ALBUM: Pale Honey – ‘Devotion’

If you blend the vocals of Wolf Alice’s Ellie Rowsell and the Cardigans’ Nina Persson with clear electronics and hazy guitar riffs – you’ll end up with the sound of Gothenburg duo Pale Honey. The band released their second album Devotion earlier this month and it’s a cool, understated new offering.

‘Replace Me’ is a strong album opener, displaying the pair’s inherent ability to craft assertive, memorable indie-electronic tunes. It blends seamlessly in to second track ‘Someone’s Devotion’, which is an up-beat, fuzzy guitar-led rejection of love. ‘Get These Things Out Of My Head’ follows and just like the track’s name, you’ll struggle to get the buzzing synths out of your brain.

‘The Heaviest Of Storms (Devotion Pt. 1)’ smoulders for just shy of six minutes, making it the strung out and sultry highlight of the record, whilst ‘Lesson Learned’ is another coolly uncompromising tune that threatens “I will break you honey” with casual venom. ‘Real Thing’ is charged with “electric” “obsessive” energy, and ‘777 (Devotion, Pt.2)’ bookends the previous three tracks with quiet guitars and sweetly jaded vocals.

Penultimate track ‘Golden’is another charged tune that quietly, but defiantly champions independence, whilst ‘Why Do I Always Feel This Way’ closes the record on a note of uncertainty. There’s one thing we know for sure though, Pale Honey pack a powerful punch with their assertive indie-electronic offerings, and you should head down to their show at Old Blue Last on November 7th to hear their tunes in the flesh (RSVP here).

Follow Pale Honey on Facebook for more updates.

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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Video Premiere: Rookes – ‘The Heel Of My Hand’

Feast your eyes on the sharp new visuals from Rookes for thier latest single ‘The Heel Of My Hand’. The song is about losing the first woman she ever loved, which she describes as a “catalytic experience”. The shoot itself was completed in 12 hours at a studio in Dalston, with a cast and crew of just six people.

“I had to adapt to a lot of change very quickly, as well as attempt to process my sexuality – which I had been avoiding for a long time in strange and elaborate ways,” explains Rookes. “We made a story thread with my playing instruments a priority too. This is very significant to me, as I play all my live shows solo with multiple instruments, and I think it’s really important for girls and young women to see that”.

We admire Rookes’ insight and energy, both of which are clearly displayed in the video for ‘Heel Of My Hand’. She’s committed to changing perceptions about women in music too: “There is a stereotype out there that most women in the music industry are usually vocalists or backing vocalists, and it needs to die. The only way that’s going to happen is when people see more women doing other things on stage than just singing”.

Watch her new video below and follow Rookes on Facebook for more updates.

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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Track Of The Day: Onsind – ‘Immature’

“Do I sound like a teenager, When I say that you’ve infantalised our rage, When I say I want to put myself in danger, Do I sound immature?”

The first single to be taken from new album We Wilt, We Bloom, released next month on Specialist Subject records, Onsind’s ‘Immature’ is the perfect intersection of upbeat indiepop melody and down-but-not-out societal dissatisfaction.

Tackling the dissonance between the baby boomers who grew up cushioned by the welfare state and healthy economies, and the younger generations accused of “wanting it all on a plate” the track wraps scathing ironies in pop-punk jaunt. Amid jangling yet scratchy guitar the lyric brings forth the ennui of the disaffected, the numbing sense of futility punctured only by blooms of anger.

Not unsurprisingly given the shared members between the bands, the track shares melodic similarities with Martha, but where lyrically the latter tends to hang hope on the breadth of love, Onsind is a more overtly political beast. And it is so without the polarising spit and snarl of typical punk but with a more considered navigation of the often murky waters of society and class. When in ‘Immature’ they pit the haves of the older generation against the have nots of the younger, it is not with a binary outcome but rather a subtle entanglement that we are all at once both the winner and the loser in life.

Perfect pop in the sense you can sing along to the chorus saved from the everyday in the purity of voices raised together in song, or can find comfort in words which in a generously intellectual way resonate where little else seems to be able to make you feel. As a lead track it bodes well for a long-awaited album and is another moment of growth in this band which has been sharing our anger and our joys for a decade now.

 

‘Immature’ is out now. All donations made on this pay what you like track will be donated to Salvage Collective , an organisation supporting women (cis, trans & intersex), trans & non-binary survivors & activists who experience gender oppression, violence and abuse in UK activist communities. Find it on Onsind’s Bandcamp. 

Sarah Lay 
@sarahlay

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Introducing Interview: Indian Queens

Born and raised in Hackney Wick, London trio Indian Queens have no issue with talking about the way their surroundings have influenced them as people and as a band. Jennifer, Katherine & Matt create thoughtful, atmospheric sounds reminiscent of bands like Warpaint and Radiohead (who the band have a mutual love for). We caught up with guitarist and vocalist Jennifer to talk about their upcoming release with Cool Thing Records, what inspired their previous track ‘Us Against The World’, their anticipations for their gig at St Pancras Old Church, and most importantly: pre-gig pizza and prosecco…

Hello Jennifer, for anyone who doesn’t know, how did Indian Queens come to be?
Me and Katherine are sisters, so we go way back and we grew up round the corner from Matt. We have a mutual love for Radiohead and equal addiction to salted popcorn and Jameson whiskey – preferably all together.

Your upcoming single ‘I Get No Rest’ is due to be released in November. Can you tell me a little bit about the inspiration behind this track? I’m particularly interested in where the lyric “Free, as long as you obey” came from…
The track is a soundtrack to a late dark night in London. I could see a single picture in my mind that sparked the lyrics to this track. I also wrote them during a massive political shift in this country.

This track actually took us ages to complete. We had all the parts but just couldn’t fit it together.Then Brexit happened, and a general election – neither of which I agreed with. Then in particular to London, Grenfell Tower happened – and it felt like a lot of rich ‘important’ people were taking the piss out most of our lives.

Free, as long as you obey”. To me this feels like how most of the world turns and it’s not a bandwagon I want to jump on. Don’t get me wrong, it’s impossible not to in a lot of respect. But it fucked me off.

I listened to your previous single ‘Us Against The World’ too, and it struck me that independence is a theme in both songs. Would you agree? Is independence something you are conscious of when writing and releasing new music?
It is very important to me. There is also a massive disproportion of men and women in the music industry, which is thankfully changing. I feel that it’s allowing women to have a new sense of independence. After all it’s not as though we can’t have the same roles, we just weren’t given the opportunity. Girl power!

‘Us Against The World’ can be about you and anyone. When time starts speeding up it’s a comfort to have someone on your side. That childhood feeling that it’s us against the world. That nostalgic feeling that you’re invincible. That was what that track was about.

You’re now a part of the Cool Thing Records family. How did you hear about the label, and how are things going so far?
We met Mike (Asylums bassist/Cool Thing Co-Founder) years back when we were all playing in different bands, so we can really relate as musicians and songwriters. We also love their DIY approach, and it felt very natural to be releasing through them.

You’re playing a headline show at St Pancras Old Church on November 29th. What are your anticipations for this gig?
I can’t wait! It’s such a beautiful venue. We have an amazing support too, another East London female based band called Wyldest.

Do you have any pre-show rituals to help calm your nerves before you play live?
Prosecco and Pizza!

As a new music blog who promote women in music, we were wondering what new music/female artists you’ve been listening to lately. Any suggestions?
An amazing Oxford band we know called Candy Says. They do film soundtracks too which is sooo cool! Another female artist on our record label called Beckie Margaret is doing really beautiful stuff.

What does the rest of 2017 hold for Indian Queens?
We are getting new tracks mixed at the moment towards our album out next year, so very excited to get those back.

Finally, if you had to sum up your music in three words, what would they be?
Too Damn Serious 🙂 haha

Huge thanks to Jennifer for answering our questions. You can buy tickets for Indian Queens’ gig at St Pancras Old Church here. Follow Indian Queens on Facebook for more updates.

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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