Track Of The Day: Dott – ‘Like A Girl’

Activism and garage-pop collide in anthemic style on Dott‘s latest track ‘Like A Girl’. The Galway-based band have released the song ahead of Ireland’s vote to Repeal the 8th Amendment on May 25th – a vote which would give Irish women access to full reproductive health services, including abortion.

“It has always bothered me when people say that doing something ‘Like a Girl’ means they did it weakly or substandard,” guitarist & vocalist Anna explains about the track. “To put this out-dated notion to bed, I wrote this song to remind people that doing something ‘Like a Girl’ means it will be powerful and no shit will be taken.”

“It’s especially relevant in Ireland at the moment with the fast approaching Referendum on Reproductive Rights. Irish women and girls have spent years fighting for their reproductive rights, demanding a referendum to change archaic and unsafe Irish Law. And now we are a matter of weeks away from the referendum finally happening, all because of the fierce and tireless work of the women’s groups of Ireland. So, what I’m trying to say is, if you’re going to do something important, you’d better hope that everyone says you did it ‘Like a Girl.'”

The band’s new song features a guest appearance from Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz on guitar and the accompanying video features members from Galway Pro Choice, Galway Parents for Choice, and Galway Roller Derby, as well as footage of recent marches for Women’s Rights in Galway. We’re totally behind everything that ‘Like a Girl’ stands for.

Listen to the track below.

Sign the petition to Repeal the 8th Amendment here.

Follow Dott on Facebook for more updates.

Dott’s sophomore album Heart Swell is set to be released on Graceface Records on 8th June.

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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EP: Kate Stapley – ‘Centella’

Informed by personal and wider histories, Kate Stapley‘s debut solo EP Centella is a poignant blend of music and relatable metaphors. The Bristol-based songwriter explores mental health and forces beyond her control through gentle percussion, soft guitars and poetic lyricism, allowing her grief to blossom in to a positive force for change.

Released in January via Breakfast Records, listening to Centella is an aural breath of fresh air. ‘Iceland’ opens the EP, a gentle ode to snowy peaks and a comforting reminder that there’s new life on the horizon, even if you can’t crawl out of “creased bed sheets” whilst listening to it. Kate’s feelings of “numb translucency” are laid bare and resolved with the aid of a friend here – “Oh there’s more for me, takes a friend like you to remind me” – as tender percussion and soft guitar sounds score her moments of reflection.

‘Potted History Of Mum’ laments the fragmented memories of a loved one who’s life is slowly being lost to the cruelty of dementia. “It’s all so cyclical” sings Kate, in a soothing, accepting tone, before revealing a tender truth: “It only means a thing to me, ‘cos it means the world to you”. ‘Irises’ flows in a similar vein, with strings underscoring more of Kate’s beautifully honest lyrics: “it destroys me, the truth, that’s why I distance myself from you”. Despite the melancholy nature, this tune (and the whole record) brims with hope.

On ‘Interlude’, Kate studies a precious family photograph in a musical monologue – “It’s funny how it runs through the family, there’s so much of you that I see in me” – before striking penultimate track ‘These Planets’ explores the “darkness” in her bones. “I learned from the witches who began this” she sings, before profound and personal statements like “gender is not genital, that’s a fact we can’t escape” and “I may have inherited your pain, but it’s what drives me” flood her consciousness alongside more subtle percussion and soothing guitar sounds.

‘Stabilisers’ closes the EP with a sense of perseverance. The poignant line “Now we ride side by side, I even overtake you sometimes” resonates long after the track stops spinning. Kate Stapley’s blend of nostalgia and new hope on Centella is admirable and emotional, which makes listening to her debut a real gem of an experience.

Order your copy of Centella here . Follow Kate Stapley on Facebook for more updates.

Photo Credit: Simon Holliday 

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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ALBUM: New Haunts – ‘Worlds Left Behind’

A soundtrack for the witching hour, New Haunts‘ debut album Worlds Left Behind is a veiled, intriguing exploration of independence. Fusing elements of coldwave, goth, early industrial and synthpop, she’s crafted a collection of distinctive, ominous sounds.

As the album’s title suggests, New Haunts is caught between the world she inhabits and the world she once knew. She explores this on opening track ‘Ingrained’ through urgent vocal harmonies that rise and fall against a backdrop of slow, scratchy drum sounds. It bleeds into lead single ‘Reactions’, a cold but magnetic offering which laments the simultaneous beauty and horror of having emotional connections. It’s connections like these that make the tortured howls on following track ‘Left Me Cold’ feel so sharp. They contrast well with her tentative and pained vocals during the verses, as foreboding synths underscore another moment of painful clarity.

‘Hymns’ and ‘New Haunts’ take listeners on a gentler electronic turn, with some Kate Bush-style wavering vocals, whilst ‘Waves’ breaks through this ambient interlude with jagged synths and more of New Haunts fluttering, urgent vocals. Its dark, glittering defiance flows into the subdued ‘Same Medicine’, followed by ‘Safe Out Here’ which is full of more brooding synths and wavering vocals.

Whispers of insecurity permeate closing track ‘Ice’ – “and I give it my all / as far as I know / as far as I can” – before abrasive synths push through a “concrete truth.” New Haunts may be at the beginning of her solo journey, but her debut record shows she is well equipped for these intriguing sonic ventures. Fans of Zola Jesus and Kate Bush will approve of her gothic noise on Worlds Left Behind.

Listen to Worlds Left Behind on Spotify & follow New Haunts on Facebook for more updates.

Purchase the album from bandcamp here.

Photo Credit: Katie Murt

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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ALBUM: LIINES – ‘Stop-Start’

LIINES‘ debut album has a tendency to skip from one track to the next barely taking a breath – rarely has a title seemed more fitting than Stop-Start. The band’s name, too, couldn’t be more fitting given their principal musical style of post-punk, with vocal, guitar, bass and drum lines all competing for prominence. If the cyclical nature of things means that musical movements are revived about every twenty years, then LIINES are perfectly placed for indie’s re-embrace of post-punk, a movement which dominated in the early 2000s.

First track ‘Shallow’ kicks things off and gets to express-train speed in seconds, with its choppy guitar line, and Zoe McVeigh’s vocals reminiscent of Sleater-Kinney’s Corin Tucker. ‘Never There’ follows with a drive like that of Silence Yourself-era Savages. ‘Be Here’ is similarly unrelenting with its garage rock feel.

But this isn’t just a bouncing alt. rock album – behind the pace you’ll find sinister guitar solos and basslines that bubble like poisonous liquid. By ‘Find Something’ and its oppressive post-punk aura – coming off like Interpol hanging out with PINS, before halting abruptly – the album has its immense, dark hooks lodged into your brain.

‘Cold’ chills things down noticeably, coming as close to balladeering as Stop-Start gets, with Zoe’s vocals nearing a torch song style plea. ‘Blackout’ is constructed around another sinister guitar line, before ‘Disappear’ merges that sound with straight-out stomp via a flurry from drummer Leila. ‘Hold Your Breath’ is a broken love-song, whilst ‘Never Wanted This’ sounds like PJ Harvey fronting Breeders. Former bassist Steph’s deceptively simple rhythm work kicks off closer ‘Nothing’ and, as album closers go, it’s a banger with shades of Pixies in its structure and a wailing Zoe at its centre.

Whilst the two bands have a different emphasis, contemporaries Desperate Journalist’s 2017 album Grow Up is perhaps the most apposite point of comparison for Stop-Start, with both bands taking the best of their indie/alt predecessors and blending it into something that’s fresh.

Between them, LIINES and producer Paul Tippler (known for his work with indie luminaries such as Elastica, Idlewild and Stereolab) have created a sound combining riot grrrl disquiet, post-punk gloom and new-wave urgency. Despite losing a bassist (Steph Angel now replaced with Tamsin Middleton), the trio have crafted a debut that promises to be the pulsating start, rather than the end, of LIINES. A truly impressive debut from the Manchester trio.

Stop-Start is out now via Reckless Yes Records.

 

John McGovern
@etinsuburbiaego

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