm yourself down, 'I'll be okay, I'll be okay'. Or someone says it to you - 'you're alright; everything's fine'. I wanted to put that into a song."

Not just a way of working through his own anxious emotions, 'Meltdown' is a song Niall wrote with his fans in mind.

"I'm writing for myself, but I know who I'm talking to," he says. "My fans, I read their stuff online every day." Regularly checking in with his fanbase on social media, he takes pride in knowing how they're feeling and making music he knows will resonate with them.

From dance-along pop hits to heartwrenching ballads, 'The Show' has it all.

It's a record that'll take you by surprise in the absolute best of ways, incorporating the best elements of his first two albums while also including songs unlike anything you've heard from him before.

'On A Night Like Tonight' is the psych-tinged summer anthem you never knew you needed. Starting out with soft, twinkling melodies before warping into another world entirely, it's a song made to be heard live. It all started with one line. "'If it's this good way down here, what's it like in heaven?'" Niall recites.

When he shared that lyric with co-writer John Ryan, the response wasn't anything he expected. "He pulled this cartoon out of his wallet," he recalls. "It had a little speech bubble saying, 'if it's this good way down here, what's it like up there?'" Struck by the serendipity of the moment, they knew right there and then that this would form a part of the new record. "We were like, '...we are writing that fucking song, right now'," he laughs.

As the era of 'The Show' takes flight, right now, Niall is most looking forward to getting out on the road and getting 36. DORK

NIALL HORAN

back to experiencing the connection he shares with his audience in person. "The fact that I can watch them dance and jump around the place at 170BMP to a song that's about anxiety... It's a really cool thing in my head," he enthuses of sharing 'Meltdown' in particular. "I don't know whether that's messed up or not."

'The Show' takes his sound to dynamic new heights, but through it all, one of its core ingredients – as has always been the case with his music – is its relatability. "Hope we still drink like we're back in the pub," he sings on 'Never Grow Up', "hope we still cry 'cause we're laughing too much." Finding poetry in the mundane and using that as a way to create something he and his audience can connect to, this is where Niall is truly in his element.

"I always write for myself. But I don't live an overly complicated life," he conveys. "I'm always trying to be as relatable as possible to whoever I'm trying to sing to, you know?" When he thinks of his own favourite music, he says his favourite songs are always ones where the meaning or the message is clear.

We all have these panicky moments where you feel like it's all crumbling" NIALL HORAN

"They're talking about themselves, but they're talking to me too," he describes.

"That's what you want. You want people to feel that way."

"I think it's super important to be as relatable as you can," he adds. "At the end of the day, talking to the public, you're talking to your fans." Affectionately named Lovers ("it's all love around here – no hate, just love," he boasts), Niall's dedication to and pride in his fanbase is something he wears on his sleeve.

"It's actually, honestly, never ceased to amaze me over the last 13 years," he states. "The friendships that they make through coming to gigs or being online, and the things that they get up to…." It's been a few years now since fans have been able to attend Niall Horan shows to celebrate their love for his music in person, but that hasn't stopped them from making sure that it's felt.

They frequently make him and/or his music trend on social media just because they can, send song requests to radio stations to increase his airplay, and host listening parties to boost streaming figures or even just to share in their appreciation for his music together. And that's just some of the things that actively promote his music, not to mention the art they create, the fan accounts they run to keep each other informed and entertained, or the sense of community they foster between themselves.

Mention of fans fundraising for charity in Niall's name leaves him lost for words in gratitude, while the streaming parties they host leave him with almost too much to say. "They get millions of streams just by doing promotion themselves," he explains. "It's just mindboggling. They're absolutely incredible."

Almost cutting himself off in his enthusiasm, he continues, "and, by the way, these are all people doing jobs and going to work and then doing this in their

spare time. They feel really passionate about it."

"I'm so lucky to have such a strong worldwide fanbase," he earnestly continues. "When you do a release, they're right there beside you." This sense of mutual appreciation has existed since the very start of his career, back when he was performing cover songs on X-Factor with One Direction, and it's still strong today. "It just doesn't feel like it's ever drifted for the fans, you know?" he reflects.

It's something Niall is endlessly grateful for, and something he's particularly heartfelt about in conversation. "It's a different type of bond, isn't it, between artist and fan?" he asks, ever-fond of the people whose continued support of him continues to make his career what it is today. "We're very lucky in that sense, to have that."

Eight albums into his career (five with the band, and now three as a solo artist), his hopes for what his music might achieve remain characteristically grounded. "I just really want them to relate to it," he answers when asked what he hopes his fans' reaction to the new record might be. "I think they will. I think they'll be able to attach every single song to something in their lives. Maybe they'll find a metaphor in there that suits them."

Right now, his focus is on preparing for this summer when he'll head out on the festival circuit, getting his new songs out the door and playing them live for the very first time. "I'm just glad that I can still do it," he declares. "Just happy to be here."

Buzzing with enthusiasm as he talks about adding additional musicians to his touring band and finding new ways to make his live performances sound bigger and better than ever, what we've heard and seen so far is only the beginning.

"I'm going to get the chance to go and play in front of all these people, and I want to see what those songs do for them," he enthuses of what the future holds. While an album tour has yet to be announced (he promises it is coming), the excitement he has to take these songs out on the road is insatiable. "You've got an opportunity to make people feel stuff," he grins. "I think that's so important as a musician."

This is what music has always been about for him. As he releases 'The Show', his hopes are simply that when his fans listen to the record, these songs make them feel. For them, he wants the whole entire experience in all of its technicolour glory. As he sings on the album's centrepiece and title track (a song he describes as "my baby, my pride and joy"), "hold tight, get ready for the ride."

"That's why we all love music. It makes us fucking... It moves us," he enthuses.

"That's what I want. That's what I want for my fans. That's all I want. If you haven't listened to me before, come listen to this one. Hopefully, you'll join Team Lovers." ■ Niall Horan's album 'The Show' is out 9th June.

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COVER STORY

38. DORK

OLIVIA DEAN

it's

OLIVIA DEAN's debut album 'Messy' is a passionate, heartfelt exploration of complex emotions, forging a relatable and warm connection that proves just why she's one of the most exciting new talents around.

a

WORDS: MARTYN YOUNG. PHOTOS: SARAH LOUISE BENNETT. MAKE UP: EMILY ENGLEMAN HAIR: DONICA CAMPBELL

messy business READDORK.COM 39.

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T’S EASY FROM THE OUTSIDE TO PRESUME THAT SUCCESS FOR SOME ARTISTS IS STRAIGHTFORWARD AND EFFORTLESS. The reality,

though, is that nothing is ever quite that simple. We’ve always known that Olivia Dean was a special talent, but for the singer-songwriter from London, the path from the ‘Growth’ of her previous EP in 2021 turned out to be a little more complex as we arrive at her stunning debut album ‘Messy’; a richly evocative and dynamic record that highlights that things don’t always turn out like you’d imagine.

For Olivia, messy is precisely where she wants to be. “I’m feeling so happy,” she smiles from San Francisco, where she’s travelled to perform a show. “Living the rock star dream!” she laughs. There’s a feeling that by embracing things not being perfect, Olivia has landed at a place of maximum contentment both personally and with her artistry. “I’m the most sure of myself that I’ve ever felt,” she says confidently.

‘Messy’ is the product of years of dedication and a passion for music.

Strong-willed and resistant to any notion of what she should be doing, Olivia has always made music on her own principles. “It’s been an interesting journey,” she says. “I’ve been singing since I was 8, really. I’m proud of myself that I’ve remained true and stubborn. I’ve

I wrote my first song at 14. I begged my mum for a second-hand piano" OLIVIA DEAN 40. DORK

made exactly the record that I wanted to make. I’ve been relentless in my love for the music, and that’s helped me to finally get here.”

When she was 8, the whole notion of pop music was alien to Olivia. “I was just really into musical theatre. I wasn’t even into pop music or anything like that,” she remembers. “I was obsessed with The Lion King. I loved West Side Story. I loved the romance and the drama.

I loved acting and telling stories through songs. That was the genesis.” As she grew older, she began to really nurture her storytelling instincts, and both Olivia and everyone around her knew she was on to something. “When I got to 16, I went to The BRIT School and started writing my own songs. I felt ready,” she says. “I love Aretha Franklin and Motown. I love songwriters - Joni Mitchell and Paul Simon. I love telling stories. I think humans are really interesting. I’ve always been interested in doing that.”

The thread that has always tied

together Olivia’s music has been its emotionally resonant core. Olivia deals with the biggest and the most universal themes from her debut EP ‘Ok Love You Bye’ in 2019, right up to her first album.

She’s always dealt with primary emotions in the starkest terms. “A barometer is if I wouldn’t say it out loud, then I probably wouldn’t use it as a lyric,” she explains. “I like to base everything in reality. I’m not a great abstract person.”

One of the things that characterises Olivia now is her self-assuredness on stage. The poise and confidence with which she’s able to perform her heartfelt and powerful songs. A stark contrast to her first experiences performing. “I was very nervous to sing in front of people,” she recalls. “The first time I ever sang in front of people, I had my back to the audience, and I cried and hid behind the piano while singing ‘Tomorrow’ from Annie. I have changed since then because I don’t cry, really,” she laughs. It was the discovery that she could write her own

OLIVIA DEAN

songs, though, that allowed her talent to blossom, and she could trust her instincts. “I seek validation less. If I like it, it’s probably good to go,” she says. “I wrote my first song at 14. I begged my mum for a second-hand piano for my birthday and Christmas combined. It was this ratty, tatty thing. I would sit for hours and hours doing covers, and then I’d be like, let me try to write something for myself, and it was terrible. I’ve just been working on it since then. I think with songwriting, you always feel vulnerable. When you first start writing, you’re not really worrying about anyone hearing it. I don’t think I’ll ever truly get 100% of that back because I know when I write something now someone will probably hear this, even when you’re trying to do something just for you, those are the things you want to share the most.

I’ll never really get that naivety back but it’s still an interesting process.”

When you sign a major record deal at 17 and start selling out shows then yes, people are going to want to hear everything you do. Still, fortunately, Olivia has been able to take things slowly and develop her artistry through the three EPs that have seen her hone and refine her prodigious talents. “I’m very appreciative,” she says. “I think it’s easy for people to think that things happen overnight, but nothing does. It’s just a lie.

It takes time and life experience to make something that will last a long time. I’ve always been stubborn that it will take as long as it takes, and when it’s ready, it’s going to be worth it.”

When it came to making ‘Messy’ Olivia knew that she wanted to create something special. In an age of increasingly fleeting virality, it was important for Olivia to try to craft an album that would have a real legacy in the lineage of some of her musical heroes.

“My vision was I just wanted to make something warm that people can come back to,” she explains. “My favourite albums like the ‘Miseducation of Lauryn Hill’ and Amy Winehouse’s ‘Back To Black’ and Carole King’s ‘Tapestry’ - they all come back. They are like fuel. When I need them, they’re there. I just wanted to make something like that. I wanted to make something that was a snapshot of me right now but is also a hug for people.”

‘Messy’ is an album that shows that taking riskings doesn’t always mean filling your music with the most out-there experimental sounds or crazily oblique lyrics; instead, you can be daring in more insidious and deeper ways. A boldness and clarity of thought inspired

by Olivia’s gran, who provided a guiding

light and inspiration for the record. The album’s closing track, ‘Carmen’, is named after her grandmother, who travelled to the UK from the Caribbean as part of the Windrush generation. It features her voice in the intro amongst a warm and idyllic wave of different instruments and sounds.

“I knew quite early on that I wanted the whole album to be dedicated to her,” says Olivia proudly. “I was thinking about the reason I’m able to be where I am and signed to a label and living in London and making an album like this is that when my granny was 18, four years younger than I am now, she just changed her whole life. She said I’m going to move to the UK; I’ve never been on a plane before. I’m going to come with my little sister, and I’m going to just start again. Her bravery has created this whole other path, and it’s so beautiful. I said there has to be a song for her, and it has to be the closing song. I wanted it to be

It’s easy for people to think that things happen overnight, but nothing does.

It’s just a lie" OLIVIA DEAN READDORK.COM 41.

I wanted to make something that was a snapshot of me right now but is also a hug for people" OLIVIA DEAN

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jubilant and have steel pans and horns.

It’s a celebration. It’s all in there.”

There’s an engaging push and pull throughout the album between that light and shade from euphoria to heartbreak.

Two emotions that often go hand in hand with each other. On ‘Messy’, Olivia dives headfirst into this emotional whirlpool, whereas on previous songs, she might have been more restrained. “It may sound cliche, but I love writing about love and my relationship to other people, more specifically just giving over into love,” she says. “I’ve been quite scared of it on previous projects, but this has a more open feeling towards it. I’m also writing about family and anxiety. Nothing crazy.

Nothing political. We all go through the same shit, really. We’re all feeling the same things. I just wanted it to feel like that.”

The contrast in emotions in the album gives it a really vivid quality. From the exultant, joyous horn-infused pop of ‘Dive’ to the haunting and questioning Radioheadesque balladry of ‘Everybody’s Crazy’ with its piercing lyrics like, ‘I’m not as strong as I might appear, I’m way more anxious than I seem’.

“I always wanted it to be an album in the sense that it was two halves,” she says.

“I wanted it to feel varied. I wanted it to be fun. I wanted there to be songs that would be fun to do live and that people could dance to, but also, when you’re living in your bed on your pillow crying, I’m there. There are no rules. You could just play around with stuff. In the second half, I really allowed myself to go there.

Especially on a track like ‘Everybody’s Crazy’. That was one take, just piano and vocal on the day we wrote it. I left it how it was. It was fitting with the name of the album. It’s imperfect.”

Is she apprehensive, though, that the people who fell in love with the graceful beauty of some of her earlier songs might be surprised to hear these stranger, darker tones? “I’m excited, but I hope people aren’t too surprised because what I’m trying to say is I think everyone’s a bit like that. Everyone pretends to be ‘hey!!!’ but really they’re a bit anxious and feeling like I really want to go home.

What I’m saying is I’m just like you. We’re all the same. We’re all mental.”

There’s also a playfulness to the album as Olivia uses the space of a fulllength record to engage in some quirkier flights of fancy like the endearing ‘I Could Be A Florist.’ “I’ve always been a singer. I’ve always just sung,” she says of the story behind the song. “I’ve never done anything else. Sometimes I’m like, what if I was a dinner lady or an English teacher? The thought of doing something completely different excites me. I was in the studio talking about this, and I said I reckon I’d be a great florist. As a joke, I sang ‘I can be a florist’, and we wrote it in an hour. I think it’s fun. I love that song.”

If Olivia actually was a florist, what would be her flower of choice? “I always have tulips on my bedside table. They’re pretty classic,” she smiles.

OLIVIA DEAN

There’s no escaping that the album title is something of a pointed reference to her previous project and, indeed, her career so far as she has experienced a series of highs by continuing to thrive even right throughout the pandemic, performing sold-out shows, touring the world and getting to collaborate and work with exciting artists like Loyle Carner and Jordan Rakei. Despite all of this, though, things are never quite what they seem.

“It was almost like, god, I’ve set myself up to fail a little bit because my last project was called ‘Growth’, so people are going to want to know what I’ve grown into,” she laughs. “Where am I? Who am I? Then suddenly I was like, yeah I don’t know. I think ‘Messy’ is a fab title because if people listen to it and say it doesn’t sound cohesive, well, duh? Because it’s not. Well, it is, and it isn’t, but life is just messy, and people are messy, and that’s great. That’s what makes things cool.”

Once she realised that rather than worry about the imperfections and bumps in the road, she could instead revel in them, the process and how she was going to bring her songs to life became clear. “Those three EPs gave me a lot of experience and the chance to get it wrong. I’ve really figured out how I like to record and who I like to work with,” she explains. “I’ve really fine-tuned the process. By the time it came to record this album, it was simple. I knew exactly who I wanted to do it with, where I wanted to do it and how I wanted to do it. We just made it. There are no rules. You can just make it and put it out.”

Another key factor in the album’s creation was her band, who have been with her since the start. “I’ve been touring with my band, one of them I’ve been working with since I was 17. We’ve all been working together for two and a half years; of course they need to play on the record. They know the sound and the songs better than anyone else. It’s all been very natural, which I’m really proud of.”

Olivia is a prolific songwriter who works on instinct and passion. She knows intuitively when a song is really going to touch people. “I wrote a lot of music, and some of it wasn’t very good, some of it was fine, but I knew from the beginning in my eyes that I wanted it to be killer, not filler. If I want to keep listening to it, if there’s something in it that makes me want to go, ok, rewind, play it again, that means that there’s something in there that’s interesting,” she says of her songwriting process.

Making this album was revelatory for Olivia in many ways. She experienced the moments that all musicians live for; transcendent euphoric moments like when she recorded the ecstatic single ‘Dive’.

“It’s like being on a fluffy cloud when I sing that song,” she beams. “It was written on a really hot day in East London. I wrote it with these two guys, Max and Bastian who I wrote ‘The

Life is just messy, and people are messy, and that’s great" OLIVIA DEAN Hardest Part’ with and a lot of other songs. We were like, let’s get back in the studio, let’s write another one, and that was the first thing we wrote. The door was open, the sun was coming in and it just came so naturally. That’s how the best ones come. It’s just a love song.”

A further revelation was discovering different ways to work with her musical palate. “Some of the more stripped-back songs were the hardest to finish,” she confesses. “A song like ‘No Man’ took a long time. When I first wrote that, the production was completely different. It had these pounding drums and really spooky melodies. I learnt that less is more. Just take it away. If it doesn’t need it, take it away. Let the song speak for itself, and everything else is supportive.”

‘Messy’ is an album that fully realises all Olivia’s considerable talents yet also points the way to interesting new directions. “It’s very hard to have perspective on my own music because, to me, it’s just me doing karaoke,” she laughs. “I can’t place myself anywhere, and if I start getting into that, then I’ll get too messed up in it. I don’t want to know.”

One thing she does know though is the values and qualities she’d like pop to display in 2023. Qualities that shine through in her own music. “It should be exciting and unpredictable,” she says animatedly. “I want to see a return to more organic sounds. I love soul music, and I love live instrumentation. I want to hear more horns and more instrumental moments. I want to hear people being bold. I hope I’m encouraging that with this album because it was just fun. I had fun making it. I want people to have fun making music rather than being calculated in thinking what people will like. The world will be a much more interesting place.”

On the imminent horizon, though, is the challenge of bringing ‘Messy’ to life on stage. “I’m going to tour the hell out of it,” she laughs. “It’s my dream to expand it even further. I want to have a percussionist and a string section; just keep building it until we can’t fit everybody on the stage. I want people to come and have a really good time, dance, cry and enjoy. “ It’s clear that Olivia is in a very good place right now, but all that joy and vibrancy is hard-won and comes from understanding those simple principles that life might not always go the way you expect it, but it’s important to live in the moment. “The song ‘Messy’ was the last song that I wrote for the record,” she concludes. “That was one of the first songs I’ve ever written to myself. I’ve always written songs to other people, but that was a song I just needed to write to say you don’t really know what you’re doing right now, and that is fine. It’s ok that you’re a bit of a mess. I knew that was the album title then. I’ve got it. It’s done.” ■ Olivia Dean’s album ‘Messy’ is out 30th June.

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FEATURE

MATT MALTESE's 'Driving Just To Drive' reconnects with his hometown roots, delivering heartfelt storytelling and colourful soundscapes for fans to cherish.

WORDS: NEIVE MCCARTHY. PHOTOS: PATRICK GUNNING.

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MATT MALTESE

IT'S WEIRD, that progression from being a passenger to being behind the wheel. Sitting in that driver's seat at last, that hometown you know like the back of your hand shifts in perspective. For Matt Maltese, retracing the roadmap of his youth has provided a new lease of inspiration. On 'Driving Just To Drive', his fourth album, he takes a closer look into the rear-view mirror in a way he never has before.

"Naturally, I am quite retrospective," Matt explains. "Maybe more than I should be sometimes. I feel like it is about balances. There's absolutely a good thing about looking at the past and seeing how it made you, and seeing what you did wrong to do better next time. There's a lot in that. But it can be addictive, especially in a time when the present and the future is more scary.

That's something to be quite aware of.

I even felt that with the third record.

It was such a mental time, and the beginning of this new mental era, that I looked back a lot for comfort. It's good and bad – a healthy dose, but it's easy to overdose."

His third album, 'Good Morning It's Now Tomorrow', was a more lowkey affair – comfortable and quiet, it saw Matt settle into himself both as an artist and as a person. That journey of reconnection with the self continues on his fourth effort, but it's a more vivid, colourful setting. A Reading boy at heart, the album saw him stepping back into that place and coming to terms with each version of himself. There's a sense of a childlike twinkle sparking in Matt's eye once more – as he navigates his mid-twenties, those different versions of himself take him by the hand and lead the way at different stages.

"It's nice to accept who you were as a kid. You can hate your hometown in a straightforward way and never want to live there, but for me, it was a lot about being really thankful that it was my hometown, even if it was a bit dry.

Just embracing the younger versions of yourself and feeling like it all makes one whole was quite nice. It sometimes explains a lot of your own behaviour as an adult. We're all a mesh of these different versions of yourself."

Honing his craft through a series of cynicism and sardonic comments on 'Driving Just To Drive', a new outlook seems to have grown over the years.

Gratitude and joy are centred, and in making the album, a new light was shed on those earlier years. Matt's always been brutally honest and earnest, but here he does away somewhat with the need to laugh it off – it's sincere, devoted and more vulnerable than ever. In a way, this seems like a project that was an act of service to the self – a means of reconnection and relearning and refocusing. However, it wasn't just a therapeutic means of finding his way back - it served a far bigger purpose.

"A good record has to feel good when you make it," Matt muses. "It's got to have done something for you; otherwise, expecting it to do something for other people is a huge expectation. I'm hugely aware that I'm making something for other people. That makes me treat

it with more deity and respect. To be totally honest, if I was making these albums just for myself, I don't think it would sound nearly as good."

It's a dutiful approach and allows the record to feel incredibly intentional.

While much of it stemmed from a very natural, instinctual approach, there is an added layer of consciousness for what it might come to mean for his listeners.

That reminder to leave behind a sense of jadedness and instead lean into who you have been, past and present, and really push your feelings to the forefront, feels even more prescient.

"With some of the fanbase I have, it's younger people who will listen to those emotions and maybe want to feel or act that way too. I have often felt the best music, and the best thing to do, is to be very open about yourself, even if it makes you look pathetic sometimes, or even if you listen back and cringe."

Those innermost feelings spill out of Matt. From the need to believe everything will work out on 'Suspend Your Disbelief ', to admitting to being a coward in love, to recalling a worldshaking gig he attended as a teen, his storytelling is richer than ever. Quickly, 'Driving Just To Drive' becomes its own storybook-like world. Its lush greens and the sepia-haze of nostalgia hanging heavy, a more vibrantly colourful world than its predecessors.

The sonic sphere of the album undoubtedly amplifies the overflowing joy and vivacity of the tracks, but it's an aspect of the album that marked a different way of working for Matt.

Working with Josh Scarbrow, it was the first time in a while that Matt had brought someone else on board, but ultimately was a decision he is truly grateful for. "I wanted to push things sonically by having someone come in and do stuff I just can't do. With Josh, it was working with a producer with lots of experience and ability that I don't. I wanted a bit more going on with this record. I wanted these songs to be more luscious and intricate production-wise."

They became deeply cinematic tracks, in the end. 'Hello Black Dog' has the sort of building piano that feels as though it is dramatically draping over you, whilst 'Florence' streams through the room, buoyant and jangly guitars giving it a sunlight-like glow. It's all heightened, perhaps with the larger-than-life joy of that childhood version of Matt inside or him that rears its head here. There's more energy and more joy to be found.

After two albums where Matt found himself situated quite at ease in his own comfort zone, this different way of working allowed him to stretch out in different ways that equally pushed the sonics to new levels.

"I felt a lot like the second and third records were made in a huge pool of time," says Matt. "I maybe didn't have as busy a life. This one, and maybe this was in a self-inflicted way, I had a bit less time to think about it all the time; it was more just doing. When you're with someone else, you're also aware you're using their time, too. The environment that working with someone else brings is a lot more productive. It's also a lot

"I have often felt the best thing to do is be very open about yourself, even if it makes you look pathetic sometimes" M AT T M A LT E S E less comfortable. I think that was really what I was craving. I wanted that for this record, and I feel like it was more interesting to me this time around to make something that I didn't know what the last 30% was going to look like."

It began to look something like this: returning to the place you were made, hopping in your old car that you haven't driven in a while and watching the world stream by as you aimlessly make turns without ever getting lost. It's breathing in fresher air than you're used to and thinking about how you still pull that face you spotted in a childhood photo the other week. Some things don't change – you'll always know those roads like no others.

"Driving does give you this clarity, and I used to do that a lot when I was younger," remembers Matt. "I actually don't really drive anymore, which is the irony of the album. I live in London. The driving just to drive thing, you're kind of watching live TV out of your windscreen, and if you're listening to the right music, it's perfect."

It is a weird time capsule of life, and as much as the album lingers in the past, it never asks for the world to stop. Things have to keep evolving, continuing, or we wouldn't be able to grow, and that's something Matt prioritises here. It's an endless road, and it will wind and twist, but it will continue somehow. It serves as a reminder to recall the past in order to be more present – 'Driving Just To Drive' finds Matt more appreciative than ever, and more at home in himself and with his past. In many ways, it feels like an important album for him to make – one that has afforded him a wealth of lessons and knowledge to take forward.

"I think it had to be now, really. There's been enough time between now and my childhood to make genuine peace with it, and feel far away from it, but closer just because I want to be closer. It's definitely a case of, it has to be now," Matt concludes. "Maybe in ten years, I'll make an album about being in the womb, if I keep going back." ■ Matt Maltese's album 'Driving Just To Drive' is out 28th April.

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COVER STORY

EVERG

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PVRIS

GREEN PVRIS' Lynn Gunn is returning with an album that refuses to stick to tired old boxes and conform to lazy expectations.

WORDS: ALI SHUTLER. PHOTOS: ASHLEY OSBORN.

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VRIS ONLY RELEASED THEIR DEBUT ALBUM 'WHITE NOISE' IN 2014, but that

hasn't stopped them from getting swept up in the nostalgia-driven emo resurgence that's dominated the past few years.

Things kicked off when Machine Gun Kelly reworked their thundering single 'My House' as part of his virtual lockdown sessions, and 84 million views later, PVRIS were invited to play the inaugural When We Were Young Festival in Las Vegas last year alongside the likes of Paramore, My Chemical Romance, Jimmy Eat World and Avril Lavigne. Like those bands, PVRIS made a name for themselves on Warped Tour and are still part of that alternative rock scene.

Rather than lean into a world of snotty lyrics and big guitar riffs, though, PVRIS' new album 'Evergreen' is a rejection of nostalgia. "I know some people might have a problem with that," admits Lynn Gunn, but she isn't bothered. "It's good to have a bit of pushback."

"When guitar music felt like it was coming back in a noticeable way, it didn't resonate with it at all," she admits. "It wasn't this intentional thing; I just don't think I could make a back-to-basics rock album if I tried," she says.

Instead, 'Evergreen' sees Lynn taking PVRIS somewhere new. "If making a record that sounds like 2004 is suddenly popular, how do you challenge that," she asks.

Speaking to Dork the day before the grand unveiling of 'Evergreen', Lynn is a mix of excited and nervous. "​​I wanted to take risks. If your art feels a little bit scary, that's a good thing."

It's been a messy few years for PVRIS, with cancelled tours, delayed records and issues with labels that took the energy out of dynamic third album 'Use Me'. Ahead of

I don't think I could make a back-tobasics rock album if I tried" LY N N G U N N 48. DORK

its release in 2020, Lynn announced that "the heart and soul of the vision and music [of PVRIS] was always sourced from me.

I allowed myself to support a narrative I thought I had to support, of PVRIS being a band."

'Evergreen' acts as a reintroduction to PVRIS. "I'm at a stage in my life and my career where I just feel at peace with a lot of things," says Lynn. "This chapter is all about enjoying myself."

2014's 'White Noise', 2017's ambitious follow-up 'All We Know Heaven, All We Need Of Hell' and 2020's 'Use Me' gave Lynn "some amazing times, and I went on incredible journeys with them, but there was so much anxiety, stress, pressure and getting in my own way," she says. In a way, that's the message of new single 'Good Enemy'.

She describes the high-energy track as her attempt at "capturing where music is at right now," but with a playful twist.

"There's been this resurgence in rock, but I wanted to flip that on its head and view it through this hyper-pop lens, which is also having a real moment," she explains.

"It was such a fun song to make." It sounds it as well, which isn't something a lot of past PVRIS releases have managed with their pained, vulnerable lyrics and brooding gothic imagery.

"I think we can all relate to being our own worst enemy at times," Lynn starts before saying how most people find it easier to be self-critical than to offer themselves praise or forgiveness. "It's about letting go of these things that often aren't the best thing for us."

She's taken the song's message to heart as well. Instead of worrying about the album release in July, she explains how, "I'm just surrendering myself to it. I just feel very free with this era and want to have fun with it. I'm not really worried about how it'll be received or how it does; I just want

PVRIS

to trust that whatever I felt compelled to make, and whatever felt inspiring to me, will resonate with whoever it's supposed to."

Along with her statement about 'Evergreen' being "anti-virality, anti-instant gratification", it might sound like Lynn has resigned herself to failure, but there's not a moment on PVRIS' new album that isn't bristling with confidence.

Opener 'I Don't Wanna Do This Anymore' is a defiant anthem that rallies against treading water, 'Hype Zombies' is a menacing, industrial number that isn't afraid of baring its teeth, while 'Senti-Mental' is a soaring, emotional song that flirts with funk. "I definitely think it's different," Lynn admits. "I also don't think it's for everybody, and that's ok."

The biggest difference between 'Evergreen' and what's come before is perspective. "In the past, PVRIS albums have really focused on looking inward. They were about battling personal demons, and there was a lot of doom and gloom in the lyrics.

Looking at them in retrospect, they were often from the perspective of victimhood.

I just don't identify with that anymore," Lynn says.

She goes on to say that 'Evergreen' is still personal, but it sees her looking outwards.

"There's more ownership over anything negative. There's more empowerment in it," she promises.

That shift came about after a yearlong hiatus from being online. "I wanted to process my life and the world around me without the influence of social media.

Ironically, that attempt to calm my nerves left me feeling more anxious and more on edge, the longer I was away," she says. "I was scared I was ruining my career."

But that fear sparked something inside her, and she ended up taking a long look at the world, the industry and her place within it all. "It was this feeling of 'this isn't working, this does not feel good'," she says.

"To me, everything right now just feels a little unnatural, and I don't think I'm alone in that."

'Evergreen' doesn't have any exact answers, but it gave Lynn space to "meditate on that feeling of unease" as she asked herself big, intangible questions like, "how do you stay strong at a time that goes against that? How do you stay present and true to yourself in a world that's doing everything it can to pull you out of that mindset?"

The record goes on to cover topics of "fame, control, technology, social media spectacle and where we place our attention as a collective of humans. There's also talk of female autonomy, the industry and societal focus on youth." She pauses for a

second. "I guess there's a lot weaved into it."

As Lynn promised, it's never bleak, though. She describes 'Evergreen' as "an ode to longevity, resilience and staying unjaded towards creativity, but also life in general."

THE FIRST TWO songs written for

the record were the ferocious 'Animal' and the pretty, escapist 'Anywhere But Here'. Released together last summer to announce the arrival of a new era, the tracks also gave Lynn the confidence to really lean into the different sides of PVRIS. "I didn't know they'd be reflective of the album when I wrote them, but I did start thinking about how they both felt so different but also so true to me. Both of those sounds felt really natural, so I decided to not shy away from either world."

That battle between dreamy ethereal and harsh, stark aggression gives the whole of 'Evergreen' its tension. That push-and-pull is carried over into the visuals and dominates the David & Goliath-inspired album cover which sees Lynn hold up her own decapitated head.

Pulling influence from everything she was listening to, including hyper-pop, hip-hop and "weird, gritty, harsh music" but aware of the band's roots in guitardriven music, Lynn would occasionally worry about 'Evergreen' being too much but the fact she's involved in every aspect of its creation gives it a fiery sense of cohesion.

"If we had more time, I would have gone even crazier with it," she adds with a smirk. "But it's good to close it out at this point because we will only grow from here."

Later, she confirms she's already starting work on what comes next ("I don't know if any of it will make it, though") and hopes to have another new single or two out later this year because she's feeling so inspired.

She admits that walking the line between what PVRIS used to be and what

I wanted to take risks. If your art feels a little bit scary, that's a good thing" LY N N G U N N she wants it to become is a "tricky subject", though.

"That's where a lot of the album's energy stems from. If there is this resurgence, how do we flip it on its head? How do we make it a bit more interesting?"

When the band broke through in 2014 after replacing their hardcore roots with something more stylised and synth-driven, PVRIS were quickly heralded as one of the most exciting rock bands around at a time when the genre was a little lost.

Lynn "never fully resonated with that scene," though. With those early records, "we felt confined to that bubble and were trying to make interesting pop music within the context of rock," she says.

"Y'know, something that actually felt reflective of what I listened to."

"I don't want anyone to think that I'm ignorant to where we came from or that

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COVER STORY

I'm ungrateful for those opportunities," she continues. "I think this resurgence is really amazing" - for both iconic bands and the newcomers toying with the rules.

"I'm fully allowed to celebrate that, while also posing questions about what I think could have been different. I think the purpose of running from one's roots is the hope of creating something better for yourself or to set a new standard," she continues saying that any "rejection" of the scene isn't out of spite. "It just feels like survival for me at this point in my life, as a woman and as an artist."

In recent months, Bring Me The Horizon and Fall Out Boy (both bands PVRIS supported early on in their career) have spoken about how much of a struggle it was to straddle the worlds of rock and pop in the years leading up to the pandemic.

Oli Sykes revealed just how much of a responsibility he felt with his band being one of the few in the mainstream that still made heavy music, while Pete Wentz recently told Dork about FOB's "fuck-it” attitude, post-hiatus. "People were saying we couldn't do music like that anymore.

So, we just wanted to make anthems. We were trying to make [rock music] undeniable," but it led to things feeling "frustrated" around 2018's 'MANIA' and a five-year gap between records.

Being a quote-unquote rock group "always felt like a double-edged sword," says Lynn and that hasn't changed in recent months either. "Part of the magic of that scene was that it was a reaction that challenged what was happening at the time. It's important not to forget the intention behind it, creatively and politically."

She hopes the new generation "takes bigger risks and rewrites a lot of the wrongs that existed in the past. It needs to be better for women, it needs to be better for people of colour, and it needs to be better for the LGBTQIA+ community."

"For me, I felt paralysed early on in my career. I felt like I couldn't grow or take creative risks. 'Evergreen' was me trying to acknowledge that and stay growing regardless," she continues.

As if to prove a point, Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda worked with Lynn on 'Take My Nirvana' while Y2K (who's previously worked with Doja Cat and viral rapper bbno$) helped out on 'I Don't Wanna Do This Anymore' and 'Headlights'.

"Y2k does a really great job of mixing things in production that you wouldn't think of combining and I love that innovation," Lynn says. As for Mike, "he's an amazing producer and person," she continues. "Linkin Park were such a big

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band for me when I first started listening to music. I stole my brother's 'Hybrid Theory' album and would listen to that nonstop."

"Linkin Park were a good combination of electronic music, hip-hop and rock, so it made sense to work with Mike because I do think, as different as the bands are sonically, there's a similar DNA between what Linkin Park did and what PVRIS is now," she continues.

Likewise, later this year, PVRIS will once again tour Europe and the UK with Fall Out Boy in a "full circle moment", but only after a co-headline tour around North America with Poppy.

"It's a good dance between the past, the

I hope this record proves that PVRIS is more than what some people perceive it as" LY N N G U N N

future and finding a way to stick them together in a way that somehow still makes sense."

Despite all this talk of anti-nostalgia and shaking up the roots of PVRIS, 'Evergreen' still feels like the spiritual successor to their brilliant, breakout debut album 'White Noise'. Not sonically, of course. And definitely not visually. But both records are carefully curated worlds, driven by a zerofucks-given attitude.

"I genuinely just wanted to feel excited about what I was creating and what I was hearing. That was the compass the entire time with 'Evergreen' and it was very much the driving force behind 'White Noise' as well." She admits that because they felt confined on that debut, there was a degree of compromise to it "but it was also about just making what felt exciting. There was nothing on the line back then. If it didn't work out, it didn't work. Oddly enough, ten years in with PVRIS and I feel like there's nothing to lose now either," she grins.

"Take the risk, have fun and follow whatever you feel compelled to make."

Speaking of fun, Lynn says "there's more levity, more humour and more self-awareness" in 'Evergreen' than any other PVRIS record. "It wasn't a conscious thing, and it happened really naturally but looking back at it, it makes so much sense that it's what we do now," she explains. "In the past, the music has felt really dark, so it's an evolution of that but also humour really has been such a big coping method for me, for Brian [MacDonald, bassist] and for the whole crew after everything that's happened. We've never been serious people, so it feels good that it's represented."

RECENT SINGLE 'GODDESS' has been described by Lynn as a "celebration of femininity" while 'Evergreen' is about "reclaiming female autonomy". That, too, comes from the roots of the band.

"It was such a male-dominated space that I learnt so much internalised misogyny that I've been constantly trying to work through since. I didn't realise this at the time, but everything from the visuals to how I presented myself on stage was rooted in feeling like there was no place for women."

"Back then, we were in a world of band culture, and as a woman, I felt like I had to shrink myself as much as possible. I couldn't express my sexuality, and it felt like there was way more pressure as a woman to act a certain way," Lynn explains, with the visuals for the 'Evergreen' era acting as a rejection of that mindset. In the video for 'Goddess', she throws up repeat-

edly while elegant statues are ironically censored. "It feels fun, but it's also a rejection and a purge of what's expected from me," says Lynn. "It's a lot of the stuff that I wish we could have done from the beginning of PVRIS that I felt too afraid to try."

Things have definitely changed, though.

Earlier this year, PVRIS finally got to tour Europe and the UK for the first time since 2021 and every night, Lynn "noticed such a significant change in the audience" to what she'd been used to. "Some of that's down to people growing up, blossoming and having glow-ups, but I do feel like there's a new energy around the band.

Those shows felt like such a big embrace of community and camaraderie. That's always been part of PVRIS story, but "it felt really amplified on that tour, and that was really beautiful," says Lynn. "Everybody in the audience just seemed really confident and sure of themselves, and that was very reflective of where I'm at personally as well."

So far, four tracks have been released from 'Evergreen', and Lynn knows she's pissed a few people off. "I'm cool with it.

At the same time, it feels like a lot of new people and old fans seem really excited by what we're doing now, so I'm excited to see where it goes," she smiles, refusing to be that 'Good Enemy'.

The album was never meant to feel deliberately shocking. "It's just always where I've heard PVRIS existing, but I didn't feel confident to do it before," Lynn says. If she really didn't care about the roots of the band, she'd have done away with the PVRIS name altogether.

"To be completely honest, after 'Use Me' and within the pandemic, it really felt like this do-or-die moment. I knew I needed to either start over and leave this band where it was or take the leap and see what happens," she continues of her fierce desire to chase what felt exciting.

"I hope this record proves that PVRIS is more than what some people perceive it as," adds Lynn. "I don't want 'Evergreen' to just be the sort of record you put on when you're feeling sad. It absolutely can be that, but I want it playing when people are driving somewhere with their friends or getting ready for a night out. I want people to celebrate with it and feel good when listening to it. I want people to feel empowered."

"It's a celebration of evolving with the times, trying to keep things exciting and staying true to yourself within that," she adds. "The main ambition though is truly just to have fun and follow what feels exciting." ■ PVRIS' album 'Evergreen' is out 14th July.

READDORK.COM 51.

FEATURE

( S T A R )

DUST

BROTHERS

Back with their latest album 'So Much (For) Stardust' - quite probably their best in years - FALL OUT BOY are in the form of their lives.

WORDS: ALI SHUTLER. 52. DORK

S

FALL OUT BOY

OR THE PAST DECADE, Fall Out Boy have been one of the few groups repping guitar music on the radio and at the top of festival bills. The band may have had their tongue firmly pressed against their cheek when they called their 2013 comeback record ‘Save Rock And Roll’, but it proved somewhat prophetic.

Speaking the afternoon after their intimate show at London’s Heaven, bassist Pete Wentz explains how there was a “fuck it” attitude to their posthiatus material. “People were saying we couldn’t do music like that anymore. So, we just wanted to make anthems. We were trying to make [rock music] undeniable.”

And it’s hard to argue with tracks like ‘The Phoenix’, ‘Centuries’ or ‘Champion’. “We did it, and we clawed our way through, and we figured it out. But we got pretty frustrated doing it,” says Pete. By the time it got to ‘MANIA’ as a whole, Fall Out Boy “weren’t comfortable”.

“We were in a place where we were just really frustrated [with the scene],” says Pete before comparing it to 2008’s ‘Folie à Deux’. “ They’re both very artistic albums. They’re both fraught. They both come from a frustrated place. The music is all Patrick, so I can say this; there are brilliant ideas on both those records, but then there are unfinished parts as well. I can see why both of those would be somebody’s favourite record.”

New album ‘So Much (For) Stardust’ feels different, though. Yes, ‘Love From The Other Side’ and ‘Hold Me Like A Grudge’ bang and throughout the album, there are moments of daring brilliance. But there’s also an intricacy that feels distinctly like pre-hiatus Fall Out Boy. “We’ve solved the contradictions of the two eras,” grins drummer Andy Hurley. “Now, new contradictions will arise.”

Pete goes on to describe their breakout run of albums (‘From Under The Cork Tree’, ‘Infinity On High’ and ‘Folie à Deux’) as one trilogy, while ‘Save

Rock And Roll’, ‘American Beauty/American Psycho’ and ‘MANIA’ is their second trilogy.

“That’s terrifying because you’re saying that, and I’m thinking, ‘oh shit, are we starting The Sequel Trilogy with ‘Stardust’,” jokes Patrick Stump, beating Pete to a Star Wars reference. “I hope we stick the landing better.”

“I remember when Patrick first played the demo for ‘Love From The Other Side’, and it felt new and old at the same time,” continues Pete. “It was something we would have wanted to do [back then], but we wouldn’t have really known how to do it.” Not only did Pete instantly know that the track needed to be the lead single for their eighth album, but it was the moment he bought into Patrick’s “back to basics” vision. “I knew we could build a statement around that song.”

He believes the frustration of ‘MANIA’ is one of the reasons it’s taken Fall Out Boy five years to release an album, with the other being the pandemic. “The album really benefited from us taking our time, though,” says Pete. “The tools we use on the record were sharper because of it.” “’Stardust’ wasn’t frustrated,” he continues.

“This record feels way more balanced. When we were in the studio together, ideas were bouncing back and forth. Everything was flowing. And then [returning producer Neal Avron] was there, making sure everyone got their perspective across.”

Previously, Patrick has described ‘So Much (For) Stardust’ as ‘what if Fall Out Boy made a record after ‘Folie’, instead of going on a five-year hiatus’. The result is a spiritual successor to that controversial record, if not a sonic one. “Last time we worked with Neal, Pete and I were not getting on very well, to be entirely honest,” says Patrick.

“I feel like every record has been more and bigger until we got to ‘MANIA’, which was

there is a kind of distance to the human experience these days. During the pandemic, there was this forced way of communicating, and I wanted to make a record that was tangible.

I wanted to make a record that was touched and was made by hand. The instruments were very much played, and Neal was very serious about getting takes. If I tried to be lazy by suggesting we just tune a line or something, he’d insist we do it properly. I wanted that kind of record, though. It feels like a palate cleanser from this period of impersonal distance.”

As a side effect of wanting to prove that guitar music could still be part of that mainstream conversation, Fall Out Boy’s post-hiatus records have been driven by an ambition to be heard by as many people as possible. With ‘Stardust’ though, “it was more about, let’s craft something that we love, that we think our fans will love. I don’t think this is designed for the wider world,” admits Pete. “We live in a time where going deep with people that care feels so much more important than going wide.”

It’s perhaps why at their recent headline shows, Fall Out Boy have resurrected ‘Folie’ deep cuts like ‘Disloyal Order Of Water Buffaloes’ and ‘Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown On A Bad Bet’.

“People always say that ‘Folie’ is their favourite record. Okay, let’s prove that. Plus, songs like ‘Headfirst Slide’ and a couple of others we’ve talked about always went off. I feel like we’re gonna work some more of it in at future shows.”

Pete goes on to talk about how people a l wa y s r e t u r n t o the music that they first discovered for themselves, that made them feel something. “I feel like with ‘Stardust’, we made an album for those fans that have come on the journey with us.” Instead of still acting like teenagers, though, “it’s like, let’s talk about all the stuff we’re going through now.”

“I love the way you explained ‘Stardust’ – half nihilism, half undeniable optimism.

I totally feel that really speaks to the times,” adds Andy.

Pete thinks that undeniable optimism comes from making music alongside “hanging out with your friends and doing things that put joy into the world. It’s usually simple shit, but that goes a long way because we live in a world that isn’t supportive of that at all.”

“But I also think it’s okay to live in the nihilism and feel hopeless,” adds Andy. “It’s okay to feel like this world’s fucked, and it’s not going to get better, but you’ve still got to get up and do stuff.

You’ve still got to live. You’ve still got to try.” ■

"THERE DOESN’T NEED TO BE AS MUCH SAUCE TO COVER THINGS UP IF YOU JUST START WITH BETTER INGREDIENTS" PETE

WENTZ

everything, all at once. With ‘Stardust’, there’s a lot of purposeful space,” adds Pete. “Working with Neal reminded us that there doesn’t need to be as much sauce to cover things up if you just start with better ingredients. There’s actually less on this album, but it feels bigger.”

“I don’t want this to sound to boomer-y,” begins Patrick, of his vision for ‘So Much (For) Stardust’.

“Great start,” laughs Pete.

“But these damn kids and these damn phones,” jokes Patrick, as Pete checks his. “But seriously,

READDORK.COM 53.

INCOMING. THE NEW RELEASES YOU NEED TO KNOW

WHAT DO THE SCORES MEAN? ★ Rubbish ★★ Not Great ★★★ Fair ★★★★ Good ★★★★★ Amazing

Jessie Ware

That! Feels Good!

★★★★ Hippo Campus

Wasteland EP ★★★★

→ Coming together as a

succinct package hurtling Hippo Campus in an unexpected but exciting direction, 'Wasteland' gifts us a variety of tones with dramatic melodies and wistful soundscapes stuffed to the brim with the potent abilities of this dynamic group. The one thing it doesn't provide is any idea of where they'll be heading next. FINLAY HOLDEN

→ Jessie Ware found her groove on 2020's 'What's Your Pleasure?', a record that sat as one of the biggest dance-pop records in that most undanceable peak pandemic year. Now, in 2023 there are no inhibitions and no limits as Jessie goes all in head-first with everything, including a mirrorballshaped kitchen sink on her exultant disco odyssey 'That! Feels Good!' Growing with confidence with every album, Jessie's fifth record essentially does everything her last one did but bigger. Much bigger. MARTYN YOUNG

Everything But The Girl Fuse

★★★★ Patrick Wolf

The Night Safari EP ★★★ → Patrick Wolf is finally

boygenius the record

★★★★★

→ What do you get when you cross three of the greatest songwriters of a generation? Pure magic. After a gruelling five-year wait, Lucy Dacus, Julien Baker and Phoebe Bridgers finally reunite for a full-length project, and ‘the record’ is nothing short of cosmic. From the way the trio’s vocals twist around one another in haunting harmony on opening track, ‘Without You Without Them’, it’s immediately clear that this is a connection of alchemic heights.

It’s a passing of the mic for the first few tracks – each with the opportunity to illuminate their own unique styles. The trio of singles (‘$20’, ‘Emily I’m Sorry’ and ‘True

54. DORK

Blue’) that initially teased ‘the record’ established each of their different tones, but before long, they collapse into each other.

Voices melt into one another like only a group who know each other inside and out could, each a sonic hand extending to their fellow members. “It feels good to be known so well,” sings Lucy Dacus on ‘True Blue’. It’s a sentiment that resonates throughout the album’s course – an intimate knowledge of one another, themselves and the musical world they’re creating together.

Perhaps a result of the unique potion of talent within the supergroup, ‘the record’ is filled with as much tenderness and gentle coaxing as it is with the prickling heat of shame and angst. It’s a task of navigation – from reading your friends to a T, to desperately trying to forget someone, to confessions of love so filled with devotion it’s almost hard to listen to. At times, the sincerity of Julien Baker’s delivery strikes like a knife, as on the tremulous ‘AntiCurse’, while Phoebe Bridgers’ sardonic vocals elsewhere are

alleviated by a chorus of strings, as on the arresting ‘Revolution O’. Lucy Dacus’ gut-wrenching lyrical genius is on full display throughout, but particularly on the quiet shudders of ‘We’re In Love’.

There’s bravery in numbers, and whilst all three have honed their ability to be vulnerable in their music long before this project, it seems their willingness to share those raw, wild truths is emboldened by one another’s company. It’s some of their best work, both collaboratively and otherwise, a real invitation to abandon uncertainty and simply find out. There’s room for error, room for mistakes, and room to put yourselves on full display. ‘the record’ asks some difficult questions (“Will you still love me if it turns out I’m insane?”), but it does so in a way that offers comfort. It’s a togetherness and an outpouring of love – for each other and for their creation. On ‘the record’, boygenius come together for something that is nothing short of seismic. Ambitious and inimitable, their first debut album is an earth-shattering feat. NEIVE MCCARTHY

ready to return from selfimposed exile with new EP ‘The Night Safari’, the first part of his story of his time away. Musically, it takes the hallmarks of Patrick’s writing with his lovely vocals (such as on the title-track), while updating the others like with ‘Nowhere Game’, with its frantic drums. A welcome return. JOSHUA WILLIAMS

→ Certified pop legends Everything But The Girl are back with their first album since way back in 1999. 'Fuse' is their eleventh album, and it's fair to say the duo of classic pop royalty Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt know precisely what they're doing. A return from an important act in British pop's history that is well worth the wait. If you're an old fan, you'll be in heaven; if you're a new listener, dive in and enjoy.

MARTYN YOUNG

Freya Ridings Blood Orange

★★★★ Alma

Time Machine ★★★ → 'Time Machine' takes us

on a journey into Alma's past, showcasing the highs and lows that have made her the woman she is today.

Honest and undeniably personal, she's created a second album that not only reiterates the extent of her musical prowess but allows us to meet her in a different setting – off stage, "before".

Her origin story. LAURA FREYALDENHOVEN

→ Freya Ridings' second album 'Blood Orange' is impressive in its scope and ambition.

Combining widescreen anthemic string-laden pop with joyous disco-tinged hops and just the right dose of heartbreak, it's a step up from an artist looking to establish themselves as a big deal.

There's certainly nothing held back as Freya bares her soul. It's a record that cements her place as capable of making top-tier pop with an emotional resonance that hints at greater things. MARTYN YOUNG

Lana Del Rey

Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd

★★★★

→ Clocking in at a monster 77 minutes, 'Did You Know...' is a fullon immersive Lana experience.

Extravagant, indulgent and richly beautiful, it carries on the songwriting hot streak instigated on her previously defining masterpiece, 2019's 'Norman Fucking Rockwell'. This time she's going a bit deeper and a whole lot weirder. Spoken word interludes, dreamy atmospherics and some of the most evocative songwriting of her career combine on an album that seems to sum up a period of fierce creativity. Divisive but ever more undeniable, Lana is like no other. MARTYN YOUNG

The National

First Two Pages of Frankenstein

★★★★

→ If the resonant warmth and sweeping grandeur of The National's music haven't captivated before, it's doubtful they ever will. On 'First Two Pages Of Frankenstein', tracks like the lush 'Eucalyptus' and the energetic 'Tropic Morning News' rank among their finest. From the shimmering guitar of 'Ice Machines' to the languid haze enveloping closing track 'Send For Me', each moment feels consistently genuine and polished. In the end, the warmth of familiarity emanating from The National's music continues to envelop listeners like a comforting embrace, proving that sometimes, it's the tried and true that endures.

STEPHEN ACKROYD

Matt Maltese

Driving Just To Drive

★★★★

→ Matt Maltese has developed into one of our most impressive and beloved songwriters.

‘Driving Just To Drive’ is his fourth album and is yet another example of his effortless touch for lush sweeping melancholy. Perfectly crafted melodies like the rolling widescreen grandeur of ‘Florence’ are complemented by sorrowful ballads like the plaintive ‘Hello Black Dog’. Of course, the record sounds fantastic with some of Matt’s best arrangements.

Whether happy or sad it’s all delivered by a voice that feels like a knowing and wise friend. Mature with just the right hint of clever playfulness, ‘Driving Just To Drive’ is an easy listening delight.

MARTYN YOUNG

ARTIST’S GUIDE

PRIMA QUEEN NOT THE BABY EP

Prima Queen talk us through their new EP, track by track.

BACK ROW Kristin: Back Row’ is a song about breaking someone’s heart that you really care about, and how that is a really heartbreaking process. The EP talks a lot about changes in relationships and this song brings to light how failed relationships can be beautiful in their own way and ultimately make you who you are. The main chorus lyric “We got tangled up and turned around” was inspired by the song “Edge of Town” by Middle Kids who have a lyric that goes “I’m upside down, I’m inside out”. I was listening to them a lot at the time and loved the way their lyrics are both very specific and quite vague at the same time.

Louise: It was the first song we recorded with our producer Ali Chant, which felt right as it’s the oldest song on the EP and it’s been a part of our live set for a long time now. It was probably the song that changed the most during the recording process, particularly the inclusion of horns. They feel like an integral part of the song now, while and felt like it wasn’t quite it feels strange that they weren’t right, but we didn’t really know always there! why. It just wasn’t building how we wanted it to so we tried a CROW bunch of things with different Louise: ‘Crow’ was written instrumentation, arrangement, just after lockdown about my etc but nothing really worked. experience of living in a big house We happened to be on tour with lots of my friends at a time as a duo with Sunflower Bean when everyone was struggling. and on a day off in Glasgow we I was listening to a lot of Sufjan decided we wanted to stay at Stevens and bossa nova guitar the hotel and work on ‘Dylan’. at the time, which were both big We suddenly came up with this influences on this song. idea to do a round during the We also weren’t playing any shows last chorus, and finally it felt at the time so I wrote the guitar like it just clicked. We decided part on a tiny nylon stringed guitar to try it out at the next show rather than an electric, so we the following day so we had to decided to keep that in the final practice it in the van the whole recording. way to the gig because it’s kind of a confusing part. As soon as Kristin: We usually switch we tried it on stage, we knew between lead guitar and singing we’d finally finished this song! but because of Louise’s intricate guitar part, it didn’t really feel right Louise: It was fun recording to have a lead guitar in this song this one with Ali; it was the first (which is what I would normally time we’d ever recorded our do), so I ended up writing a violin voices together which was really part instead, which I think fits cool because often it feels like the song a lot better. We actually we’re recording a lead vocal and a wrote this song in a park during backing vocal, but recording with lockdown because we weren’t him it felt like both voices were allowed to go into each other’s equally important regardless. He houses, so every time I hear it I really managed to capture that think of us sitting in that park. energy that we have on stage and put it into the take.

DYLAN HYDROPLANE Louise: ‘Dylan’ is a song about watching someone you love Kristin: ‘Hydroplane’ is about struggle and not being able to my relationship with my sister, do anything about it which is a growing up, and living in a theme which comes up quite a bit different country to my family. It’s on the EP. about the past, present, and future and how they all connect. I often Kristin: We had this song for a

Fenne Lily Big Picture

★★★★

→ Prepare to endure your feelings as Fenne Lily's newest album, 'Big Picture', is here to prod your goosebumps and cleanse your soul. Having recently left behind Bristol for a move to New York, Lily returns with one of her strongest offerings to date.

Brimming with moments of gentle catharsis, 'Big Picture' tackles love and grief with an underlying sense of optimism. The wonderfully open and honest outlook is refreshing, producing a warm and comforting album that will have you pressing play repeatedly. Each track feels like it belongs together as a wonderfully tender piece of work, making for a special listen from a brilliantly accomplished artist.

MELISSA DARRAGH

Baba Ali

Laugh Like A Bomb

★★★

Prima Queen Not The Baby EP

★★★★

→ Cut-throat lyricism, a wall of vibrant, playful production and the seamless combination of the voices of two best friends – on their debut EP, Prima Queen arrive as a force to be reckoned with.

Diving head-first into change in its every form, 'Not The Baby' is the sound of a band ready to make their mark. All the beloved bits of pre-EP Prima Queen take centre stage but are considered and refined into a formidable version of the band. It's the perfect cocktail of classic, crooning guitars and deliciously in tandem vocals that Prima Queen have nailed and seem set to continue to impress with. NEIVE MCCARTHY

think about whether I’ll ever live in the same country as my family again, and feel really messy and confused about that.

Louise: The title of the EP ‘Not The Baby’ is taken from this song too. There’s a lyric “I guess I forgot I wouldn’t always be the baby of the family” and I remember we were trying to think of what linked all the songs together and these lyrics just popped into my head. I feel like all the songs are about growing up and changes in relationships and the feelings surrounding that. As soon as we thought of ‘Not The Baby’ we were like yes! That’s it!

→ Baba Ali once again invite you to the dancefloor with their hedonistic soundtrack, 'Laugh Like A Bomb'. Having released their debut 'Memory Device' in 2021, their second fulllength finds the band bigger and bolder than ever. Opening track 'Hold My Head' is immediately enticing, with swirling synths and big beats, while 'Burn Me Out' and 'A Circle' feel retro yet utterly fresh. The album sees peaks in energy throughout, punctuating upbeat anthems with more pensive tracks. With seductive vocals and captivating hooks that show off everything great about the band, Baba Ali have a dramatic flair that's unmistakably theirs.

MELISSA DARRAGH

The Lemon Twigs

Everything Harmony

★★★★

→ As far as album concepts go, this one is an open book and opening track 'When Winter Comes Around' clearly lays out the intention: beauty and sophistication. With influences ranging from everything to everywhere with a stint on Broadway, The Lemon Twigs' sound leans into the cinematic.

Dramatic flourishes give them an immediately recognisable flair.

With grand vocal melodies and undeniably artful sonic textures made up of a mix of vibraphone, harpsichord, French horn, strings, and layered harmonies, 'Everything Harmony' is an album to get lost in. LAURA FREYALDENHOVEN

READDORK.COM 55.

GET OUT. LIVE MUSIC, FROM THE FRONT

Before long, Fletcher will be headlining the O2...

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→WE APPRECIATE THE FACT YOU’RE BUSY PEOPLE, SO IN THE INTEREST OF GETTING TO THE POINT, WE’LL TELL IT TO YOU STRAIGHT. Fletcher will soon be headlining

venues like London’s O2 arena.

We know, it seems a statement so painfully obvious that it almost doesn’t need saying but hear us out. On Tuesday night, Fletcher played the 20,000-capacity venue as the opening act to Panic! At The Disco’s farewell tour and smashed it in every way possible.

The brilliant set starts with Perry Como’s classic rendition of 'Girl Of My Dreams' before the Hollywood majesty is replaced by a churning rumble of electronic fury. Fletcher and her band march out onto the stage and launch straight into the snotty rock and roll of ‘Guess We Lied’. Crunching riffs sit perfectly under soaring vocals and before the track is over, Fletcher has the entirety of the busy venue bouncing along. That energy and connection remain for the duration of her time onstage. Every song ends with a genuine roar.

Fletcher released her first single in 2015 and, over the past few years, has been growing up alongside a fiercely dedicated fanbase. Her confessional pop bangers were always #relatable but recently, there’s been a newfound fearlessness. Breakout track ‘Undrunk’ came in 2019 (“serious question, do you ever wish you could unfuck someone?” she asks before the pulsating pop song tonight), while 2022’s ‘Girl Of Your Dreams’ was a bold, ballsy debut album. Tonight, she’s largely without her Fletchlights but she refuses to let that hold her back. Instead, she relishes the reintroduction.

‘Sting’ is a slow-burning breakup anthem with a big, theatrical ending that’s perfect for gigantic venues, while the bombastic ‘All Love’ takes nods from vintage stadium rockers Queen. Elsewhere ‘Serial Heartbreaker’ has more than a hint of 00s electro-punk to it, ‘Girl Of My Dreams’ flirts comfortably with epic and a glorious mash-up of her own ‘Sex (With My Ex)’ and SZA’s ‘Kill Bill’ is suitably dramatic.

As she explains at the start of the night, her songs are mostly about "shitty exes, girls who have broken my heart, hearts I’ve broken, tequila, drama and being the main character".

There’s a confidence to every pointed chorus and wailing guitar solo.

It’s not all showy rock tunes, though.

Fletcher spends the majority of the set prowling the stage, trying to make the gig feel as intimate as possible, while a stripped-back ‘Better Version’ is dedicated to “all the healing kings and queens”. Sitting down on the very edge of the imposing stage, Fletcher explains that tonight’s show was really intimidating. “I was crying, I was freaking out, this is scary as fuck,” she admits. “I’ve always struggled with performance anxiety but I promise you, if you run towards the thing that scares you the most, there’s so much magic in that.”

Ending with the giddy ‘Becky’s So Hot’ and the ‘Ironic’-influenced ‘Bitter’, tonight feels like the rest of the world is finally catching up with Fletcher. At the same time, she’s found a way to bring vulnerability, self-empowerment and her own excitable personality to the biggest of stages without losing that edge. We’ll see you back at The O2 soon, yeah?

Wunderhorse tear their egos to shreds

→ Since the 2017 collapse of Dead Pretties, Jacob Slater formed Wunderhorse with Harry Fowler, Peter Woodin, and Jamie staples. Capitalising on a breakthrough in sound, they released top-tier rock singles before their 2022 debut album, ‘Cub’. Now touring the UK playing sold-out shows, addictive top lines, fuzzy guitars and punchy lyrics have captured listeners' attention, and tonight's stop in Newcastle is no exception. From the tense build-up of ‘Butterflies’, the room is held in attentive silence. Matured away from the spotlight, their songs seem personal and outward-looking with genuine care. Wunderhorse possesses grungy edge and innate tenderness.

Thriving on simple, balanced tunes, their performance creates a cathartic experience. Quieter moments maintain energy as fans sing back every word.

Wunderhorse doesn’t say much; they don’t need to. Slater’s ‘Teal’, a story of love enduring hardship, defines his journey, and Newcastle's crowd walks a similar path. FINLAY HOLDEN

SG Lewis relishes the limelight at London’s Hammersmith Apollo

→ SG Lewis's bold breakthrough, ‘AudioLust & HigherLove’, showcases his ability to get a room moving. At the Hammersmith Apollo, this concert represents progress made over eight years. The producer-turned-frontman relies on fellow musicians and special guests with natural instrumentation.

‘Infatuation’ and ‘Something About Your Love’ balance his latest releases, while older material contrasts with chilled tones. A captivating mix of pop bangers and DJ moments, each devoured by a bustling crowd.

‘Lifetime’ is a perfect example; simple but charming. Guitar riffs are sprinkled elsewhere, including ‘One More’, before beats pulsate on ‘Another Life’. The catalogue of top-tier tracks is growing rapidly, fans screaming with delight.

His decision to actively take strides has proved fruitful. With the success of ‘Chemicals’ motivating him, it closes this experience. The lighting fills the building with colour, embracing the limelight. It’s a masterful showcase of SG Lewis's multifaceted capabilities, validating his ambition and evolving craft. FINLAY HOLDEN

NCT DREAM finally hit London, and it was worth the wait

matured. For NCT DREAM, that’s ‘Quiet when he rejoined.

Down’, a performance that includes three When the show kicks off a little later than scheduled, it’s with ‘Glitch Mode’, the members reclining in perspex boxes, the other four dancing on top of them. It hyperpop-adjacent, sound-effect-laden supposed to happen at all, at least obviously prompts the most screams of chantathon completed with delicate not with this lineup, or these songs. the night. vocals runs and a rock breakdown, it’s Thankfully, things didn’t work out the On ‘Better Than Gold’, the bouncy a perfect illustration of everything this way they were supposed to. retro number, the boys let loose properly, group can – and will – do over the next NCT, as a whole, have never really their playfulness and charisma on full two and a half hours. Racing through played by the rules. A mammoth display before dipping back into the ‘Countdown (3, 2, 1)’ and ‘Stronger’, 23-member boy group with a ‘limitless’ tightly choreographed singles that make they’ve earned the break they take to concept that could keep expanding and up the final third of the show. It’s a little introduce themselves, while Chenle morphing over time (ironically, this idea surreal to see Mark performing the songs mentions how jetlagged they are after has been sacked off now), delivering from the portion of DREAM’s career flying in from Hong Kong just a couple everything from polarising industrial where he was absent, but as they delegate of days prior. It doesn’t stop them giving electronic bangers to sultry 90s R&B to their all, as they bolt back into ‘Dreaming’ lines to him on ‘Ridin’ and ‘BOOM’, it’s classic Korean ballads via it’s endless like he’s never been away. and ‘Deja Vu’ at a second’s notice. combinations of members, it is it’s own They tease the end with ‘Hot Sauce’ The front loaded set continues with multiverse of madness.

– although there’s five more songs to one of their earliest (and most iconic) Its junior unit, NCT DREAM, worked come and we all know it – the lead single singles ‘My First and Last’, which has initially as a group of the youngest from their debut album which came five held up since its release in 2017 despite members, each one ‘graduating’ when years into their career. Things taking an the group’s changing lineup and ages they left teenhood and making way for unexpectedly long time is a common in that time, it remains outrageous fun, the next. Somewhere along the line, a theme for NCT DREAM, but so is the and spirals into a section of songs that stopper was wedged in this revolving door reference it in their titles and lyrics, ‘Bye thing being worth the wait. That’s true of teen boy idols, and DREAM were left in My First’, ‘Love Again’ and ‘To My First’. of both the full albums they’ve released limbo, stuck as a six-piece in 2020, with There’s a surprising number of ballads in the past two years and tonight’s show leader Mark having already outgrown the in the set, but when the three known as that’s taken years to make its way to concept.

British shores. the ‘vocal line’ take the stage for ‘Sorry, Three years after his re-addition The usual pre-encore chanting is Heart’, it’s clear why they record so many. and they’re finally performing together replaced with a crowd singalong, the If SM Entertainment can do one thing as a seven in the capital (there was a arena lit in florescent green from the well, it’s hire a damn good vocalist, and pandemic in between, you know). It’s Haechan, Renjun and Chenle here are no NCT light sticks as the big screen camera immediately obvious what a victory this pans across fan banners. It’s a touching exception. Later on, the remaining four, is for both the group and the fans, as interlude for a show that, between the Mark, Jeno, Jaemin and Jisung, take on thousands line up outside the OVO Arena ‘Saturday Drip’, a wonky hip-hop number bangers, has consisted of a copious Wembley, clad in neon green (the group’s amount of hugging and looking lovingly that’s the total opposite of the ballad official colour) and clutching banners into one another’s eyes, and an indication section it closes. that say “7dream is our missing puzzle that it probably wouldn’t have been wise For any artist who’s spent any amount to eventually split these boys up after all. piece”, a nod to a track recorded without of time in the limelight as a teenager, there comes a time to show how they’ve ABIGAIL FIRTH Mark that became especially poignant

→NCT DREAM PLAYING IN LONDON HAS BEEN A HELL OF A LONG TIME COMING. It could be said it was never

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ANY OTHER QUESTIONS?

Hatchie

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 that Hatchie would go on Come Dine With Me? What did you last dream about?

I’ll never tell!

If you could win a lifetime supply of anything, what would you choose?

Socks, I’m sick of replacing them.

What’s the furthest you’ve travelled to attend someone else’s gig?

I flew an hour to see New Order at the Opera House a few years ago, and would do it again in a heartbeat.

What’s your biggest fear?

Dying with regrets.

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?

Jess from Gilmore Girls.

What do you always have in your refrigerator?

Hot sauce.

What is your favourite time of day?

If I’ve had enough sleep, sunrise.

I like the quiet before anyone else is up other than birds. On a regular day, though, just as sunset starts.

Do you believe in aliens?

Yes! What are the odds we’re the only ones here?

How many hats do you own?

I think I own exactly one cap and one beanie... for practicality only.

I don’t suit hats.

What’s the sneakiest thing you’ve ever done?

I really shouldn’t say...

What is your most treasured possession?

My passport.

58. DORK

I don’t even think I have a doppelganger. Someone, please tell me" H ATC H I E

If you could learn one skill instantly, without needing to practice, what would you pick?

Probably speaking another language or an instrument like saxophone.

Have you ever been mistaken for someone else?

Not that I can recall. I don’t even think I have a doppelganger.

Someone, please tell me.

What was the first record you bought?

I wish I could remember!

What’s the ugliest living creature you’ve ever encountered?

Cops at a peaceful protest.

If you had to live as an animal for one year, which animal would you pick?

A dog, specifically my mum’s dog.

She’s treated like royalty.

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

I refuse to think hard enough about this and relive it! Probably something dumb trying to be cool as a teenager.

If you could read the mind of one person, who would it be?

My 2-year-old niece.

What was the last thing you broke?

I dropped my phone in a (clean) toilet a few months ago, and it’s never been the same.

What is the strangest food combination you enjoy?

Tomato sauce on Vegemite toast.

My grandpa showed it to me when I was a kid. Don’t knock it

til you try it!

Have you ever been thrown out of somewhere?

God yeah.

What is your earliest memory?

I can’t tell which one came first, but I have a few that all involve movies or music.

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

Come Dine With Me. I’m a terrible cook, so I’d fit right in.

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

Gum.

What is your favourite film about a ghost?

Hocus Pocus.

How punk are you out of ten?

1 out of 10.

Is there anything you’re brilliant at, but nobody else knows?

In comparison to my otherwise complete lack of sporting ability/ aim, I’m randomly pretty good at the American game cornhole.

How far could you run, if your life depended on it?

Maybe a few blocks.

How long can you hold a grudge?

These days, not long, but younger me was far more stubborn; I held on to things for years.

Why are you like this?

Chronically online. ■

Hatchie’s album ‘Giving The World Away (Deluxe)’ is out now.