PREMIERE: Problem Patterns – ‘Pity Bra’

GIHE favourites Problem Patterns will be sharing their debut album, Blouse Club, in less than 24 hours! To help celebrate the release, the Belfast-based Riot Grrrls have taken the pragmatic and very punk approach of sharing seven unreleased album tracks, each with individual DIY music videos, in advance of the album’s official release via Alcopop! Records tomorrow.

GIHE are honoured to be exclusively hosting the video for the delightfully named ‘Pity Bra‘, which features on the new record. Not defined by traditional band structures, Problem Patterns routinely switch up instruments and mic duties for their riotous songs, which always makes for a refreshing take on the subject they’re singing about. On ‘Pity Bra’, Alanah Smith takes the lead and tells the story of a very important night back in 2020, that strengthened the friendships and the creative foundations of Problem Patterns.

“This song is a true story and it explains itself,” explains Alanah about the track. “We went to Dublin to play a show for A Litany Of Failures, and the next day we all had a band trip to go see Sleater-Kinney. It was such a wonderful weekend, we ran into so many friends at that show. It was just a few weeks after that when we went into lockdown. That was the last trip we all had outside of Belfast for a really long time.

It is such a joyful memory for all of us. It was just this really lovely time where we went out for dinner with friends, played a show, saw one of our favourite bands – not a care in the world or any idea of what was about to come. I still remember the moment I was standing in that crowd and saw Ciara sneaking by me with the biggest grin on her face. Moments later Corin Tucker was holding our band shirt on stage. We absolutely do not advocate for throwing things at musicians, but in this case it gave us something funny to sing about later.

The song is sort of like an interlude on the album, the end of side A. It’s definitely the most gentle track and it’s very nostalgic for us. I thought the only possible video for it would be a montage of our time together so far. It’s a lot of spliced clips of things from our personal phones, as well as some behind the scenes moments filming live sessions, touring, music videos. There’s a few familiar faces in there. It’s all very sweet and sentimental.”

Fresh from supporting Dream Wife on their Irish tour dates and recently tipped as Ones To Watch by The Guardian, Problem Patterns also performed live on BBC 6Music and supported electro-punk icons Le Tigre on their Manchester and Glasgow tour dates earlier this year, as well as playing a standout set at Brighton’s Great Escape festival in May.

It’s been a joy to witness the Alana, Ciara, Bev and Beth’s hard work pay off over recent years, and we can’t wait to host the band live in London for the second time at their SOLD OUT headline show at the Sebright Arms in Hackney on Friday 17th November, supported by Fightmilk and Dogviolet (join the wait-list on DICE).

We wholeheartedly congratulate Problem Patterns on the release of their knockout debut album. Pre-order your copy of Blouse Club here. The band have shared the remaining 6 videos on other respected music publications, so make sure you keep your eyes peeled for those too!

Watch the DIY video for ‘Pity Bra’ below.

Follow Problem Patterns on bandcamp, Spotify, Twitter, Instagram & Facebook

Photo Credit: Carrie Davenport

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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NEW TRACK: Chelsea Wolfe – ‘Whispers In The Echo Chamber’

A potent blend of shadowy industrial sounds and her trademark captivating vocals, Chelsea Wolfe has shared her latest single ‘Whispers In The Echo Chamber’. Taken from her newly announced seventh album, She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She, which is set for release via Loma Vista on 9th February 2024, the track is a heavy rumination on trusting your inner voice and following your own intuition.

Exploring the cyclical nature of healing, Wolfe’s new album is described as “a rebirth”, breaking the physical and emotional chains that prohibit this cathartic process. “It’s a record about the past self reaching out to the present self reaching out to the future self to summon change, growth, and guidance,” she explains in more detail. “It’s a story of freeing yourself from situations and patterns that are holding you back in order to become self-empowered. It’s an invitation to step into your authenticity.”

Written alongside her longtime collaborators multi-instrumentalist Ben Chisholm, drummer Jess Gowrie and guitarist Bryan Tulao, Wolfe has crafted a dynamic, genre-blending manifesto of self-autonomy across ten tracks, with latest single ‘Whispers in the Echo Chamber’ spotlighting this in all its glory. Finding strength and power in the calmness of a whisper, as ominous synths and metallic riffs swirl around her, Wolfe is “bathing in the blood” of who she used to be – emerging cleansed and cutting as ever.

The track is accompanied by a stunning monochrome video, directed by Geoge Gallardo Kattah and filmed in Colombia. Wolfe explains the concept behind the visuals: “This video feels like a love story between myself and my sleep paralysis entity, who, for the sake of this video, represents a calm inner voice cutting through mental chatter and anxiety to help guide me towards a more authentic path. From the inward to the outward, this entity shows me the expansiveness of new possibilities, if only I’ll take the first difficult steps.”

Chelsea Wolfe has also announced a London headline show at Heaven on Sunday 21st April 2024. Tickets are on sale now.

Watch the video for ‘Whispers In The Echo Chamber’ below.

Pre-order Chelsea Wolfe’s new album here

Follow Chelsea Wolfe on bandcamp, Spotify, Instagram, Facebook & Tik Tok

Photo credit: Ebru Yildiz

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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NEW TRACK: Seraphina Simone – ‘Liverpool’

A bittersweet reflection on the beauty and brutality of romantic love, Seraphina Simone has shared her latest single ‘Liverpool’. Written solely by the London-based artist and co-produced by Jay Chakravorty, the track is a tender rumination on a past relationship, underscored by cinematic synths, meditative beats and Seraphina’s elegiac lyrics.

After a year spent on tour as part of Self Esteem’s live band, and following on from the release of her debut EP, Milk Teeth (2022), Seraphina Simone is now preparing to share more of her shimmering alt-pop sounds. On ‘Liverpool’, she carefully traces over moments of pure euphoria – “I saw you at the bus stop / you were looking at the floor / eyes as wide as oysters / thought I couldn’t love you more” – and contrasts them with snapshots of unfiltered pain – “Ghosts have their own agendas / and memories don’t want to die / so you’ll haunt my sentences / as long as we are both alive.” The result is a delicately delivered, but sharply observed contemplation on the duality of romance, which Seraphina has coined as “the best song she’s ever written.”

“‘Liverpool’ is a memento mori to love and a eulogy for the power of relationships,” the songwriter explains about the track. “Love is savage and beautiful and a time capsule and a time traveller, and love can fade and the people we love can fade away. But the marks we make in each other last forever like striations in landscapes changing with time, and it can be both wonderful and exhausting.”

Listen to ‘Liverpool’ below.

Follow Seraphina Simone via her Official Website, Spotify, Twitter (X), Instagram & Facebook

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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ALBUM: Grrrl Gang – ‘Spunky’

Upbeat from the opening bars, Indonesian rising stars Grrrl Gang’s debut album, Spunky!, lures you in with a colourful, bouncy mood, only to blindside you with darkly reflective lyrics. Given the first track is called ‘Birthday Blues’, this shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise, but the depth of the emotional journey this band takes you on can still feel like a sucker-punch.

The album is a case study in dissatisfaction with early adulthood. The first few tracks are all high energy and exciting; at a glance, they are the perfect picture of a fun party lifestyle, but the lyrics deliver a different picture. The birthday is unsatisfying – no longer a celebration, but ageing into a directionless adulthood. Bar-hopping feels like shallow entertainment, business school doesn’t afford the opportunities it once promised… A fight breaks out in a karaoke bar. The joy in these songs are surface level, and reality rudely forces itself on you no matter how hard you try to stay optimistic.

The single ‘Cool Girl‘, with its absolute encapsulation of isolation in a crowd, sits comfortably in the middle of the album, marking a turning point for the whole mood. The preceding tracks sow the seeds of doubt about a life being lived because it’s what is expected, building up to a breaking point with ‘Cool Girl’.

From this point onwards, Spunky! shifts its tone dramatically, becoming abruptly vulnerable. The next track, ‘Better Than Life’, cuts through all the pretend optimism. It hits you with the upfront “I feel caged in my body/I’ve been flirting with death” delivered in a direct and deadpan style, whilst the rebellious, self-destructive appearance of previous tracks drops away in exchange for a brutally honest depiction of how the world tears at your mental health. This is followed by ‘Tower Moment’, a moody instrumental piece that makes you sit with the feelings the album so far has raised.

The mood shifts again with ‘Mother’s Prayer’; a poignant moment of reflection. The sense of isolation lingers on this track, despite it being specifically about the people who care – “My mother’s prayers/Can only get me so far”. There’s a realisation that demands a moment of quiet to digest, before the understanding comes that the only actual choice you have is to carry on.

Spunky! draws to a close with a sense of hope to it. ‘Blue-Stained Lips’ in a love song; the liveliness of the music has a lot more body to it than the counterparts at the beginning of the album. Insecurities still linger, but they are gentler now, acknowledged but overruled by the brighter tunes. The album ends with ‘The Star’, which addresses the work required to get to a truly healthy place, but with a firmly optimistic attitude – you can’t help but be convinced that things are about to get better, that moving past the struggle is not only possible, but getting closer every day. Some of the most wholesome moments in this track are also the simplest – “I look in the mirror/And I like what I see”.

Having been featured in the likes of NME and Spin, with Spunky Grrrl Gang showcase their ability to fuse together their empowering riotous punk energy with a poignant raw honesty and relatable fizzing emotion. Uplifting and cathartic in equal measure.

Spunky!, the debut album from Grrrl Gang, is out now via Trapped Animal, and via legendary label Kill Rock Stars in America. Order here.

Kirstie Summers
@ActuallyKurt

Photo Credit: Tiny Studio

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