Dork, August 2020

DOWN WITH BORING

Big Dec energy.

WELCOME BACK TO THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF DECLAN MCKENNA

ISSUE 46 · AUGUST 2020 · READDORK.COM

August 2020.

THIS MONTH...

34.

Declan McKenna Back with a second album, Declan McKenna has always been a cut above. This time, though, he's ready to make us question everything.

42.

Another Sky

Another Sky's debut album is a love letter to moving on from your hometown; to finding your own place in the world.

46.

KennyHoopla With nods to many a cult mid-00s icon, KennyHoopla is enthusiastically dusting off and breathing fresh new life into some oft-overlooked faves.

50.

Bloxx

It's time, guys. Bloxx are stepping up to the big leagues with their muchanticipated debut album, 'Lie Out Loud'.

54.

Fontaines D.C.

Think you know Fontaines D.C.? The Dubliners' second album sees them not just rewrite their own rulebook, but tear it up and throw it away.

readdork.com 3.

Index.

** SUBSCRIBE TO DORK AND SAVE MORE THAN 30% A YEAR ** Subscribe at readdork.com now

August 2020 | readdork.com | Down With Boring

readdork.com

Editor Stephen Ackroyd Deputy Editor Victoria Sinden Associate Editor Ali Shutler Contributing Editors Jamie Muir, Martyn Young

Scribblers Abigail Firth, Alex Cabre, Aleksandra Brzezicka, Alexander Bradley, Blaise Radley, Chris Taylor, Ciaran Steward, Jack Press, Jake Hawkes, Jamie MacMillan, Laura Freyaldenhoven, Liam Konemann, Paris Fawcett, Sam Taylor, Sophie Williams Snappers Charlie Cummings, Daniel Dorsa, Daniel Parkopcyk, Hollie Fernando, Fiona Garden, Jamie MacMillan, Leeor Wild, Parri Thomas, Pooneh Ghana, Rachel Kiki, Richard Dumas, Sam Hiscox, Sarah Louise Bennett, Sodium Films, Sophie Hur, Tim Toda PUBLISHED FROM WELCOMETOTHEBUNKER.COM UNIT 10, 23 GRANGE ROAD, HASTINGS, TN34 2RL All material copyright (c). All rights reserved. This publication may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, in whole or in part, without the express written permission of The Bunker Publishing Ltd. Disclaimer: While every effort is made to ensure the information in this magazine is correct, changes can occur which affect the accuracy of copy, for which The Bunker Publishing Ltd holds no responsibility. The opinions of the contributors do not necessarily bear a relation to those of Dork or its staff and we disclaim liability for those impressions. Distributed nationally.

Ø6 Intro 26 Hype 34 Features 58 Incoming

Ed’s letter

Sports Team

26

Crack Cloud

28

Tate McRae

29

Michelle

Marsicans

3Ø

Fletcher

Willie J Healey

32

After going into battle with Lady Gaga, Sports Team aren’t planning on standing still. Album two, anyone?

1Ø

What have you been up to during lockdown, Dear Reader?

Whatever it is, you can see some of the fruits of our summer of no festivals starting this month. More bands, more bangers, more nonsense we've been spending the time away from fields of fun levelling up. We hope you like it. There's much, much more to come.

There's nobody who we'd rather have grace the cover of our spangly new issue than Declan McKenna. We've been besotted with our Deccy since the very first issue of Dork, and with his brand new album 'Zeros' he too is taking a giant leap into an exciting future.

That's the vibe of the summer, really. Yes - the last few months have been impossibly hard. Yes, they continue to be a challenge. For more than one reason we've been forced to look at our lives and question if this is really how we want things to continue when the world returns to a sense of normality. But that doesn't mean there can't be a spark of something hopeful too. Y'know, or something.

S tephen

Ø6

12

Vancouver collective Crack Cloud were founded on community spirit, communal freedom, and storytelling.

Dizzy

London rapper Bree Runway is one of the most exciting upand-coming pop stars around.

Dizzy's second album sees them offering up a warm comfort blanket of lovely, lo-fi bops.

14

22

Willie J Healey has thrown off his major label ties to work with indie darlings Yala! Records on his second album, 'Twin Heavy'.

‘EDITOR’ @STEPHENACKROYD

Biffy Clyro

With their delayed ninth album now imminent, Biffy Clyro's 'A Celebration of Endings' has taken on new meaning.

Remi Wolf

Sea Girls

With their debut album finally arriving, Sea Girls run us through what to expect, track by track style.

HONNE are showing off their playful side, letting loose with new mixtape, 'no song without you'.

24

Get ready to see a lot more of New York collective Michelle, as they've just inked a deal with Transgressive Records.

You'll struggle to find an artist quite so assertively herself as Remi Wolf.

58

Honne

Two million YouTube subscribers, ten million monthly Spotify listeners. Our Tate could populate a small country with fans.

Purveyor of huuuuuge pop bops about partying, break-ups and the like, Fletcher is on the up and up.

Leeds indie boys Marsicans have arrived with their debut album, and they're having a blast.

18

Bree Runway

66

Arlo Parks

Random questions are much more interesting.

That's why we've asked a bunch to Arlo.

ON THE DORK STEREO THIS MONTH...

Declan McKenna

The Magic Gang

Everything Everything

Well, he's on the cover, so you can probably hazard a guess as to if we think Dec's second album is any 'cop'. It's obviously absolutely bloody fabulous - no shocks there, then, eh?

To our simple minds, the 'death' of the 'party' would probably come with a touch less melody, and perhaps not such a happy toot toot of brass.

Apart from that, Le Gang Magique have nailed album two.

The latest track to be taken from the quartet's forthcoming album, it has synths that sound more than a bit Stranger Things-y. That's more than enough for us.

Hurry up with season 4 please. Thanks

Zeros

Death Of The Party

Planets

Bully

Sugaregg

When you think about it, a sugaregg is probably quite similar to a Cadbury's Mini Egg, what with its sugary outer coating 'and that'. Therefore, we can conclude that Bully's new album is an ode to Easter based confectionery.

Can't wait for the song about Maltesers bunnies.

Sure-fire banger, that one.

Anything we heard on TikTok

Seriously, fucking anything at all.

We're so basic. Is there a dance, too?

readdork.com 5.

Intro.

THE BEATING HEART OF P OP.

HRRNNK!!!

Here is ‘the news’

Dizzy

Dizzy's second album is a warm comfort blanket of lovely, lo-fi bops. p.12

Marsicans

Indie boys Marsicans have arrived with their debut album. p.14

Willie J Healey

Willie J Healey has thrown off his major label ties. p.18

Honne

The duo are showing off their playful side with their new mixtape. p.22 6. DORK

*AHEM* I thin

find that isn’ t

chart eligible,

k you’ll

actually ‘matey’!

Intro.

ST UF F YOU NEED TO KNOW T HIS M ONT H...

‘FYI’

Future Islands have shared a brand new track, ‘For Sure’.

Featuring backing vocals by Jenn Wasner of Wye Oak, it’s the first new material from the band since 2018.

Bright Eyes have confirmed all important details around their anticipated new album, with ‘Down In The Weeds, Where The World Once Was’ set for release on 21st August.

Circa Waves have bumped their headline tour back again - now it’s planned for March 2021. It’s gonna be well awks if we’re still now allowed gigs next year, innit?

Number two THE B I G STORY !

After going into battle with Lady Gaga, Sports Team aren’t planning on standing still. Album two, anyone? By: Jake Hawkes. Photography: Jamie MacMillan. uick question, Dear Reader: who’s bigger, Sports Team or Lady Gaga? You’re

“I doubt Gaga even knows who we are, and yet here she is crushing us with ease” Alex Rice

Things you can buy for 99p* that are ineligible for the UK Official Albums Chart 4 x Freddos Is there anything better than a Freddo? Yes, probably. But you’d rather have one than a new track from Jess Glynne.

Eastman’s pork & egg roll Sliced, cured and seasoned reformed pork with added water and egg. Much like Royal Blood.

Creamfields mild cheddar slices Won’t make a George Ezra joke. Won’t make a George Ezra joke. Won’t make a George Ezra joke. Love you, George.

Wilco functional white toilet brush and holder In many ways, aren’t most things in ‘the charts’ actually functional white toilet brushes and holders, when you think about it?

A copy of Sports Team’s debut album ‘Deep Down Happy’ on Google Play on a Thursday night But only if a pop star’s ‘team’ get dead mardy about it and complain to ‘the man’. Boo! Boooooo!

* or a quid because apparently nothing costs 99p anymore - Ed

even with us peddling enough generally. So we messaged told they were postponed. record bundles to build a him again about this, and he So we’re all there thinking house. But then we saw we thought it sounded funny ‘Jesus Christ, have we broken were ahead in the midweek enough, and he sent over the music?’ getting all these calls charts and thought we could video. To be honest, I think he right, only one of them from people asking be in with a shot. has been on the cover how we’d managed Each day Gaga of Dork, so it’s clearly Sports to bring the charts gained on us Team. We thought the same, down, until finally just a little bit so you can imagine our shock we were told that more and finally when scrappy upstart Lady the 99p sales were overtook us on Gaga managed to beat them disqualified and the Thursday, to the Number One spot on we were Number a real cricket the albums chart, seemingly Two.” He pauses scenario [we’ll without even noticing she’d on that sombre have to take done it and without the note, before your word for support of Shadow Foreign adding with a grin, that one, Alex – Office Minister Stephen “Probably too Ed]. We made Doughty (yes, he did tweet his embarrassed to let peace with it, support of Sports Team and us win. It’s pretty thought it was yes, we also had to Google on-brand, isn’t it?  Sports Team, Margate, 2019.

Remember gigs? inevitable, then who he was.)

Facing off against Murph from The After the dust had settled a completely Wombats told everyone to get got more out of it than us, he and the numbers were in, we disinterested international the album, and we all love The was broadcast on the Radio gave Sports Team frontman superstar, giving it everything Wombats, so that 1 news bulletin to millions of and Dork we’ve got and not getting a Sports Team April felt huge and bemused listeners, you can’t columnist Alex Number One album due to 2021 tour dates got us thinking buy that kind of exposure.

Rice a ring to get a clarification of the terms about who else “We weren’t sure how the inside scoop 20 Dublin, The we could cajole big we could go, but getting and see how Grand Social into shilling for Lewis Capaldi and Sam he was taking 22 Leeds, University us – who else Fender was the pinnacle, the defeat.

Stylus could be cocrowning glory. The highest “We were 23 Manchester, The opted into this point of our career so far robbed!” he Albert Hall odd indie vs pop and we did it all online while shouts in mock 25 Nottingham, chart battle. It poring over click-through outrage, before Rock City was just funny to rates, now that’s rock and roll. adding, “No, 26 Glasgow, SWG3 start with, trying Didn’t work obviously, but I’m kidding, 28 Bristol, SWX to get all these what a rush! It all unravelled a obviously Bristol bizarre people bit after that, because we were Number Two 29 London, O2 involved like pretty drunk and we read in is unbelievable, Academy Brixton Jeremy Wade of the chart rules that you could plus we did River Monsters fame...” do a flash sale of an album for actually get a Number One in And how exactly does a limited time, and it would still Scotland, so we’re looking at an indie band managed to count – a concept pioneered how soon we can move there, convince a celebrity fisherman

by Lily Allen and Gaga herself. as well as ordering as many to help them sell records?

We basically had a master of those little chart trophies Alex laughs. “Truth be told we team of music industry people as we can. The guidelines say actually approached him when whispering in our ears and we can have ‘a reasonable we were releasing ‘Fishing’ telling us the tricks of the amount’, so we might just fill and asked if he’d be in the trade. the bathroom with them. video, which I think he found “So we did all that, then “I think the biggest quite funny and endearing, finally went to bed and set thing was the hope during but wasn’t interested enough our alarms for 10am, which those days leading up to it, to do it – which I think is is when the chart results because obviously we weren’t quite indicative of the feelings normally come through for expecting to get anywhere the band inspires in people bands and that, but we were near the top of the charts,

readdork.com 7.

ST UF F YOU NEED TO KNOW T HIS M ONT H...

‘FYI’

Intro.

Boniface has shared a brand new track, ‘Happy Birthday’. It’s the first track since their self-titled debut album, which dropped in February.

James Blake has unleashed (does James Blake unleash things? - Ed) a new track called ‘Are You Even Real?’

“Second album is going to be soon, before the end of the year” Alex Rice

 Sports Team, Margate, 2019. This is what we look like when we're praying Alex will remember to do his column this month. He didn't. and conditions. I doubt Gaga even knows who we are, and yet here she is crushing us with ease – we are genuinely chuffed with the placement though, fastest-selling debut in four years, can’t argue with that.”

While a Number One would have been a bigger deal for the band themselves, it makes sense that a group whose fans seem to spend every waking hour making them into memes would end up missing out by a whisker in dubious circumstances. Alex seems to have bounced back from the defeat already, with his mind firmly on the free tat he can secure for the band’s Camberwell home. “I think you get a bronze disc if you sell 25,000 records – I reckon that’d look good in the living room,” he muses. “We’re still in the charts now, so sales are ticking along towards that figure, think we had a very satisfying drop of 69 places from week one to week two, so I’m happy – although not being able to celebrate with the fans obviously deflates you a little bit. Right now this whole thing is completely abstract to me, it’s just a screenshot of a chart position, I’m still just stuck at

home. I haven’t met any fans or played any gigs, which is the stuff that makes this all real and enjoyable.

“That’s part of the reason we announced that tour when we did [the band tour the UK next April], just to make it feel real again - plus it’s traditional for us to announce a ludicrous London venue like Brixton and then frantically spend months trying to find people to fill it.

Brixton’s a very forgiving venue though, I’ve had a look at the blueprints, and we can make it seem full even if nobody turns up.

“What I’m hoping for is that the fans are so caught up in it now with all their bundles and memes that they’re going to have to come, aren’t they?

I reckon we can harness that energy and pivot to being the musical equivalent of that group of mates that you feel duty-bound to see at least once a year. Brixton is going to feel like the biggest reluctant reunion of all time, that’s my plan. If it is all gonna come crashing down, I want to fall hard, though. I don’t want to fade away, I want 10 people to turn up to the Brixton gig and really drag us through the mud about the new album, really

Blimey, Brixton is a big old venue. Will Sports Team sell enough tickets?

Good question. Let’s ‘do’ the ‘maths’.

10,021

TWITTE R F OLLOWE R S

4,921

B R I XTON CA PACI T Y

Yes it will all be ‘okay’. Should prob have tried Ally Pally.

8. DORK

Gerard Way has done a new track to launch the second season of The Umbrella Academy. It’s called ‘Here Comes The End’.

Yes, everything is Very Serious right now, but...

Sports Team’s

chart bid was a bright spark at a point we needed it most

Dork’s percentage odds we actually get a new Sports Team album before December 31st 2020, because just look at the state of everything, and you know what labels are like for holding things back for Q1 2021...

5%

slate it.”

Hang on a minute, the new album? “Of course,” Alex replies, not seeming to notice that they’ve literally just released an album. “Second album is going to be soon, before the end of the year.”

Again, he doesn’t seem to be joking. “Before the stores of goodwill are exhausted, we’ve got to release another one – we’ve got a lot of it done from over lockdown as it is, but we’re in a big writing phase at the moment for lack of anything else to do. This time it probably won’t have a load of old singles on it either, I don’t know if the fans would let us get away with that again.

“My vision for it is that we’ve found our voice with the first album, we’ve grown up and worked out who we are, and now album two is more answering questions and being a bit more explicit about where we’re at on things.” He laughs. “That sounded quite competent, didn’t it? I’m billing it as this considered, polished album, but what I actually see in my head is pure stadium rock. It’s just going to be us on stage with a wind machine strutting around. More swagger and more strutting – Sports Team album 2.” P Sports

Team’s debut album ‘Deep Down Happy’ is out now.

Let’s be honest, Dearest OPINION of Dear Readers, life isn’t exactly easy at the moment. Vital protests, a desire for change, and a fear of what, just a few months back, would have been our normal, everyday routine. So much, so deeply unsettling.

It's no surprise, then, that the usual levels of daft excitement around music have been, understandably, hard to brew up. With more important things to be concerned with, it's just not felt like the place to be quite so silly about something that can easily be put to one side for another time. That's part of the reason why some of your favourite artists have delayed big releases until later in the year, so not as to find themselves trying to 'shift' 'units' in the middle of pandemic and a push for change.

But we can't only find ourselves fighting the big battles. In amongst the darkness, there needs to be the odd spark - little blasts of joy that show us exactly what we're working so hard to return to. Sports Team's charge for a Number One album - even if it ultimately ended with a still impossibly exciting second-place finish - was just that. A week of intense, dedicated mayhem from a gang who deal it little else, it wasn't

just important for what it represented to one band. It was a signal that the bright, bombastic side of music we all hold so dear still has the power to do things that nothing else ever could.

Riding a wave of t-shirt bundles, limited edition runs and blind, untethered ambition, for seven short days there was a shared purpose which wasn't just about keeping heads above water. Yes, okay, getting excited about the fortunes of an indie band signed to a major label might not seem like the most important quest at a point where there are far more serious and worthy causes to lend a voice to, but life doesn't move at one speed. It's not a case of one or the other why not both?

This wasn't a Real Music debate. It's not about songwriters or dull rubbish spouted by boring men.

When the other team is one of the biggest stars on the planet, it doesn't matter that 'Chromatica' is full of stone-cold bops, or that Lady Gaga is everything pop should be. It's underdog spirit. The unlikeliest of heroes finding themselves on the edge of glory [Sorry - Ed]. If you can't get giddy about that, what's left?

Boredom, that's what.

Now, does anyone know what to do with seventeen copies of 'Deep Down Happy' on vinyl? Asking for 'a friend'. P

ST UF F YOU NEED TO KNOW T HIS M ONT H...

‘FYI’

Intro.

The Killers have pushed their album back. Titled 'Imploding The Mirage', it was originally set for 29th May but was put on hold after the outbreak - it'll now be released on 21st August.

In other release-y news, The Magic Gang have knocked their new album 'Death of the Party' back a week. It'll now arrive on 28th August, just so you know.

The Really Very Awesome Indeed Shamir has announced his new self-titled album. The Philadelphia-based artist will drop his newest fulllength on 2nd October.

Cloudy mayhem with a chance of

Vancouver collective Crack Cloud were founded on community spirit, communal freedom, and storytelling they're an interesting bunch for sure.

By: Blaise Radley.

Crack Cloud  Just imagine the gig rider.

10. DORK

Charli XCX is going to release a documentary film of her time making lockdown album, 'how i’m feeling now'. It's called '6ft Apart'. More news 'soon', apparently.

“It’s art as a means of performative and rehabilitative healing” Zach Choy

I'll be honest,

re ckon we ne ed bigger tour bu

I

s

a

C

Intro. rack Cloud are a far cry from your typical band. In

fact, if you asked them, they’d probably tell you they were less a band than an art collective. When the Canadian group first started gaining buzz in 2018 off the back of two supremely vital EPs there was a clear seven-person configuration at their core, but a lot’s changed since then. Not only is their debut record, ‘Pain Olympics’ primed and ready, but they’ve cast an even wider net for collaborators, drawing in a wildly diverse array of artists with little concern for medium or geographical location. It’s perhaps no surprise then that Crack Cloud have also been described as a cult.

That open-armed approach to collaboration has resulted in a record that could loosely be labelled as post-punk, but doesn’t do well with neat genres boxes. Too many cooks might spoil the broth, but Crack Cloud have busted right through to the other side of that curve and proven that using the most cooks leads to a special dish indeed. As Dork speaks to singer and drummer Zach from his backyard in Vancouver, he’s quick to make it clear that those porous barriers aren’t happenstance— they’re encoded into the very band’s DNA, and his 10-year friendship with keyboardist Muhammad Ali Sharar.

“There’s a certain narrative that Muhammad and I have been developing for the last few years, largely informed by our experiences growing up, that’s the basis.” Those narratives, concerning addiction, oppression and their staunch political values have in turn “acted as a jumping-off point or foundation” for other artists to voice their experiences. “It’s more complex than a core of people driving it. It’s the whole intersectionality that we’re taking advantage of, and I hope that it continues to grow to an even higher level inclusion than that.”

Part of what makes Crack Cloud such an intriguing prospect musically is this focus on the art of collaboration rather than the perfect chord progression. Zach is clearly a passionate musician, but he sees the group as storytellers first and foremost. “As we become more familiar with our own territory here in Vancouver, and meet more people with different skill sets, we’re able to take our vision a step further and a step further. I think that the music is very visual, and so, in order for us to tell our stories,

it’s necessary that we take on different mediums.”

Still, Dork is a music magazine [Now you tell me - Ed], and fortunately Zach has plenty to say about the catharsis of recording upcoming album ‘Pain Olympics’. “There’s been something very freeing about the process of this record, just as far as the general abandonment of any sort of stylistic intentions. Overall we were thinking about the album as a theatre piece or as a story, and we were thinking about certain arcs that we could hit based on emotional plateaus.”

Creating a concept album as a debut speaks to the ambition and clarity of vision driving Crack Cloud as a project.

Fittingly, Zach’s inspirations are less sonically driven than they are by scope: both ‘The Wall’ and ‘To Pimp a Butterfly’ come up several times. “The major influences for me are Kendrick Lamar and Roger Waters and people who took the album to a level of storytelling that transported you into the world that they were coming from.

That was mostly the intention and the headspace when we were putting the album together. We wanted to bring you into this world outside of ours.” As far as invitations for a cult go, it’s an enticing one.

With an album title like ‘Pain Olympics’ though, it’s hard not to worry about what such an invitation could entail. For the fortunately uninitiated, in internet slang “pain olympics” refers to a loosely connected series of home movies that feature sharp objects coming into contact with... sensitive body parts. When we tentatively ask if that’s where the name came from to, Zach laughs.

“I think that it’s absolutely non-essential that there’s any correlation drawn between our album title and the internet phenomena... though that’s where it came from. It just felt like we were able to draw some sort of symbolism from that and appropriate it into the world that we’re creating.”

As the discussion turns away from genital mutilation to the process of networking and the so-called “philosophy of Crack Cloud”, the other elephant in the room (or backyard in Zach’s case) rears its head. “That homegrown community building has culminated in some of the work that we’ve been doing with ‘Pain Olympics’. But it’s not something that happens overnight. It’s something that we continue to work with.

Obviously, the lockdown has created a big rift between all of us. Some of us are trapped on

the other side of Canada right now, but that’s just the way that we function as well. It’s kind of whoever’s around - that’s the flavour that you’ll get.”

Ever the poet-philosopher, Zach has taken lockdown as a moment to step back, working through what he describes as “an ever-growing process of existentialism and reflection”.

At the same time, the group are still very much involved in the same community work they always have been at harm reduction shelters in Vancouver’s Eastside. “It’s been a strange dichotomy of going from our own neighbourhood which is in a lockdown, where social distancing is a real thing, and then entering the Eastside, where there’s a very dense and marginalised population, and social distancing goes out the window.”

Early coverage of Crack Cloud zeroed in on this one narrative in particular: addiction. Crack Cloud have often described themselves as a form of communal rehab since “that’s a common link between a lot of us”, but Zach wants it to be more than that.

“My addiction is just a talking point to illustrate the dynamics of our histories and our intersectionalities. Hopefully, addiction and those themes don’t pigeonhole the broader picture and motivations of what we’re doing as a group.”

That goal, Zach explains, is presenting “art as a means of performative and rehabilitative healing.”

The form that healing will take for the band/collective/ interpersonal rehab in the future is unclear, but Zach emphasises that any evolution will always be premised on deeply human terms. “The beauty of art is that it’s an emotional, spiritual engagement with yourself, however you want to contrive it in terms of like, why you’re doing it or what it’s all about.

You can’t escape who you are.

That’s what Crack Cloud is, to me. Whether or not drugs and addiction and blah, blah, blah, are going to be the focal point - I’m not sure, I’m not sure. It doesn’t really matter.

It’ll continue to evolve, and the interpretation is always open.” That continual morphing of meaning and membership means that the Crack Cloud you see one day is very different from the next, and yet the momentum remains the same.

Who knows - we might all be in the collective one day. P Crack

Cloud’s debut album ‘Pain Olympics’ is out now.

readdork.com 11.

ST UF F YOU NEED TO KNOW T HIS M ONT H...

‘FYI’

Intro.

L

ife sure moves fast.

It was only a couple of summers ago that Dizzy were unveiling songs of finding yourself in the suburbs on their debut record, of coming of age in that furious rush of life’s firsts.

All the confusion, the sadness, the joys of an ordinary life in an ordinary town were made extraordinary by the wonder and beauty in the Ontario band’s uplifting debut. But those baby teeth that gave the album its title are long gone now. For singer and lyricist Katie Munshaw, it is not about growing up any more. It is about what comes next.

‘The Sun And Her Scorch’ is another beautiful record, one that casts a suitably warm glow over some of the biggest questions that life can throw at you. But for Katie, it wasn’t an easy album to begin writing.

Life was almost too calm, it seems. “I felt a little bit lost when we started to write,” she starts to explain from her home. “Our first record was a lot about being a teenager, and obviously I’m not that any more. And I’m not experiencing a romantic heartbreak either, you know?”

Rather than try and recapture the magic of ‘Baby Teeth’ by treading down the same paths, she forced herself to look further inwards. “It wasn’t working, and it didn’t feel genuine. But what I realised as an early-20-something person was that there were other ways to break your heart.

You can do it yourself.” And with that realisation, it all began to slot into place.

From her early admission of “Take me to the roof/I wanna hear the sound of what a broken heart does when I fling it to the ground”, the idea of self-heartbreak runs through everything. It is written in the memories of feeling wracked with guilt and regret at the harsh words that can be spoken easily but are hard to forget (‘Primrose Hill’), explorations of grief at a friend passing away (‘The Magician’) or just unending fears of death (erm, the whole album). This isn’t a band to shy away from hard truths, instead putting them under the brightest of lights. For Katie, it meant writing about a topic that she has admitted to

12. DORK

Whitney are gonna release a covers album. Previewed by their take on The Roches’ 'Hammond Song', the ten-song collection will be released on 14th August.

Aluna has announced details of her debut solo album. 'Renaissance' - due on 28th August - arrives with her Princess Nokia and Jada Kingdom collab, 'Get Paid'.

Creeper have announced a one-off show at Kingston's Pryzm. Performing on 7th December, the show will run at a reduced capacity to aid social-distancing and all that.

HERE COMES

Embracing life in their twenties, Dizzy's second album sees them offering up a warm comfort blanket of lovely, lo-fi bops.

By: Jamie MacMillan. Photography: Pooneh Ghana.

THE SUN

having a crippling fear of.

“I definitely have an unhealthy awareness of death,” she laughs nervously, “I almost obsess over it, especially as I get older and feel my body change physically and visually.

It’s definitely something that I’m thinking a lot more about.” The likes of ‘Sunflower’ and ‘Good And Right’ drip with these observations and thoughts, Katie asking “How do you think

you’ll die?” on the latter before the realisation that “bones will bend and the circle ends”.

“Sometimes I’m like, am I the only one that’s freaking out here?!” she explains today, before adding: “It sometimes feels like I’m barreling towards something, and not something that I’m super happy about, you know? How are we not all just screaming all the time!?”

Screaming or not, ‘The Sun

And Her Scorch’ manages to continually turn what could be darkness into moments of light. ‘The Magician’ turns her grief at a friend passing away into a gorgeous state of wishfulfilment, or as Katie describes it, a ‘defence mechanism’. “It felt strange to open that back up for me, that song is really heavy for me. Having people message me and talking about their own grief stories was

really overwhelming, people that knew that friend were also getting in touch…” She pauses, almost audibly putting her thoughts into order. “It feels weird because I think that I’m always worried that I don’t ever want to make it seem like ‘poor me’, you know what I mean? I think what I was writing about was more how I handle grief, and less about the death of my friend. It’s how your mind can

Will Butler 'out of Arcade Fire' has announced his second solo album.

The follow-up to debut 'Policy', 'Generations' is out from 25th September via Merge.

“How are we not all just screaming all the time!?”

Katie Munshaw sometimes play tricks on yourself to make you more comfortable about it.”

Just as painful, in a different way, is ‘Roman Candles’, where she admits to feeling jealous of others in her home town. In many ways, it is a sequel of sorts to the ‘life in the suburbs’ themes of their debut. “It’s like a city here, it has about 150,000 people living here,” she explains. “And it’s really encouraged to go off to university or college once you’ve graduated.

You know, get an education, get a 9-5 job, buy a house, have a family.”

This pre-ordained path through life, familiar all around the world, is not one that Katie has followed obviously.

“I definitely didn’t take that route and it’s terrifying!” she laughs. “Songs like ‘Roman Candles’ are a little about regret, being jealous of my friends and wanting to quit the band. And basically feeling scared about the choices that I HAVE made.”

Starkly honest in all her writing, it is clear that it isn’t always an easy process. But Katie has noticed a difference in her style between the albums. “I think on ‘Baby Teeth’, I was always very aware that I was writing a song and I kept trying to make things seem very pretty and maybe poetic?” she explains. “But this time, I was just being more honest and not worrying about what I was saying. And it was a little more freeing this time for sure.”

Raving about her inspirations, like just about everyone else with Good Sense on Planet Earth she has nothing but love for one Phoebe Bridgers. “Phoebe just writes about whatever the fuck she’s thinking, and it’s heartbreaking in its own way. I am really inspired by that.” But for someone so in tune with her own feelings, that comes at a price. “I feel like it’s cathartic afterwards. Once it’s done, it’s kind of like, ‘oh, so that’s what I was feeling’,” she admits. “But during the writing period, well I could do without it I’m sure… I feel like I’m pretty in tune with my emotions, and if I’m sad, then I’ll just cry. But when the song is done, it does feel maybe like I figured something else out.”

With the band taking control of nearly the entire process this time around, it is not just the writing that stands out as different and more

G E T T H E L AT E S T N E W S 2 4 / 7/ 3 6 5 O N

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personal. Evocative and rooted in a place with its descriptions of the Canadian snows, it is lent a warmer tone by the lush production that wrap the moments of heartbreak up in its surrounding glow. Describing the choice to control all aspects of the album themselves as a conscious choice, drummer Charlie Spencer took the lead in production. “We had done the producer thing on the first record, and it was a wonderful experience,” she offers. “But I think we felt like we could do it ourselves, and I’m glad we challenged ourselves to do it.”

Renting a cottage, jamming until they were ready, and then setting up in a studio in Montreal that she describes as ‘like an old church’, the songs came together deceptively quickly though Katie laughs as she admits that the band underestimated the sheer amount of work involved in self-production.

But no matter the difficulties, Dizzy have drawn out a sense of optimism and at times, almost playfulness, that gently balance the subject matters.

Katie is naturally delighted with the finished product. “I like that some of them are masked in fun, pretty production. It adds a sort of eeriness to them? And leaves them a little bit more open to interpretation,” she finishes.

The band once described their relationship with their fans as ‘a heartbreak club’, and this club is still a welcoming one. But the nature of 2020 ‘And All That’ obviously make it harder for a band that thrives so much on their connections. Confessing that it feels abstract to even be releasing a record under these circumstances, Katie is all for new ideas like the series of drive-in gigs across the UK that were announced the day Dork spoke to her. With talk about similar shows in Toronto happening at home, she doesn’t hesitate in her response. “I love the idea of drive-in shows. Maybe a month ago, when we were really all in the thick of it, I was so distraught at not playing a show in the whole year. So even the idea that I might maybe play a show to people, even if they are really spread out is very, very exciting!”

With all the general uncertainty around what the coming months may bring however, Katie is concentrating only on the present though she does admit that her thoughts are starting to drift towards writing again. We talk about whether the next album will continue these current themes or touch on ‘happier’ subjects, laughing as she tries (and fails) to even name a happy album in existence today. Guess we’ll all be heartbroken with Dizzy for a while yet then. P Dizzy’s album

‘The Sun And Her Scorch’ is out 31st July.

INCLUDES THE SINGLES

FASHUN, TRUE STEREO AND SONGS FOR JOANNA OUT 07 AUGUST www.williejhealey.com

ST UF F YOU NEED TO KNOW T HIS M ONT H...

‘FYI’

Intro.

The Driver Era have debuted their new single, 'Take Me Away'. It follows the band's latest tracks 'OMG Plz Don't Come Around' and 'flashdrive', released back in spring.

Photo: Sam Hiscox.

Big  Matt Maltese: He's talkin' to the Matt in the mirror.

Hey there

Matt Maltese, tell us all about your new EP, ‘Madhouse’

Our little Malteser's new EP is an interesting one. Following on from his album 'Krystal', it features musings on love via team-ups with Brian from The Lemon Twigs, Asha from Sorry, and more.

Hi

I originally had this as a kind of piano interlude with no words, but the more I’d play it, the more the song started coming out with it. It became an ode to someone who’s there for you and has been there all along. I think it tries to capture that sort of eureka moment of when your love for someone reveals itself to you.

Little Person

This is one of my favourite songs of all time. It’s from a bizarre, beautiful Charlie Kauffman film Synecdoche, New York and it’s written by Jon Brion. The kind of song where you’re never the same after hearing it. I’d always wanted to do a version of it but kept putting it off, and then with this EP, I thought, enough’s enough.

Leather Wearing AA

This is a song about the kind of allencompassing terrible love, where you’re sucked into feeling something you don’t necessarily want to feel about someone you don’t necessarily want to feel it for.

But you do, and that’s that. The most teenage angst I’ve put into a song in a

14. DORK

long time.

Queen Bee

A song about the notion of finding ‘true love’, and being doubtful yet persistently and annoyingly hopeful. It’s a song that sort of speaks to your future lover with equal parts cynicism and soppiness. Kind of like a Disney film written by a cynic?

Madhouse

This one’s a song about the kind of strange emotional relationships we can form with objects and place and how fragile happiness can be amongst everything. Objects and places can make us feel good, strange or empty inside, I think, and it’s kind of speaking to that.

It was a lot of fun making this one, and I owe a lot to Rado and Ben who produced it... and love to Dave Okumu who played the bass line dreams are made of.

Sad Dream

I made this one around the time of 'Krystal'. It’s a song about that stage of grief where the best part of your day is the 3 seconds you wake up and don’t remember everything. This one probably took the shortest amount of time to make, and I kind of didn’t mess with it a lot; everything was kind of shoddy first take.

I think I have the softest spot for this one out of them all.

Matt Maltese’s ‘Madhouse’ EP is out 7th August.

night in.

Intro.

Rejjie Snow has teamed up with MF DOOM and Cam O'bi for his new tune, 'Cookie Chips'. The song arrives with a cheerful, balloon-filled, UP!esque new video directed by Machine Operated.

Thom Yorke has announced a few Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes shows. The short run will take him from Glasgow rearranged from this year's cancelled SEC date - to Paris, to Brighton next spring.

Leeds indie boys Marsicans have arrived with their debut album, and they're having a blast.

By: Jamie Muir.

Photography: Sodium Films.

M

arsicans have always felt like a band poised to capture that indescribable feeling of youthful summer days running between your mates’ houses and the park, cheeky drinks and latenights, and festival weekends where the last day arrives too soon. It comes easily

because they were those teenagers, doing all of that and more. “I guess it’s what this is all about,” smiles frontman James Newbigging. “You want to be that band that you went to stand in front of years before. That feeds into everything you do.”

Recognised as a goto band grafting away with shows and releases whenever possible, the fact it’s taken this long to release their debut album ‘Ursa Major’ is a sign of an unwavering determination to get this right. Of finding the right moment to make that opening full-body statement of intent. “To us, it feels so right at this moment,” confirms James.

“We could have released our debut album a few years ago, but we didn’t want to. We didn’t want to rush into it. We wanted to release it on our terms.

We’ve seen bands release debut albums way too early, we just had to wait for the right time.

“It’s interesting because quite a few of the bands who’ve been in our scene for the last few years have been releasing those debut albums, so it starts to alter your headspace a bit,” details guitarist Oli Jameson.

“You go from not really thinking of yourself as an album-kinda band or being in that tier, to seeing your peer releasing their albums and then realising it’s our turn soon! It hypes you up a bit.”

That time now here, ‘Ursa Major’ takes all those expectations and turns them into joy. An album packed with storied turns and unexpected destinations, it’s the sound of a band showcasing to the world the skills and lessons learnt together

- now in one place and ready to take that next step. “I think the best way to describe this album is like a party,” lays out James. “It starts off optimistic and upbeat, everyone’s having a good time, and then it gets to a certain point, and it’s downhill from there…”

There’s a pause. “Not in a bad way, of course!!!” he cracks.

“It is like a big night out, actually! Then in the middle, you find yourself outside having a really deep, meaningful conversation, and then you get this second wave.”

‘Ursa Major’ is stacked with every emotion. The jubilance and freedom of heading outside as the wind blows against your face. The sombre moments of pause and reflection as life doesn’t go to plan. The unfaltering bond of friends there for one another. Like a scrapbook of tales spread across years of life, it’s a ride that never lets up - much like the days, months and years that have made up their own story.

“We had it the other week,” notes James. “We were looking through old photos and stuff for something we were working on, and we ended up just chatting through everything, thinking of all these times we’d been through. It’s nice because sometimes you can get stuck in what’s coming up - always wanting the next big thing and playing to more and more people so you don’t look back on what got us here. Looking back and saying, hey that was fun.”

Long nights travelling in an old Royal Mail van with a dodgy clutch became the norm for Marsicans. Willing to jump on every opportunity, in a lot of ways their story is one of doing things the ‘old school’ way. Gigging, supporting artists wherever they could, festival stages: they all fit hand in hand with a band who would wander the streets of Leeds with instruments in hand looking for another fun night playing. Getting readdork.com 15.

ST UF F YOU NEED TO KNOW T HIS M ONT H...

‘FYI’

Intro.

Easy Life have debuted a new tune called 'Pop Tarts'. The song appears on their new two-track single dubbed 'who gives a f**k?' alongside the group's hugely addictive bop, 'Nightmares'.

Lana Del Rey has announced her debut book of poetry.

Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass. There'll be an audiobook too, with music from Jack Antonoff! That's out on 28th July.

 Marsicans. Hanging out down the lightsabre showroom, eh lads? tracks out there. “There was one early gig at The Cockpit where we played with a band who’d been on Britain’s Got Talent,” recalls Oli. “And because they had all these fans who were so passionate about them, after we’d played our opening set we had this huge queue of people at the merch desk just wanting to take a picture with us. We’d only brought like 20 t-shirts to sell. We were so unaware at the time.”

Growing up not only as a band but as people, every inch of life informs ‘Ursa Major’. The youthful exuberance of ‘Sunday’ bounces off of ready-made festival anthems such as ‘Sleep Start’, ‘Juliet’, ‘These Days’ and ‘Can I Stay Here Forever (pt II)’ - but in its tender moments, ‘Ursa Major’ takes on new meanings.

‘Someone Else’s Touch’ is a chilling and devastating ode to lost love and trying to continue on despite it all, while ‘Blood In My Eye’

16. DORK

breathes like a cinematic soundtrack to sunsets tinged with regret on what went wrong. Slow-burning’ Dr Jekyll’ turns into a ferocious beast of its own in the same way ‘Leave Me Outside’ keeps jumping back into life at every opportunity.

Marsicans are delivering the sort of all-encompassing indie record that 2020 was looking for. “We go to places we’ve never gone before”, says James. “We’re just so happy that we took the time we needed to on it.”

Their unrelenting determination to play shows at any moment possible fed into the recording process, ensuring that when it came to album time, Marsicans had a wealth of material to delve into. “We would try and flesh out a song every week,” explains Oli, “and then after three weeks, we demo one of the songs no matter what. It was a great process for us because we had so much to choose from when it

came to the album, and such a range of stuff too, and you end up stumbling upon happy accidents. Tracks that work so well.”

“We weirdly didn’t feel any pressure when it came to the album itself,” continues James. “The only pressure we put ourselves under was, like Oli says, to just write as much as we could. There are threads that run through the album, but we didn’t want to limit ourselves. Like, the whole process was just so much fun, it’s what you do this for. The first time we could put songs together on a full album and have it say something.”

Recorded in the famed Rockfield Studios (just the place where the likes of Oasis, The Stone Roses, The Maccabees and Coldplay recorded their own seminal albums), the time spent in refining and working through the countless tracks they already had written paid off. Done in just 10 days, the

“There's nothing more fun than being in a band with your mates” James Newbigging

Ashnikko has shared her latest alt-pop hit, 'Daisy'. The song's part of a new Beats

by Dr. Dre campaign, which will see a video for the track created via fan footage on TikTok.

result is everything the band could have hoped for. “You just are reminded that there’s music on this debut album that will forever be known as our first stamp, y’know?

Despite us putting out music for four years, this album will be the base of who we are as a band and who we will become,” states Oli. ‘Ursa Major’ gives Marsicans the ammunition to go anywhere, play to anyone and feel confident in themselves. “You have moments like… moments you remember,” says James, gazing off as one such night pops into his head. “My big one was playing with Foals last year. We were playing on stage that night, and I just turned to one side of it and saw Yannis [Philippakis] and then Jeremy [Pritchard] from Everything Everything standing there watching us and it was like… As an indie fanboy, I just thought - wow, look at me doing this right now! We got to hang out afterwards and just drink beers and champagne and chat so much. It’s like, okay this is really fun.

“One thing they said was, always remember the first time you do something because that moment never happens again. Opportunities get lost on you because you don’t take them in. That really stuck with me.”

It perfectly nails what Marsicans are all about lifelong fans of the guitar bands now following in their footsteps. “We played Leeds Festival a couple of years ago, and we were playing on a stage that we went to two years before that to see another band and went crazy to it,” smiles James. “That’s what it’s all about. It’s that with the debut album too, I want people to listen to it and be like ‘woahhh’, and it helps change the way they view music. How important it can be.

“There’s nothing more fun than being in a band with your mates and writing music. There’s nothing more fun than that for us.”

PMarsicans’ debut album

‘Ursa Major’ is out 14th August.

Intro.

BUZZTASTIC

WHAT IS CURRENTLY 'REALLY GOOD', AND WHAT NEEDS TO GET IN THE CULTURAL BIN? WE DECIDE. BECAUSE OBVIOUSLY. IT'S OUR MAGAZINE. DO KEEP UP.

This here is Curtis Waters, Dear Reader. You already know one of his songs - it's called 'Stunnin'' and it's all over 'the TikTok'. It's a proper bop too. We've already had a chat with our Curtis for a 'forthcoming issue', so keep an eye out for that.

It's here! The Umbrella Academy's second season arrives on Netflix on 31st July. Based on Gerard Way's comic book series, we may not get to see My Chemical Romance this summer, but this'll keep us going just fine.

You know how Murph from The Wombats has his own side-hustle with Love Fame Tragedy? Well, his bandmates Dan and Tørd have teamed up for something too.

Called Sunship Balloon, they've dropped a new track, 'A4 Life'.

There's a debut album 'Everywhen' out on 18th September, and it doesn't sound like you'd expect. So 'there' we 'go'.

Congrats to Dream Wife on getting a top 20 album with 'So When You Gonna...' - the "only non-major label + 100% womxnproduced" one, too. Something to celebrate, but also much, much more to be done.

BUZZKILL

Dua Lipa's new vid for 'Hallucinate' is quite cool - what with it being all animated and all. Gets round those lockdown 'can't do a big pop production' problems. The only problem?

After that viral video a few months back, we can't stop hearing the BBC News theme.

Argh!

No, obviously Sky Ferreira isn't boring. Don't be fucking daft.

What is snoozeville, however, is the forever-and-ever long wait for her new record 'Masochism'.

Intended to be released in 2015 2016, 2018 and 2019 - look, don't hold your breath okay. (But also don't tell her we wrote this or she'll probably get cross. - Ed)

We have to give a bit of slack here - we live in difficult times - but those festivals 'rolling over' their line-ups, while perhaps essential what with deposits and reduced income streams and all-of-thatjazz, is sort of boring. Is culture going on pause for 12 months?

What about everyone's inevitable 'written in lockdown' albums?

If modern music magazines had a parental figure, it'd probably be Q Magazine. Though other (now departed) print titles might have been older, Q always felt a bit more, y'know, grown up. After 34 years, as this issue went to press it was announced that it was to publish it's final edition. Support what you love, Dear Reader. You'll miss it when it's gone. RIP (sniff,sniff)

readdork.com 17.

Intro.

Willie J Healey has thrown off his major label ties to work with indie darlings Yala! Records on his second album, 'Twin Heavy'.

By: Sophie Williams. Photography: Hollie Fernando.

W

illie J Healey is back on track.

Following the release of his (bloody brilliant) first album, 2017’s ‘People and Their Dogs’, the Oxford singer-songwriter, indie darling and all-round legend cut ties with Columbia Records, and duly took some time out from the scene.

Fast-forward to August 2020 and Healey is feeling more at home with himself, his songs, and what they’re trying to say. He shares all about his long-awaited second LP, ‘Twin Heavy’.

Tell us about the conception of ‘Twin Heavy’ - how long have you had these songs written for?

The songs vary from two to four years old, and some of them are the result of a couple of ideas I had for my first album, but I ended up not using them. About a year ago, Yala! Records approached me to do an album, and I was lucky enough to have a collection full of demos together already. I have just kept going, always demoing, writing and accumulating songs, and I am always working on these new songs just in case of situations like that where an opportunity arises to put something out.

I like just being able to say, ‘yep, here you go!’.  Willie (J) Healey: not just what you hope for after you get kicked in the nuts.

18. DORK

This album marks your first full-length release with Yala! Records, right?

I love working with Felix!

He is one of the rare gems within the music industry, in the sense that he has been on both sides of the desk. They have given me a lot of creative freedom with the album. It feels like it has been very easy for everyone involved to get to a place where we all like the songs, and I am so happy with how the recordings came out. They let me have full control over the things that would typically be a struggle with a label, such as choosing the singles and the tracklisting. Above all else, it feels like we are all on the artist side of things.

It seems that Yala! Records gave you full creative control over ‘Twin Heavy’ - how important was that flexibility for you?

I did have a bit of creative control with the first album too, but I think that Columbia Records didn’t want me to be so hands-on. I think they would have liked a bit more involvement as a label. I did exactly what I wanted to do with the first album, but I think that it may have put them off slightly, and as a result, I don’t think that they were as invested in the album as we all would have liked them to be. Whereas with Yala!, they have allowed me to pick the tracks that I really love, and they are all so invested in the release. I am open-minded, but I feel like when I compromise on my music, I always come back to regret it. The older I get, and the more I work at this, the more creative control I require over things.

Somehow, you managed to record all of the tracks for the album in nine days!

How did you manage that experience?

It was a complete whirlwind!

Myself and my producer, Loren Humphrys, had nine days to record fifteen songs, and I haven’t ever worked on a full-length album with a producer before, so there were a lot of firsts. It was really quite intense. I don’t

“When I compromise on my music, I always come back to regret it” Willie J Healey know how we did it, but it all came together in the end. I can’t really remember a lot of the process because it felt like it went by so quickly, but that is only a credit to everyone involved. It was quite stressful at times, though; it genuinely felt like we were trying to put a double album together in the space of one night. It was one of those situations where you are in the middle of it and thinking, ‘how are we ever going to do this?’. In the end, I think it worked out really well because it also meant that we didn’t have any time for faffing around. We had to make decisions there and then, and didn’t have time to talk things through too much.

What was your songwriting process for the album like?

Where did you look for inspiration?

I listen to a lot of older stuff, like 70s rock and country recordings. But really I just like to keep writing; I know that sounds very simple, but that was my process. I have been getting my ideas together at home, and I made it my mission very early on to learn how to record well enough to present songs as very good demos. If I’m not touring or recording at a studio, I’m doing it at home instead. A typical day of writing the album would be me getting up and going into the garage, sitting there making loops and putting together any loose ends I have to try and turn them into songs. It is a bit of a blur now really to try and pin down all of the songs, because they are all so different. Some songs took me a week to make, so it was really all over the place.

We recorded it all to tape,

Halloweens are going to release a new EP next month. Due on 21st August, news of 'Maserati Anxiety Designed' arrives alongside the duo's new single 'Divinity Pools'.

and we tracked it all live, and that process glued the album together.

You have spoken at length about choosing to work and record from home how did this set up affect the recording of ‘Twin Heavy’?

The big gain that I get from doing things at my own pace at home is that I feel like I have endless amounts of time to try out new methods, whereas when I recorded ‘Twin Heavy’ in the studio, it was the complete opposite, as we had to go with the best ideas straight away. I feel so comfortable in my own company because if you are working in a room full of really good musicians, it can sometimes make you quite self-aware of your own abilities. When I am at home or in the garage, I am in my own little universe, and there is no one there to snap me out of that creative zone. I hope to continue to create things in the way that I do.

Does it make sense to be putting out an album without being able to tour it for the foreseeable future?

I spent a long time writing these songs, mixing them and putting them together, so I am just hoping that there is something here for everyone to enjoy. Regardless of whether we can tour this album, hopefully people will have the opportunity to live with it, and really get to know it. I mean... there are no songs like ‘Sex On Fire’ on this album! I can’t see any of the tracks making me a million pounds in one go. I hope, though, that this album is something that people can live and grow with, and when we can tour, they will be able to appreciate some of the songs that are a little more subtle. It is just about making the best of a bad situation, and I am just trying not to think about how sad it is that nobody can tour right now. I am sure it will be worth the wait.

Did you feel in a more confident position coming into this album, or has the way your debut was

critically acclaimed added more pressure?

I have actually felt the opposite to difficult second album syndrome, and I am not too worried about whether it will be a flop. When I did my first album, I thought it was amazing, and I really loved it, and I am still so proud of it. Though I think that I have gotten so much better at what I do now, and there is no competition between those albums. That is not to say that people will definitely love ‘Twin Heavy’, and maybe some people will prefer the first one, but I have just been gagging to show people my new music. I have felt a sense of urgency to show people my new work, because I am so into it.

A little birdie told us that you have got a fan in Alex Turner…

At first, it was a real shock to see him at one of my shows.

I was really chuffed, and I didn’t know what to say to him. It is a huge compliment coming from someone like him, or from anyone of that calibre, Felix, Alex, Orlando Weeks… I really don’t take their support for granted. It makes me think, ‘what would 15-year-old me think of this?’

It would blow my mind. Also, when I met Alex outside of the venue after the show, and he started singing one of my new demos back to me, and he somehow knew all of the words! I stood there thinking, ‘this is so surreal’...

Georgia has announced a new tour for April 2021.

The dates are in support of her recent album 'Seeking Thrills' and kick off on 14th April in Cardiff

Hello Dear Reader, Did you know we have a radio show 'slash' podcast?

Well, we do. It's called Down With Boring, and there's a new episode EVERY MONDAY. You can subscribe at readdork.com/dorkcast, or hear at 8pm each Monday night on Dork Radio.

What's more, you can GET INVOLVED too. Send us questions, messages and general nonsense for the DORK MAILBAG! Just email us at mailbag@readdork.com

Thank you for listening*

What is the future looking like for Willie J Healey?

I have always got tonnes of ideas, and I feel like I am growing in confidence as my songs are getting better. I think that once people have heard some of these ‘Twin Heavy’ songs, it will simply be a case of world domination for me! No, not really. I don’t really know what the future looks like, but I just hope that I can make enough money to keep doing this, and if people enjoy the music half as much as I do, then I will be onto something great. P

Willie J Healey’s album ‘Twin Heavy’ is out 7th August.

Down With Boring.

Mondays.

readdork.com/dorkcast Dork Radio, 8pm BST * Please listen

ST UF F YOU NEED TO KNOW T HIS M ONT H...

‘FYI’

How has working with label owner (and former Maccabees guitarist) Felix White been?

Blossoms have rescheduled their UK headline tour to next year. The shows will now take place in March and April 2021, with The Magic Gang, Fever. and The Lathums in support.

readdork.com 19.

Intro.

ST UF F YOU NEED TO KNOW T HIS M ONT H...

‘FYI’

Gus Dapperton has announced his new album, 'Orca'. The follow-up to 2018 debut 'Where Polly People Go to Read' is due on 18th September.

Speedy Ortiz' Sadie Dupuis has announced her second Sad13 album, 'Haunted Painting'. Due on 25th September, the record features artwork by Sadie’s mother, Diane Dupuis.

Sufjan Stevens has announced details of a brand new album - returning with ‘The Ascension’ The anticipated follow-up to 2015’s ‘Carrie And Lowell’ will be released on 25th September.

12

day life

a 9

in the

3

FROM DUSK TILL DAW N W I T H YOUR FAVOURI T E ACTS

6

My alarm wakes me up at 7.30 every morning; I proceed to snooze that girl until probably 8.15. I then spend 20mins scrolling through social media until I realise nothing has changed that much in the last eight hours and then I feel bad for scrolling, but all is made better by tucking into a bowl of Frosted Shreddies, kissing my dogs and drinking tea while The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills plays in the background (LOL NOT EVEN JOKIN' I'M OBSESSED).

9AM

I've been running every morning in lockdown, so this would be the time where I'd attempt to load Strava and challenge the skinny girls from back in school to the fastest 5k (btw, I will never win). I'll then jump in the shower, where I will have my morning cry to the new Phoebe Bridgers album and contemplate everything before getting out and realising that inevitably everything will be ok (haha

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Lauran Hibberd THIS MONTH. . .

weird times).

11. 30 A M

I'm normally sat with a guitar around my neck at this point, getting song ideas and structuring demos. In between this, I'm probably packaging merch (seems to be my new job lol, thanks everyone).

1P M

My daily Post Office trip (again, thanks for keeping me in business people).

Because I do this every day, I've literally become besties with Linda (cute post office lady), and she lets me leave my parcels there and pay later (WHAT A BABE)!!

Will probably grab a choco

milkshake for the walk home too.

3PM

This is my prime writing time, I work better in the middle of the afternoon, and I've been attempting to write a song a day in lockdown and given a few exceptions I'VE ONLY GONE AND DONE IT! So I'll spend a few hours writing, followed by (with snack breaks) another few hours demoing up the track and mixing etc.

During lockdown, I have turned my parents' lounge into a studio (big hit lol), but they've become kinda fond of it now. Mum's fave drum sound is 'the beefy dry kit', hahahah.

7 PM

EAT!!!!! I've been doing a LOT (well, some) cooking, and I'm actually alright now.

So if y'all want a good mac and cheese, you know where to come. Will then cuddle my puppies and probably read for a bit, maybe Facetime my bff Zuzu and probably watch even more Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (it's a real addiction).

1 1 PM

Attempt to sleep, fail to sleep, attempt to sleep, fail to sleep and then boom - out like a light. P

Lauran Hibberd's single 'Old Nudes' is out now.

NO, THER E'S BAS I CA LLY NOT HING HAPPEN ING THI S SU MM ER - BUT 202 1 IS AL READY START ING TO SHA PE UP. HERE'S T HE L ATEST LINE UP NEWS .

7. 3 0 A M

Festivals.

YOU KN OW WHAT' S EAS IE R THAN FOLLOW ING AROUN D YOU R FAVE UP-AND - COM ING INDIE- ST R OK E-P OP STAR S, DAY I N, DAY OUT, TO S EE W H AT THEY ' R E U P TO? ASKIN G T H EM .

What's going on with...

E V E RY T H I N G HAPPENING IN THE WO R L D O F YO U R FAV E BA N D S .

Hayley Williams After dropping her debut

worrying that all this Covid lockdown 'stuff' would put some of our favourite acts due a new record on pause - but rejoice, that's not the case for those industrious types in Chvrches, who seem to be hard at work from home on a fourth album.

Sharing videos of various bits and pieces on social media, we're officially fuelling up the hype train. Just make sure you're wearing a mask, yeah?

solo album 'Petals For Armor' earlier this year, Hayley Williams has been sharing a series of homespun covers during lockdown. One of the latest is of Bjork's 'Unison', requested by a fan.

“I’d actually hoped to cover a different song of [Björk’s] live this year but I guess that will have to wait until some other time,” Hayley explained in the caption of the video, posted to Insta. “Anyway, this one has to be in my top 5 – ‘Unison’. Many apologies for this crudely casual rendition but it sure felt good.”

'Unison' originally appeared on Bjork's classic album 'Vespertine', 'FYI'.

Wolf Alice Talking about bands who

we're waiting for a new album from, Dork's original faves were-slash-areslash-hopefully-will-be delivering a much, much anticipated third album at some point this year.

Chvrches It would be easy to start

e Headlin ? e Latitud Me?

Bastille & Lewis are doing Latitude Latitude Festival have signed up Bastille and Lewis Capaldi to headline next year's event.

Also on the bill, Snow Patrol will act as special guests with a reworked Sunday afternoon slot that features 14 musicians.

Dan from Bastille says: “We’ve wanted to play and go to Latitude for such a long time, so we’re really excited to have the chance to be there next year after everyone’s year away from gigs. It’s our only British festival gig of the summer and we’re thrilled that it’ll be at Latitude in such brilliant company.”

Latitude will take place at Henham Park, Suffolk, from 22nd-25th July 2021.

FESTIVAL

‘FYI’

The Great Escape is confirmed for 2021. The event will take over Brighton from 12th-15th May for a belated 15th birthday, with early-bird tickets on sale now.

NOS Alive 2021 has confirmed its first names, with alt-J and Two Door Cinema Club.

There’s Sea Girls, Angel Olsen, Fontaines DC, Moses Sumney and Caribou too.

Deer Shed Festival has confirmed its line-up for 2021.

The event has retained much of its bill, including original headliners Stereolab, James and Baxter Dury. Also playing, are Ghostpoet, Cate Le Bon, Tim Burgess, The Twilight Sad, Sinkane, Dream Wife and Boy Azooga.

Mad Cool has announced 94 acts for 2021's event, including

Intro.

At various points the grapevine has suggested to our eager ears that it's done, not done, recorded, about to be recorded and everything in between.

Bluntly - we don't know, but that's part of the magic, right?

Pale Waves If we want to make it a trio

of former Dork cover acts with albums probably on the way at some point in the near to mid future, Heather from Pale Waves tweeted on the 13th July that their second album is "doneeeee". So that's nice.

She went on to say we'll have "new music this year for sure". Heather has been talking a lot about one track in particular, 'She's My Religion', sharing a snippet of a demo version and referring to it as "my gay anthem". Don't be shocked if that's early out of the traps. It sounds like a proper bop and a half.

Carly Rae Jepsen, Twenty One Pilots and more. Also performing from 7th-10th July 2021, are The Killers, Deftones, Wolf Alice, Glass Animals, Angel Olsen, Yungblud, Alt-J, London Grammar, Foals, Sigrid, Pixies and Royal Blood.

Iceland Airwaves has signed up Daði Freyr to perform at this year's event. Taking place from 4th-7th November in Reykjavik, he joins a line-up that features Metronomy, Courtney Barnett, Dry Cleaning, The Murder Capital, Squid and more.

Tyler, The Creator, FKA twigs, Girl In Red and more are amongst over 30 names confirmed for next years’ Roskilde Festival Returning at the end of June in 2021, a whole bunch of names who were set to appear on this year’s line-up have moved over - with Thom Yorke (and his Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes), TLC, Moses Sumney, Kelly Lee Owens, Sampha The Great and more joining the party in Denmark. readdork.com 21.

ST UF F YOU NEED TO KNOW T HIS M ONT H...

‘FYI’

Intro.

Yungblud has rescheduled his headline tour for next March. Support will come from NOISY, Wargasm, KennyHoopla and Dylan.

Nice one, lad.

da replay HONNE are showing off their playful side, letting loose with new mixtape, 'no song without you'.

By: Jamie Muir. Photography: Tim Toda.

W

hat do you do next after travelling around the world for five years? When

you’ve been playing soldout shows across the globe, where does that take you? It’s those questions that dwelled in the mind of HONNE, four years on from the release of debut album ‘Warm On A Cold Night’ in 2016, their story since has been nothing short of remarkable. Click onto Spotify, and you’ll see monthly listeners in the millions, a go-to for 21stcentury romantics - whether it’s heartbreak or falling arse over tit in love, HONNE have it nailed. Confidence must be flying, right? Singer Andy Clutterbuck laughs.

“I don’t know whether it’s the fact that we have no self-belief, but every time it comes around to release new music, I feel like we’re just going to put something online and there’s going to be this big echo of like space, and nobody’s there to receive it!”

“It’s like, everyone gets the fear,” continues producer James Hatcher. “It’s been a year and a half on from touring so we think it should

22. DORK

be fine, but we haven’t released any music in nearly two years… so there’s no reason why anyone should give a shit.”

Put those fears to bed, chaps. HONNE’s return has been met with quite the opposite - jumping right back into the new world they’ve created. But after two albums crammed with their signature style, stepping up on their second LP, 2018’s ‘Love Me / Love Me Not’, with a record full of depth and hypnotic hooks, what would come next was wide open.

The road to new mixtape ‘no song without you’ certainly wasn’t clear as they stepped off stage on the final night of tour. “I remember Brixton Academy was one of the final nights, and we’d just come off stage after it went really, really well,” recalls Andy, “but it felt like, and I can’t really explain it, but it felt like loads of stress just left my body all at the same time. After that, we had no idea what would come next. I think that was part of our problem. We just carried on writing music and y’ know…”

“I’m sure we’ve written some good songs over the

Yannis off of Foals has teamed up with dance duo Camelphat on new track ‘Hypercolour’. He's also directed and starred in the video, which is nice.

Bring Me The Horizon have dropped a brand new track, 'Parasite Eve'. It's taken from a series of EPs that will arrive over the coming months

Think t

hey'll e ve r h the H onne p u n s?

stop wit

Intro.

Not a chance.

past couple of years,” he continues, “but it just felt like a repetition of what we were doing with ‘Love Me / Love Me Not’ and nobody had really said anything. We kinda just thought, let’s carry on and see what happens.”

That search for something else, what comes next, raised its head again. Decamping to LA together, Andy and James found themselves drawn to something new. Writing and bouncing ideas off each other in the same room (something they’d never done before, preferring to stick to forming ideas individually and passing tracks between themselves to work together), a new sound began to emerge. Sunkissed, warm and packed with melodies - it laid the basis for what was to come. What was next was suddenly now.

“We wrote ‘no song without you’,” remembers Andy, “and that sort of set the precedent for the rest of the music we wrote in LA. It wasn’t really planned; it just happened that way.”

After chatting with collaborators, HONNE were clear in the direction they wanted to take. The result is a self-described mixtape, both earnest and wholesome, whilst glistening with a subtle warmth; like a collection of songs that sits together like a homemade cassette tape that you’d post to the person you love. Cute, personal and tender, the result is a record that nestles up under the stars, with HONNE’s unshakeable knack for golden pop melodies rising to the top.

“It’s something that’s kinda always been there through our lives,” explains Andy, pointing to the album’s rich sounds and warm approach.

“I grew up on bands like The Beatles, The Stones, Led Zeppelin and all that, so it’s always been there in the background. Me and James both grew up playing guitar, and there’s a lot more of that on this album. People like Tame Impala, Whitney, Rex Orange County, Rich Brian - those were the sounds and artists we were listening to and drawn towards. It all came together with something we were really excited by.”

Writing away in the studio together (before returning to the UK when lockdown truly kicked in) proved to be a refreshing experience for both, something that can be heard ringing across ‘no song without you’. Bonded and

“It’s a good time for a bit of positivity” Andy Clutterbuck intimate, but boasting those huge singalongs that’ll ring louder once back in front of crowds, there couldn’t have been a better way for this mixtape to fall into place.

“There was quite a big difference compared to how we worked before,” notes James. “When we write apart, it can be faster in one sense, but when we’re together, we can just pop our heads out of where we are and chat about everything. It wasn’t working around each other, but together. I think the songs, as a result, are a lot more fluid.”

From the flicking ‘free love’, the rising gospel of ‘by my side’ and the bright’n’breezy ‘loving you is so easy’, to the almost nursery-rhyme ease of the lovestruck ‘la la la that’s how it goes’, the submerged pleas of ‘one way to tokyo’ and the blanket-wrapped ‘gone gone gone’ - ‘no song without you’ is a smooth collection of a band effortlessly flexing their songwriting muscles.

Positivity (even when staring at the worst) rings true, none more so than the call to arms of closing track ‘smile more smile more smile more’, a spoken-word breakdown of hope covering bodypositivity, self-care and love to brighten anyone’s day. Choose Love? Well, do that - but also smile more, smile more, smile more is the message. “It is part of the HONNE sound,” points out Andy when thinking of the positivity heard across the record. “We find it easy, and it comes naturally to write about positive things;

it wasn’t anything we really talked about, it just happened naturally. It’s a good time for a bit of positivity.”

It feeds into that mixtape feel, born from a time of joy in their own lives. “Andy had just gotten married, and with ‘no song without you’ a lot of the words he said as a part of his speech on the day. Like, there would be no songs because she’s inspired so many. He wouldn’t be in HONNE without her…” James pauses and smiles “… or me!”

“That mixtape feel, it just works so well for us here,” says Andy. “It can be whatever you want it to be, but those little bits we add in throughout bring it together with this certain feel. We love Frank Ocean for example, and with ‘Channel Orange’, there are loads of those little interludes and moments, and they became some of our favourite parts, so we always wanted to make a body of work that had that bit of fun in it really.”

It all welcomes HONNE into an exciting new chapter, both redefined and refreshed with countless paths open for them to head down. Not so much a departure, but a natural evolution - that swooning pop centre remains bold, if not bolder than ever before. It all fits into James’ goal for where HONNE continues to grow. “I’d like to be an artist where the next thing you release is the most popular, and I hope we can carry on doing that. I like that we’re not one-hit wonders, we’re an album artist that people dive into which is a really positive thing for us and makes us want to continue to create albums rather than standalone singles.”

Buoyed, and unlike HONNE, there’s even talk of what comes next already. “It’s a strange position to be in,” elaborates James, “but we’ve got two or three songs ready already for the next album.

It’s strange to have a starting point for what we’re going to do next because we’ve never really had that before… we’ll let those songs guide the direction we continue in.”

The millions of streams.

The sold-out shows around the globe. The adoring fans who sing along to every word. HONNE are there, slipping through your letterbox with songs of hope and love in a time of sorely needed dreaming. P

All Killer Sandwich Filler.

WHAT DOES YOUR FAVOURITE POP STAR LIKE TO PUT IN THEIR SARNIE? THE BIG QUESTIONS, ANSWERED. THIS MONTH...

MEZ'S SUNDAY LUNCH SPECIAL

by Mez SandersGreen, LIFE

INGREDIENTS: + Crusty Farmhouse Bap + Salted Butter + Peanut Butter + Vintage Cheddar + Sweet Chilli Sauce + A Cold Beer INSTRUCTIONS 1. You're hungover on a Sunday, so you take a soak in some suds 2. It's noon, you crack a cold one and reach for those super tasty crusty farmhouse baps 3. Grate a strong cheddar (good crystallisation) 4. Salted butter, both sides of the bap 5. Get some serious peanut butter and spread it on the base of the bap 6. Grated cheese on the peanut butter base 6. Ding in some sweet chilli / hot sauce (be liberal) 7. Close the bap, give it a squeeze, feel that crack on the crust (ooooh can ya smell it) 8. Grab a book, your cold beer and get your gob around it 9. Relax Tune in to Mez's Sunday Lunch every month on Dork Radio and via the DorkCast podcast feed.

HONNE’s mixtape ‘no song without you’ is out now.

readdork.com 23.

ST UF F YOU NEED TO KNOW T HIS M ONT H...

‘FYI’

Intro.

Peace, Gengahr and Jaws feature on new charity album compilation: ‘What’s Going On?’. All proceeds go to the ‘Save Our Venues’ Campaign and BAME supporting mental health organisations via L;FE.

Lauv has dropped a brand new surprise EP. Titled 'Without You', it follows up on March's debut album '~how i'm feeling~'. You can stream it online now.

Fenne Lily has announced plans for her second album. Titled 'BREACH', it's set to arrive via Dead Oceans on 18th September.

INSTANT HISTORY Read more from Biffy Clyro in the August edition of our sister mag, Upset. Grab a copy now from upsetmagazine.com. Off you go!

With their delayed ninth album now imminent, Biffy Clyro's 'A Celebration of Endings' has taken on new meaning.

By: Alexander Bradley.

I

n a year of unexpected events, Biffy Clyro's Simon Neil lining up alongside Formula 1 drivers and professional gamers for the Canadian F1 Virtual Grand Prix was one of most surprising.

The singer beams, knowing how absurd the whole concept sounds, as he explains how he loves a challenge and how the temptation to not be "sitting twiddling [his] thumbs" was too great to turn down.

In just under a month Simon went from no experience on the game to a "career highlight" of finishing 18th in the race thanks to intensive, six hours a day, crash courses on his console.

"I thought playing a show for 90 minutes was pretty intense but the amount of concentration it takes to race was just mind-blowing. I was sweating, I was knackered, wired like I'd taken every drug known to man," he laughs.

Akin to some sort of Alan Partridge-style idea for a TV show, his foray into Esports has piqued his curiosity for what bizarre hobbies he can get up to next. He speculates that "next time I'll be out in the garden or learning how to grow tomatoes in a greenhouse."

It's safe to say that lockdown hasn't been too unkind to Biffy Clyro. Sure, their new album was pushed back from spring to midAugust but, in the delay, 'A Celebration of Endings' has taken on a new life entirely.

The album was originally Simon's flag in the ground saying "things cannot get worse than they are right now!" but that wasn't

24. DORK

"We're at a moment to stand up for what we fucking believe in"

line "This is the sound that we make" as a ready-made slogan for those standing up and being counted for what they believe in this year.

Proud of the added weight of the single, Simon adds: "We're at a moment to stand up for what we fucking

believe in and not just go with the status quo," before pointing out that the track's opening lines of "Is this how the surface will break? / Releasing the pressure / The horrors that await" are now even more apt.

"We have to face these

horrors, we have to fucking acknowledge the things in our past that give us oxygen and things that take away oxygen. I'm really encouraged with the moment we are in."

P Biffy Clyro's album 'A

Celebration of Endings' is out 14th August.

Simon Neil necessarily the case.

"We've got fucking Boris Johnson and Donald Trump, and the world is just led by buffoons," he quips. "I was like, things can only get better, then three weeks later the fucking coronavirus hit us."

And, with the global pandemic and, more recently, the prominence of the Black Lives Matter movement, 'A Celebration of Endings' recognised more of a global change for the better rather than the shift in just Simon's own world.

"The things I was talking about coming to an end were kind of what is happening just now, but I was thinking in a much more subtle, personal perspective," he explains.

"The album, originally, was about wanting to not feel wrong for having opinions on things. For not feeling wrong for ending a relationship because it's really unfulfilling, and seeing an older generation that is so resistant to change.

I think now it applies more than ever."

No song comes more evident of the rapid revolution of the album's significance in the recent months than 'Instant History'. The synthdriven, sunshine soaked, pop slammer rallies with its chorus

 Biffy Clyro: They're blue, ba dee da ba daa.

Bangers.

T H E BE ST N E W S O N G S T H I S MO N T H .

« Beabadoobee

THE CHART T H E C O N STANT LY S H I FT I N G LIST OF D O R K 'S FAVOUR IT E A L BU MS O F 2020 - U P DAT E D EVERY MO N T H !

01. Run The Jewels RTJ4

Care

Taken from the forthcoming debut album 'Fake It Flowers', set for release later this year.

From bedroom pop to reassuringly lo-fi slacker anthems, the progression of Beabadoobee over the last twelve months or so has been nothing short of striking. Not so sweet it ever feels sickly, it's a song with emotional teeth - full of past regrets and defiance. Like a hazy photo gradually coming into focus, the first taster of October's debut album 'Fake It Flowers' is an addictive summer rush.

Stephen Ackroyd

time to put hairs on end.

Soft, heartfelt and delicate, it's an introspective pause amidst a chaotic world; a night-time oasis to cherish.

Truly special. Stephen Ackroyd

Idles

A Hymn

Taken from the forthcoming album 'Ultra Mono', set for release on 25th September 2020.

Three singles in and we still don’t have a scooby what an ‘Ultra Mono’ is yet [a giant eyebrow, no? - Ed] or where IDLES’ third album is gonna take us, but ‘A Hymn’ sounds like we could be in for another interesting ride. Or at least a ride to do a big shop with our parents if the sweet video is anything to go by. With the guitars set to brooding rather than their usual destroy, this is a journey through shame, a need to feel loved, and out the other side. And most excitingly, it’s quite unlike

anything we’ve heard from the Bristolians before. So amen to that. Not that they say amen at the end of hymns, but you get the idea OK? Jamie MacMillan

Troye Sivan

Easy

Taken from the forthcoming EP 'In A Dream', set for release on 21st August 2020.

Described as a "small collection of songs" that "explores an emotional rollercoaster period in my life when the feelings and thoughts were most shockingly fresh," Troye's latest EP isn't without emotional heft. "Please, don't leave me," the postchorus almost begs, but even with such weighty emotions, Sivan is still

incapable of crafting anything but a solid gold bop. Like tears at the end of the party, it's heartbreak by the shimmering glitter-ball light. Subtle but startlingly effective.

Stephen Ackroyd

Rachel Chinouriri

Beautiful Disaster

Taken from 'a new project', set to arrive later this year.

Written around an imagined nighttime woodland, Rachel Chinouriri's latest single, produced in collaboration with Sam Dotia, more than lives up to the first part of its title. 'Beautiful Disaster' may be short - it clocks in at under two and a half minutes in length but it's more than enough

Cavetown

Smoke Signals (ft.

Tessa Violet)

Arrives to coincide with the release of Cavetown's new clothing line, Cave Collective. Swish.

There's something pictureperfect about everything Cavetown does. Here, he's teaming up with Tessa Violet for a softfocus, emotionally-heavy diamond in the not-sorough. Accompanied by a video shot in woodland, entirely on Super 8, it's an aesthetic that fits perfectly.

Like delicate beams of sunlight hitting the forest floor, there's something wonderfully organic to the light touch applied at every step. There's no need to be loud to make an impact.

Stephen Ackroyd

The most important album of the year? Quite probably - but it’s also one of the very best, too.

02. The 1975

NOTES ON A CONDITIONAL FORM

Dividing opinion at every step, ‘Notes’ is either a work of genius or a confused mess. Well, Dear Reader, be in no doubt - it is the latter who are the confused messes, and us?

We’re the geniuses. Genii?

Clever people.

03. Phoebe Bridgers PUNISHER

04. Rina Sawayama SAWAYAMA

05. Sports Team SPORTS TEAM

06. The Big Moon WALKING LIKE WE DO

07. Sea Girls

OPEN UP YOUR HEAD *NEW*

08. Georgia SEEKING THRILLS

09. Dream Wife SO WHEN YOU GONNA...

10. Haim

WOMEN IN MUSIC PT. III

readdork.com 25.

NEW M USIC F IR ST

FACT FILE + From London, UK + For fans of Missy Elliott, Gwen Stefani + Check out ‘All Night’ + Social @breerunway

26. DORK

Bree Runway London rapper Bree Runway is one of the most exciting up-andcoming pop stars around.

By: Abigail Firth.

T

here’s no one like Bree Runway.

Whether it’s bombastic floorfillers (‘APESHIT’), playful pop hits (‘Damn Daniel’) or sensual country-inspired bedroom bops (‘All Night’), she smashes them all and with her own Runway twist.

Pledging no allegiances to any genre, always expect the unexpected with Bree.

She’s got big dreams and a 20/20 vision that’d have you thinking she’s been doing this for decades.

In a way, she has. Born in Hackney, Bree grew up glued to the telly, watching music videos on MTV which influenced her own artistry later on (the ‘APESHIT’ video is so Missy Elliot, it got cosigned by the legend herself).

A born performer, she’d put on shows for her family.

“My mum used to go to work, and me and my cousin would be left at home, and we would always watch MTV. That inspired me to start hosting mini-concerts to my family members,” she says over the phone from London, where she’s performing the decidedly less glam task of combing banana from a hair mask out of her hair.

“So I’d organise the lineup, and I would decide which cousin would be singing and which cousin would dance and which cousin would rap, and then I’d tell the adults that we’re gonna come down by eight o’clock, I need everyone’s sat down and then we’d perform for them.

Then that carried through to primary school and stuff. I would do performances, and my mum was almost like our

own Tina Knowles because she’d make our costumes for us. She’s still very involved in my costume stuff today.”

When it comes to inspiration, she’s got no end of it. From actual Michelle Obama coming to Bree’s school (yes, really), watching her sing and encouraging her to pursue music (“She had a lot of time for me that day, and she gave me some very inspirational words, I have to thank her for that”), to the icons she grew up watching, she’s constantly motivated to create bold and distinctive art.

The confidence she exudes today, however, has taken a long time to build up. She mentions she was wary about the idea of becoming an artist due to how she was bullied over her dark skin as a child.

“I was never fully confident enough to go for music completely, though, so I would start and stop a lot. I was aware of how much more you’re seen when you’re an artist, you’re more open to the public, and because of how much I was bullied growing up, I didn’t want to put myself in that position. But with age and being exposed to more artists, like Lady Gaga, Grace Jones, because I saw pieces of myself in them, they inspired me to go for it. Some people think they’re crazy, some people think they’re amazing, but at the end of the day it doesn’t really matter, because they’re still icons.”

But learning to love herself was crucial to who she is as an artist today. Click on any of her music videos or check the replies to her tweets and you’ll find many young Black girls telling Bree what

“I really do care about shit” Bree Runway

an inspiration she is and how she’s everything they wanted to see in a pop star growing up. The video for ‘Big Racks’ kicks off with statistics about racism in the workplace, and throughout she’s shown experiencing various microaggressions, and eventually covering her face in white plasters to assimilate.

“I want to stand for something, you know?

Because in general I do stand for something. I want to show that to like the world. I’m not someone that just gets up on camera and dances; I really do care about shit. And with my platform, no matter how big or small I want to share my own important shit.”

Her new single ‘Gucci’, which features Maliibu Miitch, is an extension of that. “It’s a celebration of just being an excellent Black woman, like 100%. It’s a song where I’m super feeling myself and super celebrating myself because through life, I haven’t really celebrated myself that much, but I’m trying to get to that stage where I’m unashamedly proud and happy to be me, you know?”

Of course, lockdown is not stopping Bree from working.

We might’ve missed out on the headline shows and an appearance at The Great Escape she had coming up, but we’ve since been treated to a video for ‘Damn Daniel’

that she made in quarantine, with co-star Yung Baby Tate appearing from the other side of the world, and she’s currently working on an EP (like literally right now, she’s dashing off to an at-home session when this chat is over), coming ‘soon’.

“I’m going to be tweaking it from the original idea because I feel like the stuff I was singing about out of quarantine is not what I’ve lived in quarantine. I want to put a bit of my quarantine experience and emotion into the project because I’m sure a lot of people can relate.

So yeah, there’s an EP being worked on, and it’s going to be a bigger project than it was the last one.”

With such a strong artistic vision comes a lot of hard graft. Luckily, Bree’s always had the work ethic to match and is wasting no time cracking on with fulfilling her goals. After the release of 2019’s ‘Be Runway’ EP and a string of outstanding singles, she assures us the ideas are just getting “bigger and better” (FIRE EMOJI). If this is only the start, imagine where she’s got to go yet?!

She’s blazing her own trail as we speak.

“The plan this year was to be super consistent. So no matter what I’m faced with, I’m just going to keep going.

I know where I want to go, and my vision is so detailed in my head, so I just have to use every single moment to gear towards it. It’s a big vision, it’s a big dream that I’m trying to achieve here, and every day, I see it definitely becoming more possible and more real, and more different.” P

HYPE

Home Counties Bristol-based Home Counties (FKA Haze) recently announced their signing to Alcopop! with new single, ‘Dad Bod’. The second taster from their upcoming ‘Redevelopment’ EP, it’s a deadpan takedown of dodgy middle-aged men that’ll somehow make you reconsider your love for cast iron pans. What’s that about, lads? Conor Kearney (guitar/vocals) tells us more about their band.

How did you guys meet and get together?

Most of us went to school together and have been in some sort of band together ever since. We met Sam when Will went to Bristol Uni, and he joined the band at the start of the year.

What have you been up to with Home Counties so far? You’ve had a single out, been on a few tours?

We formed Home Counties in December and managed to get out on two tour runs before lockdown hit. It was all going so well... We recorded the debut EP and then toured up north with Hotel Lux and down South with Alcopop label-mates Ditz which was a great way to test run the new material.

Where do you look for writing inspiration?

A lot of the inspiration for lyrics has roots in academic work; especially modern history and sociologies of the recent past, but simplified and delivered with an emotional response.

Musically, Television has always been a big influence on our guitar work. Talking Heads are another key inspiration, particularly as we move into more dancy and upbeat territory.

What do you do for fun?

I’m a bit of a workaholic. Will and I spend hours and hours writing and demoing new material for Home Counties.

That’s been a silver lining of lockdown for us. P

readdork.com 27.

HYPE

First On...

Tate McRae Two million YouTube subscribers, ten million monthly Spotify listeners. Our Tate could populate a small country with fans of her emotional, dance-pop hits.

By: Sam Taylor. Photography: Fiona Garden.

Gracie Abrams

Gracie Abrams makes dramatic, heartbroken songs for those sad bits in films where the young, conflicted woman is wandering around bereft in the rain, pausing occasionally to look longingly at e.g. a bench where her former partner once lovingly offered to share their McDonald's.

Better times. She has to buy her own chicken nuggets now...

Avenue Beat

Avenue Beat know what's what. Hitting up two of the year's top trends - TikTok, and 2020 being shit - their new single 'F2020' means exactly what you think it does. Taking a slow-groove tongue-in-cheek-but-alsonot swipe at a rubbish few months ("This is getting kind of ridiculous at this point"), the trio - Sam Backoff, Savana Santos and Sami Bearden - are both hilarious and an earworm you won't be able to get rid of.

F

inding her feet via super-popular YouTube videos, Canadian pop up-andcomer Tate McRae has not long dropped her new single 'vicious (ft. Lil Mosey)'. "I’ve always been a

fan of his work, so it’s super dope to have a rapper like him jump on this record," she enthuses. A cut from her new EP, due later this year - and the follow-up to her debut 'all the things i never said', released back in January it's an enthusiastic statement of intent for the rest of 2020.

Tate tells us more.

Hello Tate! How's it going? Are you coping with lockdown ok?

Hey! It's going pretty good.

I'm going a little crazy in lockdown at the moment, but managing to get a lot done.

What do you most enjoy writing songs about?

I guess writing has just always been my outlet for things. As someone who hates talking about myself, it's my safe place to talk about everything on my mind. It's also a crazy feeling when all your personal thoughts can relate to other people.

Did you grow up in a music household? What sparked your interest in becoming a musician?

My mom was a dancer all her life, so I definitely followed in her footsteps in that way. The rest of my family is definitely not involved in music, which is almost better haha. We're a pretty competitive family, so it's good we all have extremely different lanes.

Music has never not been

“There's so much that goes on behind the scenes that doesn't get released online” Tate McRae in my life. I always grew up dancing and singing everywhere, so the decision to move in the artistic direction was always a for sure for me.

Is it living up to the hype so far?

I love writing. I love performing. I love the entire process, so it always lives up

What does a typical day look like for you at the moment?

I wake-up, do school work, usually have a writing session for a couple of hours, workout, and then sometimes Netflix.

We'll have more for you on Baby Queen next month, but she's so bloody good we just couldn't wait til then.

Two songs deep, 'Internet Religion' is a woozy, lo-fi bop about social media, and follow-up 'Buzzkill' is a deadpan rumination on being so utterly done with boring parties. The latter has a stunner of a video too, featuring cake, streamers, and enough sequins to see us through to at least Christmas. Probably.

CMAT

Bonkers. It's all just bonkers.

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I never thought my YouTube would ever get any traction.

It was a crazy moment when I started to realise that a whole bunch of people were connecting with my original songs. Starting something from scratch is never easy, but once you find your lane and release genuine content, you can really build a platform.

Are there any YouTube up-and-comers you've got your eye on at the mo?

I actually don't watch that much YouTube… the only channel I really watch is David Dobrik. My favourite YouTuber ever. I also like Cody Ko, and the cool part is he's from Calgary too.

I think it's amazing. I love the sensation of being on stage and seeing people sing back my lyrics. The feeling's kind of indescribable, and I can't wait to go back on tour.

I was supposed to be on tour for all of April, but unfortunately, that got cancelled. I also have missed a lot of trips for writing sessions and the filming of music videos.

Is there anything about being a musician that's harder than you thought it'd be?

Tell us about your new single, 'Vicious' - what's it about? Where did it come from?

'Vicious' can be interpreted in so many different ways.

For me, it feels like a really empowering song. Gives me major girl power vibes. It really shows the vulnerability of a person and then immediately switches to this badass character. Feels like something I've never touched on before.

Your YouTube channel is crazy popular; how did you figure out what would connect with people? Did it come easily for you?

You've toured a bit already haven't you, how have you found travelling and being on the road?

Have the current restrictions mucked up many of your plans?

Baby Queen

to hype. Getting to do what I love every single day has always been a dream of mine.

FACT FILE + From Calgary, Canada + For fans of Dua Lipa + Check out ‘vicious’ + Social @tatemcrae

It's a lot of work. I think people don't understand that there's so much that goes on behind the scenes that aren't released online. People assume it's one of the easiest jobs, but it's definitely been a heavy load, especially on top of school and dance.

What do you do for fun?

I love to improv, get in the studio and dance. Also, hang with my friends when I have time. P

HYPE HYPE NEWS

Joesef has teamed up with Loyle Carner for his latest track, 'I Wonder Why'. “I never work with anyone at all," he says, "but my mates and I are Loyle’s biggest fans. I’m buzzing."

Oscar Lang has released his new tune 'Apple Juice', and a self-directed video. It's a scuzzy, Beck-infused track from his upcoming EP 'Hand Over Your Head', out on 11th September via Dirty Hit.

Michelle

Get ready to see a lot more of New York collective Michelle, as they've just inked a deal with Transgressive Records. By: Sam Taylor. Photography: Daniel Dorsa.

T

he problem with being enthusiastic all of the time about as much as possible is that it's then very difficult to get across when something is 14/10 exciting. New York City collective MICHELLE, though - they have something really special. Breaking out with not-super-recent-butdef-having-a-resurgence track 'The Bottom', and 2018's self-released debut album 'Heatwave' too, their blend of R&B and retro synth-pop is warm, intimate and danceable all at once. If we weren't all largely stuck indoors rn, it'd be perfect for breezy summer road trips, windows down and fish and chips waiting.

It's been a bit of a slow-burn for them so far, but with new single 'Sunrise' out now, a rapid ascent is on the horizon.

Hi MICHELLE, how's it going?

Sofia: It's going okay, I guess.

This is exciting since I have my copy of Dork's June 2020 issue on my bedside table as I answer this.

New York feels pretty volatile at the moment, are you all doing ok?

Emma: It's intense to be in the city right now, intense in the body and the mind.

But I'd rather be here and be a part of the revolution than be somewhere where people could avoid it. We've been spread out because of the pandemic, but the call of the city is very much felt by everyone here.

It must be exciting to live somewhere that holds such cultural influence, how does it feed into your craft?

Jamee: New York City has

an electric energy that encourages collaboration between creatives, and the music scene is an expansive web of mutual connections as a result. MICHELLE is a product of New York City; Our first album 'HEATWAVE was a tribute to our city, and the NYC music scene is what brought us together. Our proximity to beautiful art and talented artists inspires us to continue creating music, as individuals and as MICHELLE.

Did you grow up in New York, or move in from elsewhere?

Jamee: We all grew up in New York! And almost all of us were born in NYC (but I won't name our one outlier).

Julian: I've lived in the same apartment in a non-residential neighbourhood my whole life, but I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

Does the city feel to have changed at all during your time there?

Sofia: Definitely strange seeing the skyline change, watching storefronts from our childhood shut, and bear witness to gentrification. But the music and art scenes we've been grateful to be a part of are committed to maintaining the NYC spirit that makes our home truly our home.

Tell us about MICHELLE, how did you get together, and what have you lot been up to so far?

Sofia: In 2018, Julian and Charlie wanted to make this album about NYC; Julian knew me and Emma, Charlie knew Layla and Jamee, and we each went over to Julian's place to write and record. The first time all of us finally met as a group was at our first show

"This is exciting since I have my copy of Dork on my bedside table" Sofia D’Angelo at Bard College in November 2018… Julian wasn't there because he was still at school in Ohio. Now we just write and record music at Julian's apartment and a studio.

You're often described as a collective, do you all have other projects going on?

Jamee: Yes! Emma and Julian are in another band called "The Booyah! Kids". Jamee

Dylan Cartlidge is teasing his upcoming EP with new bop, 'Cheerleader'.

Streaming online now, it's a cut from ‘Yellow Brick Road’, due for release on 14th August.

FACT FILE + From New York, US + For fans of Clairo + Check out ‘Sunshine’ + Social @michelletheband and Charlie are in another band called "Badabing."

Layla (Layla Ku), Sofia (Sofia D'Angelo), Emma (Eliza Moon), and Charlie (KES) are all solo artists as well. Julian is always producing tracks for people. Emma is a dancer.

Jamee and Sofia are both in college.

And you're just breaking into the UK now, right?

Having signed with Transgressive?

Julian: The UK is a place we are just getting into. It's a strange feeling breaking into a market we've never played in, but hopefully, when it's possible we can tour abroad!

Sofia: Dream for me is to come across the pond and play shows there.

Your new single 'Sunrise' is great, what inspired it?

Emma: We wrote 'Sunrise' in the winter, though it was inspired by some sticky summer longing. The instrumental is what initially inspired the vocal- calling on the blooming keys and the groove of the drums to create something that we think melts and moves with you.

Is it a standalone, or do you have a larger body of work on the way?

Julian: We have been working on new music since our first album came out. We have had to learn patience. Hopefully, a great song will still be a great song whenever it comes out.

As long as what you're making isn't too trendy.

What else is coming up for MICHELLE? Jamee: We're currently working on releasing new music and sharing our recommended anti-racism resources with fans. P

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HYPE HYPE NEWS

The Mysterines have a new tour for February 2021. Their 'Life's A Bitch' run follows a sold-out stint earlier this year, and will see the Liverpool newcomers hit The Garage in London.

Mysie and Griff are among five nominees for the firstever Rising Star Ivor Novello Award, along with Amahla, Carmel Smickersgill and Lullahush. The winner is revealed on 2nd September.

Fletcher

Purveyor of huuuuuge pop bops about partying, break-ups and the like, Fletcher is on the up and up.

By: Abigail Firth.

W

hen the world was first introduced to Cari Fletcher, she hadn’t quite found herself yet.

She was 17, trying to live out her dreams on The X Factor US’ first series. She probably knew there and then, as Simon Cowell called her boring and forgettable, before funnelling her into a country-pop girl group, that this wasn’t the path she was meant to take.

Fast forward to today, she’s eclipsed the nervous teenager she once was, and is forging her own path to success, built on good honest songwriting and big pop sensibilities.

We meet Fletcher, virtually, in her childhood bedroom in New Jersey, where she’s been quarantined at her parents’ house, which she says is a welcome change of pace from the big cities she’s gotten used to. She’s just put out ‘Bitter’, a song that was synced on an episode of The L Word’s reboot, and eventually released by popular demand (and some boredom).

“I was getting flooded every single day with DMs like, where’s that song?

Where’s that song? Where’s that song?” she says. “Finally I was like, fuck, I don’t have anything else to put out right now, I should just put ‘Bitter’ out.”

She’s gearing up to release a new EP, mostly finished off in quarantine, which she promises to be her most personal yet. It won’t feature ‘Bitter’, or big electropop bangers ‘Forever’ and ‘One Too Many’, but it will be all the material she’s been cooking up at home while in

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her lockdown feels.

“The last couple months have had me in an introspective state, and I’m making some really personal stuff. I feel like every song kind of has a different journey.

Some have been around longer than others, but the quarantine has really been a time of me tying a little bow on top of everything, which has been really cool.”

It’ll follow 2019’s ‘you ruined new york city for me’, an EP detailing Cari’s time in the Big Apple – an experience that shaped her as both a person and an artist. Though she frequents it for work nowadays, the memories that made up her last EP are still strong.

“New York City, there’s just something about it. It has a way of just like, ripping you down to absolutely nothing and building you back up again, just to kick you in the ass again.

“I was just in New York yesterday, and I was driving through the East Village and passing my old dorms, and where I went to my first concert in New York, restaurants I used to eat at, and I was just having this flooding flashback of memories – like really good ones, but also really bad ones.

There are these places that hold of a piece of you that I feel like I’ll never really get back, and not in a way that’s sad or anything but I feel like there are all these little pieces of Fletcher that have been put all over that city in a way that’s like really nostalgic and sometimes painful but also a reminder of how much growth can happen.”

New York’s influence on Fletcher goes further than her own time there. Most of the artists she cites as her biggest influences have their own experiences with the city; Patti Smith, Madonna, Lady Gaga, David Bowie (of course that’s not the reason she picked them, but it’s a fun connection).

“It was always the people about pushing outside of the lines and breaking boundaries,” she says. “The people that said, ‘fuck the system’ in a way, like Joan Jett, you know, people being in a space that has never necessarily been occupied before and being unapologetically themselves.

It’s that energy I'm drawn to.”

Cari admires artists the same way her fans love Fletcher. They appreciate her honesty and transparency with them, in her music and IRL, and that translates in our chat too. It doesn’t take much for her to open up (she’s a Pisces TBF), noting how important honesty and integrity are in her songwriting.

“I think the most important thing to me when writing a song is for it to be coming from an honest place, and a place where I’m able to talk about an experience that I’ve had or something that I’m currently going through.

Otherwise, it’s really hard for me to write anything at all if it’s made up. I think the studio has always been a space for me to be really unfiltered, especially being from New Jersey, I feel like I just straight up don’t have any filter whatsoever, so it’s really hard for me to just have one, to begin with.”

“I questioned for a long time if I would ever be able to be a pop star” Fletcher She uses songwriting as a form of therapy, processing her emotions in the studio and putting them out into the world for others to relate to. “We all just want to feel connected and understood and heard,” she says, “and it’s really like the only reason why I make music.” From breakup songs and cheating partners to emotional dedications to the Me Too movement, there’s no bullshit in Fletcher’s discography. Sometimes its stripped back, and sometimes it comes with a SOPHIE remix in tow, but the common thread is always her sincerity.

“I think my humanity is so beyond intertwined with my artistry, and I do what I do because I feel like I needed as a little kid growing up, to see more humanity in artistry, and especially within female artistry and specifically within the female pop space.

I grew up with a lot of role models, but I just felt like everything had to look and feel and be a certain way, and I questioned for a long time if I would ever be able to be a pop star, because like I don’t feel represented in what I’m seeing.”

As an openly queer woman, Fletcher is pushing to create her own space in the

pop sphere where she feels comfortable, joining those who laid the groundwork before her, like Halsey, Kehlani and Hayley Kiyoko.

“Trying to navigate my sexuality as a little kid where everything just felt really glossy and clean and perfect.

I was like, where do I sit here? I think it’s mostly just been more acceptance and understanding that there is a place for me – and because I’m white and I’m privileged so I have to acknowledge that – I just mean in terms of there being more honesty, like there’s always room for that at the table, and there’s always room for real representation and different perspectives. And that’s what the world needs more of right now. So it’s important for me to make that contribution about my truth in hopes of inspiring other people to do the same. I think more of that is happening and it’s really fucking cool to see.”

In the time she’s been in the spotlight, she’s become much more confident within herself, living her truth and dropping the armour. She says on X Factor she was told she wasn’t strong enough to be a solo artist or confident enough to sing lead vocals; it’s hard to imagine Fletcher today being bothered by those comments.

“There’s always been pressure to be a certain way, because I grew up seeing people a certain way. But now, we’re seeing so many more people be themselves and winning, and that’s the coolest thing ever. And I’ve let go of a lot of pressure. Honestly, I think we have to in order to be happier.” P

HYPE

Tayo Sound 18-year-old NigerianScottish songwriter Tayo Oyekan - aka Tayo Sound - has dropped one of the best debut singles of the year so far. 'Cold Feet',

produced by Courage, arrives through Black Butter/Arista Records and tells the story of a brief but lovely young relationship via irresistibly charming chilled-out pop.

Having already worked with the likes of George Reid (of AlunaGeorge), Rob Milton (Easy Life) and The 23rd (Khalid, Grace Carter), and with a debut EP coming later this year, Tayo's is a name you're going to be seeing a lot more of.

When did you first realise you wanted to make music, did you have a musical upbringing?

I was raised in church, so I was always around music, and my dad played guitar and saxophone. The first time I discovered non-gospel music though, was when my older brother started downloading pop ringtones when I was young - that's when I really caught the bug for writing songs. I won my school talent show when I was 10.

Is being a musician living up to the hype so far?

It's bless - I can't lie. I wake up at 10am every day and go to the studio for 1pm, and then I just make music all day. I went to LA earlier this year, and that was a big highlight for me so far.

In London, all the studios are quite dark with no natural light, but in LA almost all the studios have windows and a view, and the music bangs.

You spent some time busking around Reading, right? Was it a good learning experience?

My mum put me up to the idea actually. The first time I went out was on Boxing Day, and I made £200, so when I dropped out of school to do music, I decided to do it full time. Some days I would make a packet, and some I would make like 20p.

I definitely learnt to stick through the dry spells and just keep digging and playing.

Has working with other musicians like George Reid and Rob Milton helped you hone your craft? How do those collabs usually happen?

I ain't gonna lie, I have no idea who sets these things up, but I just get told I'm working with different people every day, and I just show up at the studio, and we jam and make tunes. But yeah for sure, I'm super privileged to work with people I'm fans of! Rob Milton produces all of the Easy Life stuff, and they are probably my favourite band atm, and obviously, all the AlunaGeorge stuff is sick.

Is there anyone else you're keen to work with at the moment?

Anyone, anywhere, any time. Hit me up on Insta @ tayosound. But for real, Lorde where you at? P

FACT FILE + From Reading, UK + For fans of Rex Orange Coun ty + Check out ‘Cold Feet’ + So cial @tayosound

FACT FILE + From New Jersey, US + For fans of The Aces, MUNA + Check out ‘Forever’ + Social @findingfletcher

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HYPE

Remi Wolf

You'll struggle to find an artist quite so assertively herself as Remi Wolf.

By: Jamie Muir. Photography: Sophie Hur.

T

here comes a moment in many a musician’s life when everything clicks, where the idea of going out and taking on the world feels suddenly very possible. That there

can be more than just messing around in a bedroom and smiling between mates. Remi Wolf laughs at the thought,

“I actually know the exact moment, the exact day where that happened!

“I was 15 and me and my friend, we knew a bunch of songs that we’d been learning and writing together, and one day we were like, ‘why don’t we street perform near this art festival?’ We parked on a corner, just to see if anyone gave a shit about us and we

ended up making like $180 in two hours. I just thought, oh I can do this… this is the moment!”

It perfectly captures Remi Wolf and her nearfearless approach to music.

A performer from the very start, her kaleidoscope world of huge pop energy, fizzing colours and sugar-packed punches rallies against grey

FACT FILE + From LA, US + For fans of BENEE + Check out ‘Photo ID’, 'Woo!' + Social @remiwolf

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skies. Whip-smart quips and instant doses of pop are the order of the day - exactly how a modern pop star should be.

“I want my music to sound completely different to what everyone else is doing. I’m kinda striving for big sounds, unique sounds, unique flow, unique lyrics just… to be different!”

For anyone who’s glimpsed at Remi’s world, that should be clear. Latest EP ‘I’m Allergic To Dogs’ breathes with confidence and fun, an amalgamation of hiphop, electronica and pop only possible in a world of flicking playlists. Remi Wolf is not about waiting around for people to shuffle in at the back, it’s about getting down the front and throwing yourself into that skittle-biting party spirit. “Performing was the first thing that I really fell in love with,” explains Remi. “There are just so many homemade videos of me performing magic shows or fashion shows or dance shows from when I was 8 or 9 upwards. A lot of me performing for my parents all the time, bossing my little brother around which is actually pretty embarrassing.”

Singing was a natural step. There were parties and backyard barbecue performances; showmanship going hand in hand with determination while soaking in the sounds of pop trailblazers.

Conforming to the norm? The idea of that couldn’t be further from her mind. “The one artist that just really clicked with me from a super young age was MIA,” recalls Remi. “She had a huge influence on me just in terms of sounds and what pop music can be. Her song ‘Paper Planes’, when it came out, it was surrounded by a bunch of like soft-rock pop stuff, which I also liked, but she stood out so much in the sea that it had a huge impact on me.”

From the effortless personality of Prince and the impeccable musicianship of John Mayer, to Erykah Badu

“This is the vibe, fuck with it or don’t!”

Remi Wolf who “just changed something in my brain where I was like, woah!”, there’s a traceable line between those artists Remi first grew towards and where she stands today. Freedom. “I think all of them don’t listen to anybody, and don’t listen to what the market is trying to tell them to make. They’re just completely out on their own wave, completely independent and completely autonomous.

“I strive to have complete freedom, and I think I do create from a place of complete freedom,” states Remi, connecting that line to who she is today. “When it’s a good day, I’m completely free - that’s where I’m trying to go. I guess what I hope for my career is to be able to do whatever the fuck I want, whenever I want.”

If ‘I’m Allergic To Dogs’ is anything to go by, Remi’s achieving that and more.

Whether it’s the strutting and peacocking ‘Disco Man’, the dank drops of ‘Woo!’, the smoothness of ‘Hello Hello Hello’ or the irresistible pop perfection of ‘Down The Line’ - it’s not so much that Remi is rewriting the rulebook, she just doesn’t even acknowledge it. “I want all my live shows to feel like a party at all times,” Remi says. “This EP, I wanted it all to be just hits - weird hits and danceable fucking rowdy hits!”

The animated video captures the mood perfectly.

Digital dance moves, bursting bright colours, and surreal group dance-a-longs fit together perfectly as Remi starts to turn her audiowhipped world into visual form. “It’s really important to me,” explains Remi. “I didn’t make any visuals for my first

HYPE HYPE NEWS

EP [‘You’re A Dog’], and that was all me taking the time to find the right collaborator.

I met Agusta Yr in London actually after finding her work on Instagram, and I could just tell right away we had very similar ideas. She completely got my vision. I wanted to create a world that people could dive into, that just feels like a completely different reality: very whimsy, very fantasy, very bright, but with this dark irony and glitchiness to it. It’s all super new to me but very important”.

With many different areas and lanes to open up in the Remi Wolf world, what comes next proves most exciting.

Already laying out her claim to being a lightning rod of energy and feverish creativity, the good times are only just getting started. There’s already been a drive-in show to her name (the first event of its kind to take place in LA), and Remi’s focus is now on what comes next. “I’ve been using all this time to really sink into my own head in a way, working on a bunch of songs and kinda going back to my roots a bit writing on an acoustic guitar. I’m looking ahead.

“It’s been surreal seeing people react the way they have to the music so far,” she continues. “I feel like I’m confident in my shit, but also the most insecure I’ve ever been at the same time because now there are people I could let down. I never had that before. I think mostly I’m just excited, and for now, I’ve just been trying to dig into where I want to go with my art and just trying to figure out my path, and I’m just kinda fucking around with all that stuff!

“I don’t want there to be a question of whether one of my songs is actually a good song. I want it all to be super solid and danceable. Every song to be fully realised like… this is the vibe, fuck with it or don’t! Just really unapologetic debauchery I guess.” No questions asked, if there’s one party in town not to be missed - it’s Remi Wolf’s. P

Emily Burns has a new EP on the way, with ‘I Love You, You’re The Worst’ set for release on 24th July. She'll hit the road not super long after too, with a tour booked for October.

After sharing a string of sizzling new numbers - ‘love me better’, ‘magnetic’, 'want u back' - joan have confirmed details of a brand new six-track EP ‘cloudy’, due on 6th August.

Swirling post-punk movers A.Swayze & The Ghosts will release their debut album ‘Paid Salvation’ on 18th September. The news arrives alongside new cut 'Cancer', streaming online now.

Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, and Nirvana, to name a few.

Those people together have really inspired me and my music in different ways.

What inspires you, both in songwriting and in life?

My surroundings, the people I choose to be around, art, and film really inspire me and my music.

These things put me in a certain headspace that affects me sometimes more than I think! That's why I love to be surrounded by good people, and pretty scenery cause it makes me feel really good and ultimately helps my music!

FACT FILE + From New Zealand + For fans of Billie Eilish + Check out ‘i drive me mad’ + So cial @renforshort

renforshort By: Sam Taylor. Photography: Leeor Wild.

renforshort is part of the new wave of dark-pop teens following in the wake of Billie Eilish's world-dominating success. Much like fellow

upstart BENEE, her songs swing from sugary sweet to wouldn't-want-to-meetthem-down-a-dark-alley in a heartbeat. Her recent tune 'i drive me mad' we're quite happy to prematurely pull out as one of the year's best. Those half a million YouTube views? At least 50% us. Don't do the maths there, it's fine. She's got a new 'un out, too lockdown-friendly banger,

'fuck, i luv my friends'.

Introduce yourself to one of 2020's breakout artists.

Hi, renforshort! 'fuck, i luv my friends' is really timely given lockdown, where did it come from?

Are you part of a tightnit friend group?

I actually wrote this song right when lockdown started so all these feelings of concern and stress where very fresh and everyone was unsure about how long it would be till we were able to see each other again.

I have a few really close friends that I love very, very

much and missed dearly. I was very sad about that, but I was really excited to be able to see them all again (a few months later, haha).

Have you always been into songwriting and music? What did you grow up listening to?

I have always been really into music. Since I was very young, I grew up listening to my parents' mixes and was taught about these artists and their styles of writing and the impact their music had on the world. I grew up listening to Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, NWA,

'i drive me mad' is a really great song, how did that one come into being?

'i drive me mad' was an interesting song to write because at the time, I was not feeling so dandy, but I was surrounded by good people who helped me through it. I wrote it about anxiety because at the time I was having a crazy panic attack and I felt awful because I didn't think we would be able to write a song considering the state I was in. But, I was with really good people (Jessie Fink, Pom Pom, and Jeff Hazin) who helped me through it and we got a pretty sick song out of it!

And what about the Mike Shinoda mix, what happened there? Are you a Linkin Park fan?

That was straight out of a dream for me! I love Linkin Park, and when I saw Mike Shinoda followed me on Instagram, I announced it to my entire history class cause I was shocked, haha.

Mike added my song to his playlist and posted it on his story, and obviously, I was freakin out a little. I reached out to him, and we talked.

One thing led to another, and he remixed my song, and it's fkn SICK! P

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Back with a second album, Declan McKenna has always been a cut above. This time, though, he's ready to make us question everything.

By: Martyn Young. Photography: Rachel Kiki.

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DECLAN MCKENNA

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DECLAN MCKENNA

ere at Dork, we've always known Declan McKenna is a little bit special. Going

right back to when he appeared in issue one, to starring on the cover the following year, establishing himself as one of our brightest new stars.

Dec's more than just another boy with a guitar; from the start, there was a spark in his eyes that suggested he had big plans and humongous ideas. Now, four years later, not even a global pandemic is going to stop Dec from firmly blasting off to the next level as he ushers in a whole new era.

'Zeros' is the sort of creative statement that Declan has been building up to from his early days writing songs as a teenager in his parents' bedroom. A striking development from the rabble-rousing bangers that caught the initial wave of hype culminating in his successful 2017 debut, 'What Do You Think About The Car?'. It's a record that deals with big themes and big concepts that question the heart of humanity itself. It's bold, distinctive and questing - and it's the work of a fearless artist pushing their creativity to the extreme.

"It's about our perception of life and our perception of the end of the world," he begins boldly.

Despite his enthusiasm for the record's release, there's no doubt this has been a troubling and frustrating period for artists across the creative spectrum as plans have changed and creative visions halted. Everything has generally become a right old mess. Declan, though, has remained positive, spending lockdown looking for new ways to create while building up anticipation for an album that was originally due back in May. "I've been really busy making stuff to go on the internet," he explains.

"I've changed course as a lot of different things just weren't going to happen anymore, so I needed to find different ways to get creative and make music. It's my job!" he laughs.

Indeed, Dec has been all over the virtual place these past few months. He's popped up on Insta doing Q+As with fans, hosted live-streams, and even still managed to turn up on the telly with his memorable appearance on Sunday Brunch featuring multiple Decs performing 'Beautiful Faces'. He may not have been able to release the album as planned, but Dec

was definitely going to make sure we didn't forget about him. "I started the lockdown just writing stuff and then everyone was like doing shows and stuff, so I thought I should maybe do some of these or else I'm going to miss the boat on that. It's been fun. We've made some really cool recordings, and I've been working with my housemates on different photoshoots and film projects," he says.

Nevermind the restrictions of lockdown, there have also been other frustrations for Declan to deal with. "I've been quite stressed with moving house, and my studio flooded the other week, and a load of my equipment got wet. There's been a helluva lot of twists and turns during the lockdown amplified by being a bit stuck in one place.

I'm buzzing the album is almost finally out though. It's not quite the way I imagined it, but I'm excited."

It's been over a year now since Declan upped sticks with his band to Nashville to begin making the album. The one thing that

characterised the lengthy sessions for 'Zeros' with producer Jay Joyce was a desire to make a proper band record; to harness the fevered energy and

flamboyant exuberance of Declan's stage show on record. "I really made a focus on this album on the live energy and space. Making sure stuff was epic but not overcrowded, and I had moments of expansiveness and moments of simplicity," he explains. "I was feeling confident in myself and confident with my band and the team around me who were just awesome. I don't know if that means anyone will like the songs more, but as long as I'm happy, I think that's a good place to start."

The ability to work more collaboratively was a development from the way he made his debut, which still had the hallmark of his early days working songs up from loop pedals with basic equipment. "There's nothing like experience and time with equipment to help you learn both how to come up with more ideas but also to help you execute them," he says. "Part of it was improving my role as a producer even though I didn't actually produce the album. Increasing how much I could influence the sound of the record and what I wanted creatively."

Declan's creative vision is at the centre of everything on 'Zeros'. With a beating pop heart and an experimental readdork.com 37.

edge, it's a clear progression.

"The songs that come to me naturally are just pop songs. I'm not trying to be a crazy math-rock artist or anything like that, but I like experimentation to be at the base of my work. I always end up writing pop songs, but there has to be something new about it for me. It has to feel fresh and give me that burst of energy you get when you hear a song you really like. I have to experience that with a song I'm writing, or I just give up straight away."

While Declan is obviously proud of 'What Do You Think About The Car?' it's clear that there were elements of the way the record was made that frustrate him, looking back. The platform built by the record's success though has opened up new avenues for him to work a bit differently. Initially, the process was trial and error.

"I was so used to writing in my bedroom at home and having no space and no equipment to do it and then when you have that stuff all the time and all the freedom in the world you can almost lose what you were doing in the first place," he admits.

"I was just trying to get inspired in different ways;

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keep it fresh for myself and not getting into a boring style of writing. It's always been about experimenting for me. The first record was

a lot of loop pedal stuff that I was experimenting with from a young age. This one was diving into my laptop and discovering more but

also taking moments to just sit at a keyboard or pick up a guitar and write a song. A song like 'Be An Astronaut' was 30 min on a piano."

A lot of 'Zeros' is about sonic exploration. It's about ramping up the sounds to the max, and it pulses with exhilarating energy from the glam rocking pianoled opener 'You Better Believe!!!' to the fever dream rushes of tracks like 'Sagittarius A. Star'. The record is characterised by energy and wild abandon.

Still, it is underpinned by Declan's lyrical wordplay and fantastical idiosyncrasies that position it as a record that flits between oblique fantasy and harsh reality.

It was a different way of writing for Declan. With less of a reliance on overt, grandstanding statements, he instead favoured an everevolving mystery and a series of playful, witty and, at times, heartbreaking character sketches that shine a light on some greater universal truisms of the modern world we live in. "The ideas that I thought would be the concept of the album never stopped changing," reflects Declan. "I was thinking about space" - a recurring

theme on the record - "and how that metaphor tied into so many things that I care about; the environment, denied aspirations of a lot of young people in the world. All of that was very important to me."

"I wanted to put it into a storyline that wasn't too forceful or regressive," he continues. "I wanted it to be about the emotions of characters, leaving it up to the imaginations of listeners to tie it into what is happening in the world.

Weirdly, the album has become more and more relevant for me in terms of how I feel in my personal state and how I look at the world. It's been a year since I recorded the bloody thing!

I've dwelled on it for a long time, and the world has changed immeasurably. There were a lot of ideas going into it, and once you get to the end, it's like that breath that you take in and just listen to it all and you're like, right, this kind of makes sense."

A big part of Declan's appeal and why he has fostered such a close and engaged community of fans is that he's a positive voice in showing that you

DECLAN MCKENNA

can be yourself and not conform to stereotypes or expectations. The album

title, 'Zeros', highlights people in society who feel marginalised, and it's a theme close to his heart. "A lot of the album was inspired by people on the outskirts," he says. "Not even just people I can particularly relate to, but all the normal human emotions that lead to people becoming outsiders in our community. The way the world is set up means people get left in these strange extreme corners of society and are completely pushed out. It's happening time and time again."

Warming to his theme, Declan elaborates on his desire for societal change in a humane way. "My role in the revolution is simple.

It's the same thing a lot of musicians have done over time, and that's just telling people to trust themselves and believe in themselves and believe in their identities," he says passionately. "To not listen to the social constructs that tell you otherwise. Trust your mind, and trust your body. When we do that we move towards a much more trusting and caring world.

The more people understand themselves, the less they will damage other people.

"Unfortunately, our world is a very damaging place.

We're seeing that the brunt of that is being felt by young people, at least in the UK. So many different demographics are hit. I'm trying to reach out to people and just be that reminder that we have a long way to go, and you can trust in yourself and not just follow social constructs that have been made up to fill a hole that doesn't make sense in the modern world anymore."

"So, that's what I think my role in the revolution is!" he laughs exuberantly after giving a stirring speech. "It's the idea of a soft revolution inside ourselves. That's where everything starts.

It would make the world a better place if everyone truly understood and loved themselves."

It's this sort of committed belief to fight for humanity and equality that had Declan initially lauded as something of a 'political' writer and frequently labelled as a 'voice of a generation'.

The different storytelling approach on the album is in part a reaction against those early perceptions, but that

fire for change is still very much there.

"A lot of the first record was inspired by reading the news and just seeing constant streams of negativity. I was trying to call out the hypocrisy of the world," he says. "I found a lot of the time being called a political artist quite frustrating because it sounds quite limiting. I don't really mind it, and I understand

people are going to label me as whatever they want, it's not the worst thing someone could call me. Life is political.

The world is political. The more people hesitate over that fact leads to frustrating conversations where you can't talk about things seriously because you can't acknowledge that things do get politicised.

"For many people, it's not a matter of choosing

sides, it's a matter of life and death. If you define accepting people's identities as politics, then that is a dangerous game as it is so invalidating to so many people. I'm still the same person, I still think the same thoughts, but I just wanted something that wouldn't necessarily be shrouded in buzzwords, in terms of the ideas I was presenting. It leaves things a bit more open

and leaves it for people to think for themselves, which is important in this day and age when there's so much you're just taught to believe."

"I don't want to force people to follow my lead," he adds. "I don't think I'm an activist in the way that certain organisations are activists because I don't really fill that space and that role, but it's that little reminder that people should readdork.com 39.

trust themselves and be good to themselves and through that good things will come."

Unlike last year's comeback banger 'British Bombs', which doesn't feature on the album, with 'Zeros' Declan takes on a more subtle but no less powerful approach.

The songwriting process this time saw him utilising character sketches and vignettes as an easier way to illustrate his own thoughts and feelings.

"I was listening to artists like Blur, Kate Bush and St. Vincent and how they used characters," he explains. "I was going down that angle and trying to acknowledge the roles in society the characters on the album represented. I was immersing myself in the artistry of it. The more wild and abstract I can get with it, the more meaningful it is.

"Throughout that period of time where I felt a little lost and was figuring out life for myself, writing these characters as well as social and political connotations I found a lot easier and more of an exciting creative expression for what I was talking about."

The ability to float off in all manner of lyrical flights of fancy allowed Declan to indulge in a lot of his childhood obsessions. "I was interested in space when I was growing up and read a lot of books about the solar system. In my teenage

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Squirrel Watch Long-time Dork readers will fondly remember the infamous story of Declan and the pizza-eating squirrel that was recounted the last time he was on the cover. Well, guess what? He's at it again with more squirrel tales. This time, the squirrel has struck a bit closer to home.

"We had a bag of birdseed with live bugs in it in our garden," he begins incredulously. "Well, this very intelligent squirrel has been feasting on it! He has worked out how to rip open the plastic bag, and he has just been having meal after meal every day. He comes back every day and eats two or three huge squirrel handfuls and just goes and lies on top of our wall like nothing has happened. The brashness of it all is outstanding. They know how to get their fill.

Fair play to the lads, they work hard."

So, there we go - conclusive proof that Dec is the pop star of choice for hungry squirrels.

years, I listened to a lot of music from the 60s that was about the space race," he says. "I like how corny that stuff is now. You can make a space concept album and people are like, well done, that's the thing everyone does. The thing I was trying to consider was the idea of how humans have a tendency to look up for something larger than themselves.

Space is used as a metaphor.

Different religions are used as a metaphor throughout the album.

"A lot of it is just about human struggle and how we take away our responsibilities by looking at these things and by branching out further than what we've got. We have Earth, and we have each other. If we can't look after those, then nothing else is going to look after us.

Different people believe different things, but the one thing we can all agree is real is us and Earth. I was very interested in space and spirituality as an escape that makes us feel like we're powerless when really we are very powerful and have very important responsibilities that we have to be aware of. That was one of the big things for me.

A lot of the time humanity is going in a dangerous and destructive direction that most people don't want."

Declan Mckenna has always been unafraid to tackle big themes, and it doesn't get much bigger than the end of the world.

"I was writing about space and heaven, floods and hell on earth," he says.

"We fantasise about these things a lot, but we almost don't take the reality of it very seriously as a society.

People, on the whole, don't want us to destroy our planet and destroy each other. We have a world where a few people have divided and conquered everything."

We're living in a moment where there's a strong sense of global urgency and desire to enact real change. He recognises that incendiary, rage-filled songs like his own 'British Bombs' could be hard for people to process right now. "We live in a stressful world, and it's a really stressful time, and it feels like telling people to be wary of all these things going on can be a bit forceful and difficult to process for people who are just going through it right now."

Ultimately though, the tidal wave for change is growing. "There's a lot of pain in the world but what's coming out of it is people want change," reflects Declan. "What's happening in America is really significant and has inspired people over here.

It's important to carry out the change here that we hope will happen in America.

We still need structural change for the sake of so many people.

"So many artists and people on the internet are talking about Black Lives

Matter or the Yemen crisis every day. There wasn't the space for that on the internet before, but we've created it. So many people are realising how much work needs to be done to protect so many people. People are demanding change, and hopefully, we can bring about an end to all that stuff that is not wanted by the majority of people."

Despite its moments of portent and dread, 'Zeros' is an album flecked with playful lyrical asides and a hopeful quality. It's a

record that celebrates the weird and the wonderful, beginning with its kitsch retro influences. "It started very glam and very seventies," laughs Declan.

He's been pictured lately with some gloriously glittery suits and shirts, and that's a shiny aesthetic reflected in the music. One of the most striking things about the album is the imagery and sci-fi dystopian visual aesthetic that ties everything together.

The CGI videos and virtual reality concepts were something Declan has been looking to do going back to the debut album. "I've been working with Alfie Dwyer who does all the CGI stuff," he says excitedly. "He has made so much stuff. I've always wanted to do CGI but never found someone for the first album, apart from the label saying we've got someone for 10 million pounds a day. It was nice to

DECLAN MCKENNA

find someone who could be a mate, and I could collaborate with and not feel like I was working with someone who I'd find intimidating."

He laughs at the idea that this could be considered an era in the modern pop star term.

"I don't know where they start and end," he laughs. "I had concepts for the visuals, and we tied it all together, but it's tough to call it an era. It all just blends together."

There was a feeling of experimentalism that carried over from the music to the visuals with Declan again working with close friends.

"Once I finished the album, I spent a lot of time with my friend Poppy who helped me design and conceptualise a lot of stuff and develop the ideas as we're good mates and creatively compatible. We had a fun time hanging out, figuring out where things connected and the themes of the record.

"It was all about the people I was collaborating with and finding people I was able to bounce off. I was working with Wil Hooper a lot who directed the videos. We both had ideas about pop culture and the things we love about pop culture and presenting the videos as pop culture from another world."

Helped by lockdown and a need to be as creative as possible, Declan also brought some of the songs to life through TikTok. "The CGI TikToks have been fun," he exclaims. "There are infinite possibilities. TikTok is quite rigid, so it was a way of subverting it a little bit. A lot of the stuff that trends, relies on it being tied to a trending song. So it was a way of coopting those things and making something that was kinda funny and a bit weird. I wasn't really sure of TikTok at first, but I think you just have to embrace the modern way. People will scoff at it, but there's a lot of creative stuff happening.

You shouldn't overlook what the younger generation are doing. I'm a big advocate for embracing all that."

2020 has arguably been the strangest year in modern history, and suitably, Declan McKenna's 'Zeros' is a record that forces us to question our place in the world and how it works. "It's about reality and what reality is. It's the big question looming over everything. What makes people lost in reality?" he concludes.

P Declan McKenna's album

'Zeros' is out 28th August.

readdork.com 41.

high. k S y Another Sky's debut album is a love letter to moving on from your hometown; to finding your own place in the world.

By: Jamie Muir. Photography: Parri Thomas.

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ANOTHER SKY

T

racy Chapman's 'Where You Live'. It's an album packed with social commentary and defiance in the face of darkness, unafraid to stare at the road and spot all the pimples and cracks forming in its skin. At ten years old, it was

that album that Catrin Vincent (vocalist/ lyricist) found herself drawn towards, played on repeat at home by her parents, subconsciously filtering into her mind. It's a memory that fascinates her, that even though time has passed and everything that comes with it, it still rings true. Its words and emotions perfectly distilled into who she is as a person now. Even through 'I Slept On The Floor', Another Sky's powerful opening statement to the world, its similarities and parallels stand together.

"That was the album of my childhood‌ and now we're here."

Reflection and the importance of words couldn't be more critical for Another Sky. It's only now that Catrin spots it, weaved into the sounds and lyrics they've created from years of bonding and finding solace in one another. This isn't just another band; it's their lives projected for all to hear.

"It's funny, when we were in the process of making an album I just couldn't see," explains Catrin. It's another day making do with a global situation that bizarrely feels rather fitting to be releasing their debut album out into. "It's like in reallife situations where you can't see fully what's happening until you look back.

Looking back at those lyrics, they're so metaphorical. I can see what I was actually trying to say, but I was too afraid to. You go in a trance, and you don't realise what you're writing about until years later.

"It feels a bit of a stereotype as a woman lyricist, but what that translated to for me was that I wanted to get how I felt about the world out in the open so much, but I felt I had to hide it. To be so open, I can't imagine being any other way as a lyricist because, with lockdown as well, it's forced me to confront what music is to me and it's almost a compulsion. I only feel okay when I'm doing music."

A deeply personal yet universal album that stares directly into darkness both in anger and hope, 'I Slept On The Floor' is a record of wounds and healing, both biting and anguished, setting the path for a band delivering something undeniably special.

By speaking from one perspective of pain, it opens up the feelings of countless others.

It was the only way it was going to be with Another Sky. "This album. There's that question of, I don't know who I am. I'm supposed to know who I am, and I'm supposed to talk about it, but I just don't know how.

It's running away from a problem that will catch up with you because if you're constantly running away, you become part of the problem. You have to confront them."

Catrin sighs and laughs. "I can't believe this album is all about my hometown because it's the one thing I don't want to talk about!"

Catrin's hometown is one both familiar and distant. A picket-fence town where

everyone stays locked into place, where the idea of leaving its familiar surroundings readdork.com 43.

feels like a wild risk. It serves as a comfort on one end, and a prison on the other. "I definitely felt out of place there, and I wonder if every kid did," recalls Catrin, thinking back to those days that would come to define, influence and inspire every move she's made since. "I remember my cousin coming to visit and saying that it looked just like Desperate Housewives and as soon as she said it, it just clicked.

It looks like this really pretty place, but so much is going on underneath."

There was a trapping sense of inevitability to life there. "It felt like all you were allowed to do was grow up to be a business person or work in an office; nothing else was acceptable.

Everyone held so much privilege there, including myself, but you were trapped because of it. Kids at school bullying other kids just to fit in. I'm sure it's the same at every school.

"There was always a joke growing up that I should find a rich man to marry. That always was in my head, just completely and I didn't want it to be."

Dealing with an environment that scratched against everything Catrin wanted to be, music became a solace that she could turn to. A coping mechanism during the heavy days at school, it was when she stood on stage and sung that everyone had to stop. "You almost play a character," explains Catrin.

"This character who, despite everything going on around you, you can say whatever you want because you've got the stage.

That's how I felt at school. When I played those school assemblies, oh my god everyone had to listen to me because I was the only one up there performing. Music is just this moment where everyone does shut up and listen to you."

It was clear that to escape the surroundings, preconceptions and boxes around her, Catrin had to follow that passion.

"I hear all the time, like a friend from school said to me the other day 'oh I'd never get played on Radio 1', but you would have! It's everything that's happened in your life which means you couldn't access the studios; you couldn't pursue something you were passionate about, you were made to feel like you had to fit into your parents' expectations of you! And another friend said to me, 'I know this sounds weird, but I think because you got bullied, you could do what you really wanted to because you had nothing to lose'. I think that's actually true.

We are bound by expectations."

It was moving to London and studying at university that

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changed everything for Catrin.

On 'Fell In Love With The City', that moment is captured perfectly, getting away from what was before and entering something bigger. "It felt like this triumphant release from that feeling of - even though nobody had said to be 'you should be a housewife' - I had that feeling ingrained in me that that was all I was good for. It feels like we're breaking free of that, these traditions and view being held by people."

Surrounded for the first time by musicians and people who all loved the same thing, and wanted to follow that as far as possible, Catrin felt both at home and also a stranger. "I'd built this identity of being a loner so when I moved to London, it was so overwhelming," she recalls. "It was like, who am I? I didn't know that I would find people who agreed with me and who would fight to do the same thing."

A time to recalibrate who she actually was, it's at university where she met guitarist Jack Gilbert, bassist Naomi Le Dune and drummer Max Doohan.

Together they quickly bonded, naturally heading to practice rooms. Experimentation, pulling in each personality of the band - the result is an anthemic tidal wave of emotion and sweeping grandeur. It forces you to stop in your tracks and take notice.

"If one of us is missing, then it isn't Another Sky. Until that last person has put something in, it just doesn't work. We're not similar musically, the stuff we listened to when growing up or the stuff we listen to now.

"The last lyric on the last song on the album is 'I am nowhere I go, I am no one I know' and that feels true of us - we're just floating between all these different genres."

Driven to perform, create and play - they'd try anything to bring their vision to life.

Whether it was an early uni show involving them performing in total darkness but for a few projected videos shot right on them, or doing shows where one of them (no pointing here, but it was Max) would fall off the back of the stage and persevere to the very end, it showed them all that they were doing something that they loved. "You know you're in music because you love it when nobody else in the room is loving you," cracks Catrin, "but as cheesy as it sounds, we've just never tried to be something that we're not."

That determination would pay off. The nights would keep coming, and one night at St Pancras Church in London felt like a turning point. The secret

ANOTHER SKY

of Another Sky's prowess was out, and in no time they were standing in front of TV cameras performing on Later‌ with Jools Holland. That risk, that jump, it was all worth it. Catrin's hometown felt like a long way away now, but its impact was still nestled within.

'I Slept On The Floor' came together in chunks. There were

"People would always say to me; you're going to have a great time when you get out of school.

But things don't go away after school" CATR I N V I NC ENT

recording studio sessions on the Isle Of Wight and in London, finding the time where they could after working during the days. "Because we've always self-produced, sometimes we overthink recordings," notes Catrin. "We're reaching when it can actually be more lo-fi and easy, but Jack and Max, in particular, have always been ahead of the game with production. From the start, we could record ourselves, which was really important."

Knowing exactly what they were after, but also following the music wherever it took them - the end result is an album that shifts, swoops and swipes in equal measure. 'Brace Face' is a slowburning explosion of emotion and runaway adrenaline, 'Tree' is an outpouring of resistance, 'All Ends' and the album's titletrack dig right inside, before 'Avalanche' and 'Riverbed' whip up cinematic levels of release.

"Sonically, it's a weird album.

We're really proud of it in that sense because I don't think you can place it next to anything sonically," comments Catrin. "I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but we'll see‌" It finds Catrin embracing that voice that allowed her to speak above the noise in assemblies from years gone by. Whether it's toxic masculinity, police brutality, sexism, the silence of society or more, its impact is profound channelled through the prism of a hometown and upbringing that she had to get away from.

"Being able to put into context what I went through has helped massively, and I feel like this album is wanting to let everyone know that these feelings of not belonging or not feeling good about yourself are a direct result of how the world works," states Catrin. "I don't think I've ever consciously thought that I must use this as a platform, even though that's exactly how it comes across, it's just those are the things I always think about."

Not so much pointing the finger, it's asking a much more important question. "I just think, why has this happened to this person? Why has this person ended up like this?" For Catrin, it comes straight from those experiences growing up, of being

in that town and being in a school where everything was amplified.

"It's just so fascinating to me how schools, in particular, are a kinda microcosm of the bigger world," Catrin explains. "People would always say to me; you're going to have a great time when you get out of school. They were wrong and right at the same time because I got to do music, but things don't go away after school.

That's a myth, almost."

It's hope that 'I Slept On The Floor' is built on; for all the darkness that reflects back, for all the odds that feel like they can't be climbed, those questions of why are asked with the hope that a brighter day can come. "You can never know everything; you are constantly learning," says Catrin, "We just aren't okay with being wrong. It's seen as massive damage to the ego when actually we can be wrong, and then you figure something out. Then you're wrong again; you're constantly learning.

"I think that's hopeful, though.

People can improve themselves, we can all improve ourselves. You don't have to be that person you were forever."

'I Slept On The Floor' then doesn't just act as an opening statement of intent from Another Sky. It's a story, a journal, a history that means so much more. In turn, it sets them apart from the rest of the pack, with an album of unrelenting experimentation, uncontainable anthems and unbridled power.

Those days live with Catrin, but their importance and meaning will resonate far beyond those early practice rooms ever dreamed.

The doors are open far and wide for just how meaningful Another Sky could become, and their vision remains clear. "I think what we want to do going forward is create an experience every time," explains Catrin. "It doesn't have to be the same genre or the same sound, but as long as we create something that people can get lost in, then I think we're happy."

"It's crazy actually," adds Catrin. "Recently I've actually

come back into contact with a few people from school. There was a big chunk of time where I tried to completely distance myself from my hometown, but recently I've spoken to them, and they've told me their stories of what happened to them. I guess what I want this album to say, as cheesy as it is, is that you are not alone. I want people to listen to it and say, yes that's exactly how I felt but could never talk about it.

That's what I want people to take away from it." P Another Sky's

debut album 'I Slept On The Floor' is out 7th August.

readdork.com 45.

With nods to many a cult mid00s icon, KennyHoopla is enthusiastically dusting off and breathing fresh new life into some oft-overlooked faves.

By: Liam Konemann.

thinking 46. DORK

KENNYHOOPLA

goutloud readdork.com 47.

at with his songs, which he still finds in music from that era. It's not nostalgia, exactly, but there are commonalities.

"I feel like people were also way more authentic then.

Not that people aren't now, but I definitely feel like there's less heart in music these days. But at the same time, it's complicated, because [I was] conflicted even before I made music," he says. "With art in general, it's just like, what else can you do when everything has been made?

It's something I conflict with, and it seems unavoidable sometimes. Cracking that is just really being yourself."

Kenny knows a fair bit about putting stock in exactly who you are. In some ways, he considers it a blessing that he hasn't necessarily had the professional training or experience some other might have. It makes it easier for him to only pursue his most authentic expressions.

"Thank god I don't really know what I'm doing," he says. "It's kind of easier for me not to think about it too much because I'm just like, throwing myself at it."

"I'm not trying to mix genres. It's just a sonic exploration," he adds.

His musical scavenger hunt approach is working out.

The songs on 'how will i rest in peace if i'm buried by a highway?//' are by no means rudimentary. Kenny's writing is poetic and sometimes sad, without resorting to wallowing or extreme earnestness. Despite lyrics about karma, oppression, and hitting rock bottom, the EP feels more life-affirming than bleak.

In both his music and his interviews, KennyHoopla is careful about what he says.

His speech is forthcoming, not hesitant, but there is the impression that he wants to make sure he is getting exactly to the heart of what he's trying to communicate.

It's one of the reasons why despite the fact that he says he's "been making music in my head my whole life" he's only recently begun to actually record his songs.

It was partly a question of poetry and visual art being easier for a younger Kenny to access, but the overarching concern was that he wanted to make sure he had something to say. Something that was true, in one form or another.

"I was just, I could never afford an instrument. I grew up in poverty, I guess," says

48. DORK

KENNYHOOPLA

“Thank god I don’t really know what I’m doing” K ENNYHOOPLA

Kenny. "And I spent most of my time trying to get out of that. And then it just got to a place where I was wanting to make music but a lot of people around me at the time... everyone was making music. I feel like a lot of people are making music just to make it - and that's fine too, but I didn't want to add to more noise that was unnecessary. But I felt like I had something to say."

At some point, the KennyHoopla project couldn't wait any longer.

"It got to a point where I was like, 'it's time for me to make music'. Like the universe was telling me 'now is the time'. And then my friend recorded me," he says.

There was a part of him that was still anxious, still wanted to take more time to prepare, but he knew it was time to overrule it.

"Thinking in hindsight, it's something that you just have to jump into. Any step into something unknown, you're not gonna be comfortable at any point, so you've just gotta jump into it."

There were a few hurdles, though. While Kenny had an armful of songs ready to record, he was fully aware that there were still some things he had to learn as he went along.

"It was just a matter of me trying to get in with the producers that I wanted to.

It was kinda hard though, because I haven't been doing this my whole life. I wasn't born getting taught piano or music theory or anything,

so it's kind of hard in that aspect, trying to learn and do something at the same time," he says. "That's probably my biggest challenge when it comes to me making music."

Some songs on 'how will i rest in peace if i'm buried by a highway?//' presented fewer difficulties in the studio than others. As one of two tracks that Kenny had already prepared acapella, the crystalline 'Sore loser//' was, he says, 'easy', as was the EP's opener 'thinking out loud//'. The title-track, a standout with similar aesthetics to things like Joy Division, house and 2000s dance-punk, wasn't so straightforward.

"That was like the first time that I had played guitar," Kenny says casually.

You'd never guess. Far from being amateur, 'how will i rest in peace if i'm buried by a highway?//' is layered and accomplished, somehow managing to feel both fresh and comfortingly familiar at the same time.

"It was hard, but it was definitely fulfilling," he says.

"I feel like that's the hardest I've ever worked on music myself."

There were other pressures on the recording of the EP too, with the shortfall between the time available and Kenny's drive to get things absolutely right coming into conflict.

"It was, like, rushed," Kenny says.

He's sanguine about that, though. Part of it is just the times we're living in, after all.

"I feel like that really speaks to what I was trying to get across also, that there isn't really enough time for anything. Especially in this generation, in this time in life. That's just how it is, and stuff gets digested more quickly, and things get less conscious."

It doesn't seem like there's any risk of things becoming less conscious with KennyHoopla. He knows perfectly well what he's doing and what it means, even if it seems like this year has conspired against us all.

"The world is weird as fuck. I have a lot to balance in my life, but my priority is making music. But just the way I am and the things I've gone through which I'm trying to get out in my music, that's not necessarily easy, or easy to process," he says. "I feel kind of grey a lot of the times, and I guess I use music to make colour. But it's hard to do that when you feel grey.

So I'm just trying to take it a day at a time and make stuff when I can."

That drive to make something true is one of the things that's going to set KennyHoopla apart. It's the kind of thing that gives a person staying power.

Resilience.

"I'm not the kind of person that… I can make songs, but [I have to] put things that are meaningful, and things that'll last and are true to me, most importantly," he says. "That's just been a process."

Good thing he's just getting started. P readdork.com 49.

C N 50. DORK

C H A N G E S BLOXX

It's time, guys. Bloxx are stepping up to the big leagues with their muchanticipated debut album, 'Lie Out Loud'.

By: Jack Press.

W

e've heard the story a thousand times before: outcasts become friends, friends become band, band become overnight sensations.

It's British indie's twisted take on the American Dream; everybody wants a piece of the proverbial pop pie, but only the privileged few pass the industry 'gatekeepers' standard and steal away with the goods. Next out of the blocks?

Bloxx, of course. One of Britain's best upand-coming bands, Dork spends a virtual hour in the company of vocalist and guitarist Fee Booth ahead of the release of their debut album, 'Lie Out Loud'.

"I feel like I blinked, and here I am now. The last three years have been a whirlwind of things I'd never assumed would happen," muses Fee. She's both bewildered and besotted by the success they've achieved in such a short time, from supporting The Wombats at Ally Pally with less than ten songs to their names, to opening up a stage at Reading & Leeds. It's an experience that's been utterly unexpected and refreshingly humbling.

readdork.com 51.

"We're so lucky - there are bands out there that try and try and try and try and try and put all of their energy into it and probably deserve to be the biggest band in the world, and they just don't ever get there. I feel incredibly lucky that we've gotten to where we've gotten."

It's true, few, including Fee, guitarist Taz Sidhu, drummer Mozwin Norohna and bassist Paul RaubiĹĄkis, could've predicted they'd go from pulling pints and singing about sessions at 'Spoons to putting out a pop-conscious collection of arena-ready indie-anthems and festival bangers, and yet, here they well and truly are.

As the release of 'Lie Out Loud' edges ever closer to its due date, it's been a time of sobering reflection for Fee and the gang, one that's subconsciously seeped into their development as a unit.

"We didn't do anything before those big massive shows, it was throwing us in at the deep end. We were probably really bad, the worst band anyone has ever seen at Ally Pally, but it was the best thing that could've happened."

"I always think about where would we be if we didn't actually play any of those Wombats shows, or go out with The Night Cafe, or the Two Door [Cinema Club] shows. And yeah, it can send yourself into a 'mare, and you think 'maybe we're only doing well because we did those shows', but I mean, if we were that terrible when we did those shows, we wouldn't have any trajectory."

Bloxx's trajectory, it would seem, is never-ending, sky-rocketing up a label executive's spreadsheets like a spacecraft owned by Elon Musk. It's a sensation Fee is as excited by as a kid at Christmas, but it's also a double-edged sword that her mind hones in on regularly: "Looking back to 2016 and 2017, those start-up years, to where we are now as humans and as a band, it's just strange because we've achieved so much, but I feel like looking back on those experiences we had when we were so young, part of me wishes I took more time to sink the moments in.

"You look back on those moments when you feel like you weren't as mature then as you are now, and you go 'maybe I'd have done it a bit differently' but not in a regretful way. It's more like,

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'I wish I could do them again now with what I know now'."

Figuring their lives out is just one part of 'Lie Out Loud''s puzzle, another piece being their attempts to streamline and synthesise their grungy 90s indie tones into a more mainstream indie-pop approach. In fact, so much of 'Lie Out Loud''s development was designed to break away from the 'grunge' brush they've been brandished with.

"I don't hate being called grunge, I just think there's so much more depth to the stuff we're doing, and once you box off a piece of music as something, you're limiting yourself to an audience. I've never been the sort of person who loves being boxed into one genre, I wouldn't want to put out that sort of music all the time, and it just become same-ish.

"We've done that really well with the record because everything sounds a bit different. I wanted to be unexpected; it was fun to step away from it, and hopefully now not just be called grunge, because I'm just like 'yeah, we might've done that in 2016, but we're different now'."

Different is a bit of an understatement. 'Lie Out Loud' twists their straight-up indie-rock into a tornado of explosive synths and melodies that melt your mind as you sing along to them wordfor-word within minutes.

Bookended by the titular track and 'Swimming' - two cuts that are the closest to paying homage to their early days with big riffs and even bigger choruses - 'Lie Out Loud' diverges into lo-fi dream-pop on the highlightstealing 'Changes', and blurs into staring-up-at-the-clouds singer-songwriter heaven on the acoustic anthem 'What You Needed.' Taking such a big step away from their core sound was something that came naturally to Fee. "I've always had that pop sensibility, and I've always been an acoustic writer, from the day I started writing music. It's the instrument that I've written on since I was a child. Back in the early days of Bloxx, where I would send demos to Dirty Hit and get rejected, they were all acoustics, and they were all in that world.

"I just wanted to go there once and see what it's like, because the beautiful thing about Bloxx is that everything we've released so far has got our sound, it's got our take

on it, but nothing is exactly the same. I like that I've had the chance to experiment.

People have belief, the label have belief, management have belief. Everyone has been like, 'yeah, you know what, you can kind of go a bit weird if you want to', because it's still us. When I write songs, I write them as if I'm on a stage and as if it's that part of the set. What do I want people to be doing right now? And I think that songs like 'Changes' and 'What You Needed', in particular, are going to be

monumental."

With monumental changes comes monumental songs, and Bloxx have a box full of the bangers now, having amassed a serious collection of arenaready anthems over the years.

While she may write away on an acoustic guitar, every single song you'll hear on 'Lie Out Loud' was made with the bigger picture in mind.

"I try and write bangers for stadiums. The thing in my head is always 'where do you want to be, what show do you want to be playing, who do

you want to be there, and how do you want them to react', and I think writing tunes to that is a lot easier when you think about the response it'll get."

Of course, when you've got a penchant for popping out bangers and find yourself sitting comfortably towards the top of all the Next Big Thing lists, the volcano of pressure that comes with having to deliver on their debut album and live up to the hype must be close to erupting, and it's something

BLOXX

"Any musician who says they're not feeling pressured is lying a little bit" Fe e B o oth

that haunts Fee's mind like a ghost.

"I think any musician who says they're not feeling pressured is lying a little bit, and maybe it's just me, I don't deal very well with pressure and stress, but I 100% think, looking back on the process of the album I didn't do enough to write, and I didn't work my ass off as hard as I should've done, and you start to think 'is this great enough?'"

It's a sentiment that seeps through to the way the ever-

evolving music industry is keeping artists constantly on the tips of their toes, and for a band about to pass the make-or-break point of their career, the pressure to stay competitive is very much real.

"The biggest pressure of the music industry is making sure you don't get dropped by your label, making sure you're writing tunes that might be played on the radio, making sure you're not gonna fall off the radar and be one of those bands who was up and coming for three years and ended up just releasing a really shitty debut album."

Regardless of the pressures that come with bringing 'Lie Out Loud' to the masses, Fee and co. are as proud as peacocks of the music they've made and the journey they've been on. The twelve tracks that make up the album are all the band's babies, having been nurtured during the band's labouring of love for the last three years.

"I'm incredibly proud of the record, because it isn't so one-dimensional, it isn't the same thing twelve times. I tried to appeal to everyone and still like it myself, and still enjoy what I was writing and still enjoy what people would listen to, because if we were putting out twelve songs that I wouldn't like or the boys didn't like, or songs we all hated, but people loved, I don't think that would be fun anymore."

Appealing to everyone, whether it's writing big-room bangers or singing about slinging pints in 'Spoons,

has always been a 'thing' for Bloxx, they're a little like the people's band. On 'Lie Out Loud', there are Instagram captions in-waiting, tucked away in songs that sing about the struggles of the youth generation, from navigating love in all its guises and discovering one's self in a world too obsessed with copycat culture. Writing so openly and striking a chord with someone, somewhere, is always at the forefront for Fee, and practically the basis of what Bloxx was built on.

"From day dot, I've always said about being relative and being very open with lyrics.

I find that interesting when I listen to songs, and I've always said writing from my own experiences is important.

There's always someone out there who can relate really hard to what you're saying, and they're the songs that resonate really well with people, and I'm always trying to incorporate that into our music.

"A good example is the whole 'Spoons thing, that was kind of our starting point. Writing that song [2017's 'Coke'], it felt like the right thing to do, and I always think writing music where you place yourself in a situation that has been important to you, is cool because people will recognise that and people can get into it."

As well as 'Spoons, Bloxx have always been about empowerment and the normalisation of what should by now be cultural standards. As a queer

artist, Fee - and Bloxx as a whole - are advocates for the normalisation of queer music, which can often be found front-and-centre in their songs, shifting into role models for the next generation.

"I think a lot of artists are doing that really well like Girl In Red and Phoebe Bridgers, and it's paving a new direction and creating accessibility. You're singing for a whole generation and group of people who do the same thing and are in the same boat as you, you know?

"I think it's cool that when you have the platform to sing about whatever you want to sing about; it's important to sing about whatever you want, because people can hear and people can listen, and people can normalise all of these things."

While their debut album definitely lives up to the hype, Bloxx have already begun to think about their next move on the music industry chessboard, checking the rules every once in a while to walk the fine line between artistic integrity and commercial success. The industry's ability to shapeshift is forever on their minds.

"It's weird, albums happen and whatnot, but they're not really as important as they used to be in a really sad sort of way. A lot of big artists will just do single single single single single, and streaming has changed that so definitively because when you release a record, the whole record doesn't get put on

New Music Friday, the whole record doesn't get put on the front page of Apple Music, it's just one song.

"It's the new thing to just keep music coming as much as possible because if you do have a favourite band, you're not going to care if they release two albums in a year, as long as they don't take five years between each album, if they've got a steady flow of singles. Obviously, albums still matter to me, I would hate to now not put out another album and just do singles and EPs for the rest of our lives.

The whole thing of doing an album and promoting it for two years is a thing of the past, it's like 'lets put it out, let's tour it, let's put another one out when we come off tour'. It's just kind of weird, isn't it?"

With recent Dork cover stars Sports Team landing at Number Two in the album charts with their debut album 'Deep Down Happy', anything seems possible for the current crop of UK indie bands. For Fee, and for Bloxx, it would be the icing on the cake after the dreamlike journey they've been on for three years.

"It's really hard to explain Sports Team, isn't it? A lot of people say they're like Marmite and you either love them, or you hate them - but I don't hate them, and I don't get the Marmite reference.

We went on tour with those guys, and they're great.

They're doing something that a lot of people love, and I respect them for that. It's like a blast from the past.

"We're a bit different in the sense that we're not doing anything to be a chart band.

We're not trying to be a Number One band - we're not even trying for the Top 10 - but if we do, god, I wish for nothing more than a Top 40, even a Top 100. I don't really care. It doesn't matter about charting. I've been trying to not let it stress me out about what we're going to do in the charts. Fingers crossed though, it takes 2500 copies to get in the Top 20, so we just need to beat that!"

Like Sports Team and their contemporaries, leading a full-fledged invasion of the UK charts would be like a blast from the past, a tale akin to the underdogs that came before them. Either way, in 'Lie Out Loud', Bloxx have brought the world the bangers. P Bloxx's debut

album 'Lie Out Loud' is out 14th August.

readdork.com 53.

54. DORK

Think you know Fontaines D.C.? The Dubliners' second album sees them not just rewrite their own rulebook, but tear it up and throw it away.

By: Jake Hawkes. Photography: Richard Dumas, .

F

ontaines D.C. went from playing pubs to Brixton Academy quick enough to give most bands whiplash, with debut album 'Dogrel' picking up well-deserved accolades left, right and centre. They capitalised on

this success with a relentless touring schedule which would grind anyone down even if it was meticulously planned, which was most definitely not the case. "There were nights of being allocated two hours on a plane as our time to sleep between gigs," says singer Grian with a wince. "It was a bit much." The words

may be understated, but the results weren't – a run of cancelled festival dates as the band crashed out from the exhaustion of burning the candle at both ends for months at a time.

Fast forward a few months, and they were back touring and writing their second album before being forced to pump the brakes again – this time for that worldwide pandemic that cancelled literally everything. Despite what feels like a run of bad luck which would derail most bands, Grian is optimistic when we catch up with him ahead of the release of new readdork.com 55.

album 'A Hero's Death'.

"We were really thrust into it after 'Dogrel' came out," he explains. "And I don't think any of us had achieved any sense of domesticity or maturity, so we're learning to accept the slower pace and appreciate things like fucking taking care of your gaff, just cleaning up." He laughs and pulls at the back of his lockdown-length hair. "So I think the pandemic is going to have an impact on us as a band in a weird way, because there's going to be that added sense of maturity once we get through the other side. I think we all appreciate the people that work with us a lot more too, which is nice."

If it sounds odd for Grian to be counting "doing the hoovering" as a plus point of a worldwide shutdown, that's probably because you didn't spend the last 18 months touring the world with two hours off each day which you then spent writing an album.

"It was pretty non-stop," he says. "I think the most time we had off in one block was... a week? It was definitely relentless, but it did feel necessary to us, even though we could've gotten away with doing a lot less. I look back, and I still empathise with our year younger selves, because it makes sense that an excited young band with a fire under their arse are going to say yes to everything at the beginning. We had such a sense of gratitude about being able to play, so we just took on more than we could handle – I think this time 'round I feel more secure in myself, and we all feel a bit more able to put our foot down."

"So yeah, the touring took it out of us, but I think what a lot of people don't really understand about the writing is that it's a necessary expression for us – there was no contractual obligation or pressure coming from

56. DORK

anywhere else, we just wanted to write songs and make music because that's what makes us feel better about ourselves. We were on tour, and it was easy to lose any sense of who we are, and I definitely feel like we all became aware of this potential for all the magic of it to be lost, ground away by the schedule. For us, conceiving ideas for songs in the van or on tired days sitting at soundchecks is a way of regaining that, you know?" He pauses, before adding with a grin: "Mostly it's just for the fucking craic though, making songs is fun, and sometimes you just need a way to make a Tuesday into a good Tuesday."

The displaced nature of how 'A Hero's Death' was written means that it's a very different beast from the band's debut, which was as much a love letter to Dublin as it was a statement of intent. Gone are the violent bursts of frantic energy and poetic lyrics about a fastdisappearing face of the Irish capital, replaced with an atmospheric unease and more opaque, dislocated subject matter.

"There's no commentary about Dublin whatsoever on this one," Grian explains. "'Dogrel' was all about what was happening right in front of me in Dublin, but this album is more about what's happening inside me. We just had no sense of environment or place whatsoever, which is a feeling that can really fuck with you. We'd wake up, and someone would say to you 'oh we're in Germany now', and you'd feel like saying 'well prove it'. So there just wasn't a chance to write an album that was similar to the first, even if we'd wanted to. You can't write an album about an environment when you don't have one – we just had to make a refuge and a place for ourselves inside our heads, as

a survival mechanism. So this album is more of a soundtrack to that than it is to any particular real city or place.

"I know it sounds boring, but we also didn't want the album to be any form of reaction to the first one, either. If we were to rebel against the sound and the expectations of people, then we're still being warped and manipulated by those expectations. Going flat out to write a song that was trying to surprise people would be compromising our creativity by kind of anti-pandering.

This album is different to the debut, for sure, but we didn't make it like that purely as a reaction to 'Dogrel' – I think that would be as untruthful and cynical as writing 'Dogrel part two' in its own way.

We just tried our best to ignore the fact that we'd ever released an album before, just go in and hold up a mirror to how we felt."

Writing the album may have been a release for the band, but the enforced isolation has limited the band's ability to do any promotion around it, especially with any hopes at playing a gig pushed into the distant future. "The major impact is that you just feel so uninvolved in the album," Grian shrugs. "It's easy to feel uninvolved in your own life in a strange way, which is a confusing feeling to have, but also it is interesting to step back – I think it's good to have one point in your life where you get to step back and watch the spectacle unravel without your involvement in it. It means you can take in the farce of it, how funny it all is. When you're involved in it you tend to take it quite seriously because it consumes everything you do, but we're sitting here and gauging people's reactions, even betting money between ourselves on things will go, it's a laugh.

"I don't want that to come off wrong though," he clarifies. "I'm not unbelievably thick-skinned, and I do still care if people do or don't like the record. I think the perpetuation of the lie that people in bands just don't give a shit about what anyone thinks of them isn't good for anyone, it's bad rhetoric. It's good to admit that you're sensitive to these things, but on the other hand, I am trying not to be. I'm trying to be forgiving of myself and who I am – there are more

immediate people to impress in my life, like friends and family, they come first. I think I'd be ok with the album not going down so well because of how much myself and the lads have gotten out of it."

And have they decided how they'll work the new material in live, when they're finally able to get back on stage? "We've thought about it, for sure," he says. "We played six songs from the new album at the Brixton show, and there was no way we could prepare for it with the same level of disengagement as the previous 60 shows, where we treat it like a gig, and we play 'Dogrel', and it all clicks together because it's the same album.

There are certain tunes on the second album that I was really nervous about people understanding, and I do personally feel very

differently about this album than the last one. But what I do like is that we're going to have the opportunity to genuinely express more aspects of ourselves live, which is something that doesn't get enough credit from musicians, it's so important to sustaining positive mental health.

"One thing we found difficult about playing the first album every night was that there were so many songs like 'Hurricane Laughter' for example, where it just is what it is, and sometimes I don't feel like 'Hurricane Laughter'.

At least now there's more scope for me to get up there and feel a bit similar to something that we're playing up there.

"I'm also looking forward to playing something fresh for the first time in a while, because it's so easy to get

detached from the meanings of the songs when you play the same set constantly. I can still associate with them and tap into the person I was when I wrote them, but I can't say for sure – it does make me worry that there are certain colours and elements to who I was when I wrote them that I'm forgetting about, but you just have to accept that that's the nature of the game. It's a wonderful thing actually, when you change as a person, and a song becomes relevant to you in a different way, when it all comes full circle."

It's a lot of pressure to put on a new album, especially with a lead-up where you're not legally allowed to do much except sit at home and think, but Grian insists that the band are barely even thinking about 'A Hero's Death' day to day. "We're looking at our

third album now, not sitting around listening to the second one." He smiles briefly. "It's a very different feeling, because the second one was written on tour and we just had to start writing first and ask any questions later, it was a really organic way of doing it. But now we can sit down, take stock and clearly decide what we're going to write about. I never really wanted to be the kind of Johnny Rotten style writer, much as I love him, where I could stand there and say 'this song is called 'Bodies' and it's about abortion'. I never wanted to be that oblique, but at least now I've got the chance to, and maybe album three will have some more of that in there. I guess you'll just have to wait and see." P

Fontaines D.C.'s album 'A Hero's Death' is out 31st July.

readdork.com 57.

Incoming.

AL L THE NEW RELEASES YOU N E E D TO H E AR ( AN D SOM E YO U D E FI N I T E LY D O N 'T )

A

nd so another of this golden crop of hyped Indie Hitters step up to the plate. Sea

Sea Girls

Open Up Your Head

eeeee Indie heroes in waiting, Sea Girls' potential is finally realised.

58. DORK

Girls have been cruising through the gears of late, with prime festival slots and a string of big shows making their rapid rise seem ridiculously easy. But for any that might think that it’s been a painless process, then ‘Open Up Your Head’ is a revelation. Sure, on one level it is a beer-flinging, scenes-starting, mateshugging riot of a record. But, largely written while Henry Camamile suffered from depression and an untreated

head injury, it is also a subtle reflection on the tangled thoughts of the frontman and lyricist.

It’s exciting to see a band so unabashedly ambitious in their sound and delivery on a debut. From the first moments of ‘Transplant’, there is no disguising where, and how high, they are aiming for.

With huge call-and-response numbers, hooks that grab at you like a thousand tentacles, and vocals that resonate with feeling and emotion, the opening tracks roll past at an extraordinary rate. These are moments custom-built for the biggest of stages, delivered with supreme confidence.

Smuggling tales of painful honesty and self-doubt under rainbow layers of effervescent, colourful vibrant indie pop, ‘Open Up Your Head’ is a real Trojan horse of a record at times.

Tracks like ‘Closer’ and ‘Ready For More’ spark like rockets flying through the night, while the gargantuan ‘Violet’ still shines and stands proudly as a Proper Banger to end all others. “Kill the past, forget the future” Henry sings at one point, and that’s never sounded so prescient.

Sea Girls started off the year reaching for the stars. They might end it walking amongst them. Jamie MacMillan

Sea Girls started off the year reaching for the stars.

They might end it walking amongst them

Incoming.

Right then, Henry from

Sea Girls, you best run us through your new album 'Open Up Your Head' in a 'track by track' type style-ee.

Transplant

'Transplant' is a love story.

It's about the world dropping out from under you when someone stops loving you, and you keep loving them.

The style of song, the way the story is told, it feels quite cinematic. The first verse, someone's told they can't hear because the music's so loud. You know, they've been told that they don't love them anymore. Their heart changed. That line came from me being on the phone with someone and having that exact conversation, and the music was too loud in the background for them.

It's almost like a little film actually, this song. It opens the whole album; it opens like a book. More so than a lot of the other songs, it's just full of scenes. The first one being that conversation in a club, the second is the serotonin drop, that pit in your stomach, and then the third is maybe a day later, a week later, whatever, thinking that you're gonna win by driving out to someone's house. Obviously, that's not going to work. Larry [Hibbitt, producer] and Oli [Khan, drums] said that this was the most Sea Girls Sea Girls song, so it's certainly right that it starts the album.

related to people living apart and in that way, but I guess you don't even realise it is about that dynamic.

This song was written pretty soon after I had my head injury and my postconcussion syndrome and that put me into weird mood swings. There were moments that were pretty tough, but there were also moments where I could be a little bit more clear because I was being well-behaved. I wasn't drinking, I hadn't touched a drop for however long, and I think that really benefited; when I could focus, it made the focus even stronger. I learned that it's really good to be sober; I think we wrote one of our best songs doing that. So that makes me feel really good about that side of things.

Also this song, it was quite experimental for us, for me, vocally just pushing the envelope. I thought, God, what would Kurt Cobain do?

This song doesn't sound like a Nirvana track, but I just threw my voice around, and it really worked. I saw someone comment on Twitter that it sounds like a Pixies song. So, I mean, it clearly sounds a long way off. It doesn't sound like that. But, you know, well

done for spotting that. So, thank you to Kurt Cobain and all the other artists that inspired us.

Do You Really Wanna Know?

'Do You Really Wanna Know?' stands out a lot in the album stylistically, because we just love a rock song that chugs, but this one's very much groovebased. When I first showed an early version of it to Andrew [Noswad, bass], he was like, I think this could be our best song. So, we had to record it. No doubt about that. There's just something else, it gives us a different palette. I think that's really exciting in the album, to not have everything the same.

We really relish that.

The meaning of the song is incredible. It'd be relevant to 'Open Up Your Head', to the album title, because it's about hiding in plain sight and hiding something to do with my mindset. It's basically, do you really want to know what I'd change about myself?

When you're really low on self-esteem. I was bothered, I wrote this right in the middle of when I was obsessed with writing about my head injury and how my brain

All I Want To Hear You Say

With 'All I Want To Hear You Say', I don't think we had any idea how popular it was going to be or how much it was going to connect with people, you know? It's clearly a love lost song, and there's relationship in it, but I was worried it was gonna be too specific to me and my ex-girlfriend, who was an actress. It was in the world of acting, and I thought it

had changed and how I was annoyed that I didn't feel the same and I wasn't on form anymore. I guess it's like all the problems that brought; this song basically saying, let's not talk about that. But of course, I'll always put it into a song, and I'm obsessed with writing about feelings.

Things that are complicated.

We love the song.

Lie To Me

'Lie To Me' is very much its own thing within the album. I was listening to lots of Bruce Springsteen and modern Americana like War on Drugs. The time and pace, that guitar that kicks in, that's like the first thing. That stuck from when I was writing it.

Never got rid of that central acoustic guitar. And then it all goes around that.

It's a love song about, I don't even care if you don't love me or whatever, you know, you don't even have to tell me, just lie to me. It just

“I'm obsessed with writing about feelings.

Things that are complicated” Henry Camamile

 Sea Girls, Community Festival, 2019.

gets out a real intensity of feeling. There's a little bit of self-criticism there and selfdeprecation, but all to like - I don't care because I'm in this.

We played around with it a lot when we're recording it.

I think we did about three different versions; eventually, we focused on that guitar, that rhythm guitar, the rhythm around that. We made a conscious decision, Oli when he was drumming, not to use symbols on it or to use very little, just to make a different palette. I think it's the most amount of parts we had for a song that didn't end up in the song. We came up with so much stuff and then pulled it all out. And then also, the outro I was kind of playing around with doing Robert Smith impressions all day, and I think that definitely a little bit of him fed into that, and just the delivery - I didn't want to hold back. Again, it's like with 'All I Want To Hear You Say'; I just didn't care if I was hitting notes. It's more about the intensity of the delivery than the beautiful noises it makes.

Call Me Out

'Call Me Out' is the oldest song on this album. It changed our lives. It's this track that our managers heard for the first time, and it did so much for us. It was also the fastest song I'd ever written; just a collection of lines of how I was feeling at that time of life. Being unsure about what you're doing, what your purpose is, just with our desire to make it as a band. I'm feeling like so many people do, just totally inadequate, and you're just looking for someone to fill that void. It's just an expression of that and not planning for the future. Being aware of how reckless we readdork.com 59.

Incoming.

were taking that risk as a band, and how reckless I felt as a person. Just committing everything to music and seeing people around me take other life choices and feeling really insecure about that.

This song just did so much for us. Everything changed after we recorded this song and put it out and I think we knew that it was special before we even put it out and I think we end pretty much every set with it, either in the encore or at the end. I roll around on the floor quite a lot during this one, during the outro, and like really like hang on. We wait a while till we do the last chorus, we leave the drop out for ages, and it's just become like the foundation of the DNA of Sea Girls gig, and we'll be playing it for a long time.

Closer

'Closer' was written by Rory.

We played a gig, did one of our first ever gigs abroad; I think it was like a 2am or 3am slot at a club called Razzmatazz, and it was pretty fucking rock and roll. We had a huge fridge of beer and whatever we wanted. We decided to make this thing into a bit of a holiday. So we got an Airbnb, and Rory made it on his laptop as a kind of synth track. We put it back into the band, and it became like this kind of very light, ambitious-sounding big rock band song, and I think we've got some really fun memories around that.

Yeah, that was quite wild.

Quite wild, and quite nice at times. That was that's quite a defining Sea Girls holiday, that. And the first time we ever got put up in a hotel by a promoter.

Forever

'Forever' and 'Shake' just demonstrate Rory's talent for creating really big-sounding rock music.

I remember first hearing 'Forever', and I thought we have to record that that's got to be demoed because that's going to get us signed.

We've been playing it for a long time, haven't put it out.

We were always going to save it for the album; at one point we even considered calling the album 'Forever' because of it. Playing that live just feels incredible; the beat, the foundation of the

60. DORK

had a head injury while being hedonistic, I felt powerless to stop partying despite my brain injury, and I was very scared about the damage my head was in, and the damage I was doing to myself. In those days, music was the only place I turned to. I was really truthful about my feelings, and it was the first place I went to, and 'Ready For More' was one of those songs.

Violet and Shake song carries you. It feels incredibly important, super cool as well. I always get huge confidence in that song and love just shouting that last line out. We're really excited about this song going out. I remember playing this song in Manchester, one of the first times we played it live, and I think it was about three or four songs into the set; we played a super-tight set, it was a short set as well.

We just played our strongest songs. We're playing this, and I was standing on a speaker stack, and I just felt like we were in the best band in the world. It's pretty cool when a song makes you feel like that.

Weight In Gold

'Weight In Gold' is one of those tracks in this album that really stands out for me.

It encapsulates a moment of calm after I decided to change my life; it was like in a realisation, you know? When the first song was written after I decided to turn my life around from and ask for help and reach out and open up my head. And the first lyric written, I was just singing around, and I was like, 'We don't even care if the car don't go'. I was thinking, what does that mean? And it just means it's a moment of peace and rest; a time when my brain wasn't hurting. It's a place without hurt, a place of comfort and warmth.

Feeling like being home. I guess the original lyric is from remembering as a child.

I was like seven sitting in my uncle's car that was on his drive, just sitting there pretending to drive as a child.

I guess it's like if you're with your girlfriend or partner, and they just make you feel still and good in that moment.

Yeah. And not having to worry about what you've done in the past. Forget

about that. Not worry about what's going to happen in the future. Just be content with this one moment you're in and just kill the past. Forget the future.

Ready For More

'Ready For More' felt like a really important song at the time. In the room when I was writing it, before I was thinking of what exactly I'm gonna write about, there was a lot of energy there. It was a song that needed to be written, and it just flowed out lyric-wise, it just played out what it meant. Like 'Call Me Out', it tackled a lot of fear head-on, pulling out where I felt weak and destructive in my life, and how I was stuck in a cycle. The lyrics focus on losing what was real and good in life. You know, losing human connection, and advice, like good advice, I forget. Being stuck in old behaviours that I'd become tired and scared of. Having

“I think it would be simple if everyone just could have the confidence to say how they felt, it would be great�

Henry Camamile

'Violet' and 'Shake' work pretty well next to each other because they're both pretty Kings of Leon-influenced, different eras though.

'Shake''s more third album 'Because of the Times', and 'Violet' [debut] 'Youth & Young Manhood'; it's a bit like 'Red Morning Light'.

I guess the use of chords feels quite early Kings of Leon, but we've got a lot of Drive, the Drive soundtrack, influence, particularly with the synths on 'Violet', which is also like 'Transplant' - we use that in 'Transplant', that kind of palette. 'Violet', none of us are really like how I sing, how I behave in 'Violet' the song. I don't think we're that confident. I think it'd be great to be that confident real life and you could just tell someone you really like how you feel about them. I think it would be simple if everyone just could have the confidence to say how they felt, it would be great.

Then 'Shake' pushes rock and roll on this album. The guitars sound incredible.

It was really cool putting that song together. We approached that differently, so I think that shows. I remember when we did the live take for that, when we recorded the drums, I think we only did two or three takes. And then Larry was just like, the first time was bang on, so that was a straight in, perfect drum take

by Oli there.

Damage Done

'Damage Done', I feel like I'm standing in this memory from the first time you ever had your heart broken.

And you're straddling that moment, years ago, one foot in the past, one foot in the present. And almost just like, finding the whole thing really beautiful. Because you're not hurt anymore, you

know? And you remember how harsh it was and how harsh it felt. But it's kind of nice. And like, almost poetic looking back at it. It says I don't really want to dance, there's no need to dance with or hang on to feelings of being jealous or things you used to feel because, I mean, everyone's moved on. Like, it's not affecting anyone, no one's in the wrong anymore, or perceived to be. Then it's also remembering at the time moving on. I guess it's a pretty positive break-up song. I think it works if you've just had your heart broken. You can just look forward to that, that's how it will be in future. It's pretty optimistic.

You Over Anyone

'You Over Anyone' is a false love song. It's incredibly intense, and it's sticking with something that is actually really bad for you and will never give back what you want to put into it. It's not really about a relationship, like a personal relationship, it's about a habit relationship, or relationship with a feeling, which a lot of these songs have been about; even when people around you say that's no good for you, sometimes you just find comfort in what's familiar, even if familiar is not what's healthy.

'You Over Anyone' was the first song I wrote after having a bad head injury, getting really bad concussion. It was a bit of a 'bash that song out of me'. And because of that, it was an incredibly like still moment, but I just really wanted to write a good song.

I felt we needed something really, lyrically biting, something that really puts claws in you.

Moving On

Everything from your past in some way shapes you, stays with you as we get older, and 'Moving On' finishes the album, and talks about things sticking with you like a siren or something. Like ghosts, ghosts in your past.

But you still move on, you still do what you do, and you make new things, and you meet new people, and you make new music, and that's what moving on is. P Sea

Girls' debut album 'Open Up Your Head' is out 14th August.

Incoming. time around. Gone are the brick-through-the-window choruses and fast-paced anthems fizzing with energy, replaced by a quiet menace which runs through the entire length of the album.

Lead single and title track 'A Hero's Death' is one of the most polished examples of this, with the repeated refrain of "Life ain't always empty" cutting across the swirl of background noise and demanding your full attention - It's a hell of a departure from album one, but they pull it off masterfully. The same can be said of opener 'I Don't Belong', a variation on the same theme which kicks the album off with a bang.

'Oh Such a Spring' also deserves an honourable mention, dialling back the wall of noise for a brief interlude of heartfelt tenderness midway through the album.

Unfortunately, the tracks in between these highlights don't work quite as well, with the majority feeling like less

Fontaines D.C. A Hero's Death eeeff

Releasing your second album just over a year after the debut is a tight turnaround, even without a tour schedule as punishing as the one Fontaines D.C. embarked on after the surprise success of 'Dogrel'. With that in mind, you'd be forgiven for thinking that 'A Hero's Death' would be more of the same, a solid effort by a band who haven't had time to grow since their last release.

The first thing you notice when you press play is that this isn't the case – at all. 'A Hero's Death' is a completely different beast to anything on their debut, a moody soundscape that leans into the most apocalyptic of the post-punk influences which marked them out as not just another shouty band first

Matt Maltese Madhouse EP eeeef

Seasons come and go, but Matt Maltese yearns forever.

At least, that’s if ‘Madhouse’ is anything to go by, a sixtrack follow-up to his ‘Krystal’ LP which once again finds hopeless Matty seeking amoré in a glistening analogue soundscape. In the Matt Maltese cinematic universe, details are everything. On ‘Hi’ it’s “the cat by your side”, “the torch that you shine”, “the straw in your Sprite” he longs to be, while on ‘Little Person’, in its lilting, melancholic glory, he manages to make suburban banality sound like heaven, should you have the right partner beside you. Coproducer Jonathon Rado’s rose-tinted Californian touch melds like a dream with Matt’s gloomy metropolitan cynicism, bringing a kitschy pep that gives the EP a lush, summery lift. Lonely hearts rejoice, this one’s for you. Alex Cabré

The Blinders

Fantasies Of A Stay At Home Psychopath eeeff If debut ‘Columbia’ was The Blinders directing their rage to serve a higher purpose, with 'Fantasies...' their demons are too wild to be tamed. Homestay psychopaths on a trip inwards, the band are getting out all their confusion and disgust in the form of drowsy post-punk, marrying the grimmest of Joy Division with Bad Seeds. They’ve created an all-or-nothing universe where violence reigns and the rules are random. ‘Circle Song’ is a tale of internal battle to rockadelic groove, while we meet Lucifer eye-to-eye in ‘Forty Days...’, then chant the greed away in ‘I Want Gold’. Is it an over-the-top Shakespearian tragedy with existential flair? It is too melodramatic to digest?

Yes, and yes. Though, it feels as though The Blinders got their timing suspiciously right...

Aleksandra Brzezicka

Lianne La Havas

Lianne La Havas eeeff Lianne La Havas' voice is incredible. Whether it's exploding outwards with colour or exploring the inner depths of the soul, it's a magnetic force; and 'Is Your Love Big Enough?' and 'Blood' showed its transcendent range.

After five years almost out of the spotlight entirely, La Havas hasn't lost any of that power. On her third album, 'Lianne La Havas' feels like a reintroduction to one of the most exciting voices of the 2010s where lightness is the key to success. But, her lyrics just don't take the same risks. It feels almost too polite.

There are none of the elegant metaphors of 'Wonderful', that are almost as knotty as her guitar chords, or the sweet romance of 'Au Cinema'. Just a wish that La Havas would really let loose. Chris Taylor

Jessy Lanza

accomplished versions of the singles, only really differentiated by whichever phrase Grian decides to repeat throughout their runtime. None of these tracks are outright bad, but there's a lot of filler to wade through between the flashes of greatness.

'A Hero's Death' succeeds in being a marked departure from the sound that initially propelled Fontaines D.C. to popularity, but in focussing on making an album that's different to the debut, the band haven't managed to make one that's as enjoyable.

The best songs on here still have that spark that marks them out as a cut above the competition, but the overriding feeling is one of exhaustion as track after track fizzles out without really going anywhere. There's still a lot to love, but it sounds like the band could do with a decent night's sleep and a couple of shots of caffeine before they think about album number three. Jake Hawkes

All The Time eeeef

Courtney Marie Andrews

Jessy Lanza isn't playing around with her third album, 'All The Time'. There's no woozy intro, no stumbling blocks, and no pretence whatsoever - just a record full of luscious electro-pop.

This is the sound of an artist comfortably hitting her prime, and it's glorious to hear.

Rushing headfirst into one of the bolshiest electro-pop songs of the year, killer album opener, 'Anyone Around' is primed with forward momentum. Tracks rarely run in one direction, and whether it's the delicate breakdown at the centre of 'Alexander' or the barely comprehensible vocal distortions of 'Ice Creamy', Jessy and her long time collaborator Jeremy Greenspan (Junior Boys) rarely sit still. It's refreshing to hear heart-on-its-sleeve pop music that's never restrained. Blaise Radley

Courtney Marie Andrews introduces her third album with the statement: "'Old Flowers' is about heartbreak. There are a million records and songs about that, but I did not lie when writing these songs."

And she couldn't have said it any better. This is the most personal, most heartbreaking piece of music you will have heard in a while. Think Joni Mitchel meets Brandi Carlile meets Stevie Nicks. Over ten gripping songs, Courtney tells the story of how she had to lose her first love in order to find herself. Pure emotions are written in a way that almost transcends reality. Soft folk melodies turn into a sea of tears as you hang on Courtney's every word. It makes you believe in the beauty of music. Laura Freyaldenhoven

Old Flowers eeeef

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Incoming.

COMING SOON Dizzy

The Sun and Her Scorch eeeef Two years after a debut that dazzled with tales of life in the suburbs, Dizzy return with a follow-up that delves into some of the biggest questions of all.

Taking in painful memories, poignant fantasies, a fear of death, you could be forgiven for thinking this sounds like a misery-fest. But far from it.

Fittingly, ’The Sun And Her Scorch’ has an over-riding warmth that comforts and nourishes. There is a sense of fresh nostalgia that rests over much of the record, one where memories of being a teenage dirtbag are still close enough to be touched. Ghosts of the recent past spark through ‘Roman Candle’, while ‘The Magician’ manages to be both beautifully sad and light of touch. Being a member of their heartbreak club never felt so good. Jamie MacMillan

Jimothy Lacoste

The Safeway eeeff Jimothy Lacoste is clearly having a laugh. Everything about his persona - from his obsession for high fashion, to his insistence on sticking "Getting" on the front of every song title on his debut album - feels like the result of a pop star experiment gone wrong.

And yet, it works. Jimothy's ability to play this charade totally straight elevates 'The Safeway' from curiosity to curiously compelling. That commitment to absurdism permeates the entirety of Jimothy's songwriting; but if there's one major thing the record is lacking, it's the presence of Jimothy as a fullblown performer. Without the extra zip added by Jimothy's swaggering on-screen presence, 'The Safeway' ends up feeling a little long in the tooth. Blaise Radley

Crack Cloud

L.A. Salami

Crack Cloud grew out of the post-punk box, but they've gone beyond the band and beats experience. Opener ‘Post Truth' cues that a wicked ceremony is about to happen; everything you’re about to experience is sacred. It’s the holy howl of the cult, not collective. Still, this Olympics has winners: ‘Ouster Stew’, a despair-scented manifesto of communal living, and ‘Angel Dust (Eternal Peace)’, a heavenly unwind at the alien mass. ‘Pain Olympics’ reaches further than their reputation of a mismatched collective, born and bred on addiction, poor conditions and trauma.

It proves that there's much more to them: Crack Cloud pass through the past to bring their otherworldly voodoo down to earth. If anything, they’re pioneers. Aleksandra Brzezicka

Opening with some anticipated acoustic guitar, L.A. Salami's third album takes a rapid turn into a deeper, almost cinematic soundscape as things begin to slip out of reality. Those familiar folky roots remain, yet are now surrounded by an intoxicating depth of aural scope that shows a real upping of the charismatic Londoner's game. To kick off an LP with a track more than ten minutes long is a bold gambit, but an apt sign of sounds to come.

Salami highlights his wiseness yet again as he presents knowledge, caring and a general understanding of the world both inside and outside of himself. His welcome direct approach and unwillingness to shy away from anything is a refreshing tonic in these frankly unfathomable times.

Ciaran Steward

Pain Olympics eeeef

The Cause of Doubt & a Reason to Have Faith eeeef

Creeper

Sex, Death & The Infinite Void eeeee Full of fetish, flamboyance and apocalypse, Creeper have escalated the grandiosity of their music and injected it with pure pomp and occultism.

Summoning spirits and fleeing into the moonlight like Vampires, the band have created their very own 21st Century version of The Lost Boys soundtrack. Songs like 'Cyanide' and 'Black Moon' are slick with devastating romanticism, while 'Be My End' is enormous otherworldly glam-rock. Referencing Freddy Krueger and 80s Christina Applegate, Creeper are embroiled in a world of horror and broken hearts; they're to be commended for attempting to bring together an album as ambitious as this, let alone pull it off. Paris Fawcett

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N E W RELEAS ES TO ST IC K IN YOUR D I A RY.

2 1 ST AU G U ST Bright Eyes - Down In The Weeds Where The World Once Was Bully - Superegg Dan Croll - Grand Plan Declan McKenna - Zeros Everything Everything Re-Animator Halloweens - Maserati Anxiety Designed EP L.A. Witch - Play With Fire The Killers - Imploding The Mirage The Lemon Twigs - Songs For The General Public Troye Sivan - In A Dream EP

2 8 TH AU G U ST Aluna - Renaissance Disclosure - Energy Kelly Lee Owens - Inner Song PVRIS - Use Me The Magic Gang - Death Of The Party 4 TH SEPT EMB ER Hurts - Faith Wavves - Hideaway Young Knives – Barbarians 11 TH SE PT EMB ER Oscar Lang - Hand Over Your Head EP The Flaming Lips American Head 18 TH S EPT EMB ER A.Swayze & The Ghosts Paid Salvation Cults - Host Fenne Lily - BREACH Gus Dapperton - Orca 2 5 TH S EPT EMB ER Caro - Burrows Idles - Ultra Mono Jamie Lenman - King Of Clubs Pillow Queens - In Waiting Sad13 - Haunted Painting Sufjan Stevens - The Ascension Will Butler - Generations

Incoming.

N Another Sky I Slept On The Floor

eeeee

Make sure you check out these albums from the last few months.

RELEASES

RECOM -MENDED

A unique voice amongst a batch of exciting new bands, Another Sky feel like something to believe in.

ot for ages has a new group come along with such a rich and flourishing sound as Another Sky, whose agitated take on alt-rock has grown ever more captivating since the ‘Forget Yourself’ EP introduced them two years ago. The London

quartet’s first long form effort, ‘I Slept On the Floor’ is a strident, determined step up to have their piece heard.

Catrin Vincent’s voice is the heart of this album. It’s already been widely noted for its startling androgyny but her ability to shift from wavering, dulcet tones to emphatic volume is bared

here in a way that is clearly more willful, commanding an ebb and flow of sweeping moods. ‘Fell in Love With the City’ is the record’s first big moment of several, a sleek pop track that romanticises the act of moving to better places; Catrin’s airy vocal teases out the song’s fierce optimism, before immediately morphing into something more potent on ‘Brave Face’, a rousing ode to a friend in a toxic relationship.

The record swings between intimate moments and big, ruminative social commentary; ‘Riverbed’, about escaping the teenage wasteland of Conservative middle England, churns like the darker side of

alt-J, whereas ‘The Cracks’ celebrates the Thunbergs, young fighters driving social change for the better, and ‘Avalanche’, an early single, goes in hard on the shit show of 2016 both sides of the Atlantic. Sonically the latter is nothing short of exceptional; it builds like a storm before crashing down in a deluge of caterwauling guitars that’s all ‘In Rainbows’, and a repeated mantra that’s as apt as ever: “When you hold them to account, they’ll spit you out, just a bad taste in their mouths”.

The real pinnacle on ‘I Slept On the Floor’ is ‘Tree’, a beautiful and intelligent cry against gender inequality that reads like an Atwood

poem and sounds like London Grammar. All the noise is stripped away until Vincent’s voice is left alone with Jack Gilbert’s soft guitar accompaniment, then in the last minute rushes back in a defiant barrage that seems to say ‘time’s up’.

As debuts go, ‘I Slept On the Floor’ is about all you could ask for, the only exception being the absence of 2018 song ‘Chillers’, easily one of their best. In defiance of the doom and gloom that comes with the territory, this promising new foursome are moving forth with optimism as they hold a mirror up to a damaged world. That’s something we should all get behind. Alex Cabré

Phoebe Bridgers

Dream Wife

Haim

Run The Jewels

The kind of album that seeps under your skin the more you listen; romanticising the everyday and highlighting the beauty in the mundane.

Dream Wife is here to make Kathleen Hanna proud and give nightmares to anyone who’d dare to define them.

On ‘Women In Music Part III’, Haim are unrestricted, diving into all of the genres they’d flirted with on past albums head first.

Trimmed of all the fat, ‘RTJ4’ is Killer Mike and El-P doing what they do best, louder than they’ve ever done it before.

Punisher

So When You Gonna...

Women In Music Pt. III

RTJ4

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Incoming.

Biffy Clyro A Celebration Of Endings eeeff

If there's one thing Biffy Clyro do well, it's go big - and 'A Celebration Of Endings' is most certainly an album that comes supersized. Packed with typical bombast, it's lean, mean and more often than not anthemic.

While Biffy may be more of a known quantity at this stage - stadium-ready rockers that came from a more angular past - what they do, they do well. Highlight 'End Of' still feels to have a sense of danger to it, while 'Tiny Indoor Fireworks' packs the woahs and twinkling, lighters-aloft middle eights.

Exciting enough to blow out the cobwebs, familiar enough to feel like home - it's reassuringly massive.

Stephen Ackroyd

Marsicans

Willie J Healey

Bloxx

For nearly five years, it's felt like Marsicans have been on the cusp of releasing a debut album, but they've taken a different path. Touring, gaining experience not just in music but life too and writing at the right moments. It's testament to Marsicans that 'Ursa Major' arrives with an added sense of pressure built from a devout following - and across its 16 tracks and interludes, it delivers a feverish shot of pure indie adrenaline. 'Ursa Major' revels in its layers; 'Sleep Start', 'Juliet', 'These Days' and 'Can I Stay Here Forever (pt. II) deliver that scorching energy in abundance, but Marsicans bring new flourishes to their every move. Their raw knack for taking everyday life and turning it into sky-high indie anthems primed to be sung back by the bucketload - now that's worth waiting for. Jamie Muir

"A cracking start to what will most likely be a lengthy and surprise-filled career" is how we rounded out our review of Willie J Healey's debut album, 'People And Their Dogs'. Now we don't want to talk about Mystic Meg, but that set path seems to be proven true with 'Twin Heavy' - Willie's second LP that manages to pack not so much a reinvention in, but an expansion in the sweet pop sounds he first tipped his hat to on his first run-out. Wistful, packed with dreaming and undeniably rich - 'Twin Heavy' feels like an album full of fresh excitement and a blast from a bygone era at the same time.

In the process, he practically takes his story so far and draws cartoons all over it. This is what Willie J Healey has been waiting for. Surprises?

Yeah, the cracking start has just got even better. Jamie Muir

The problem with indie pop, for most bands, is they forget the second, more infectious part of the formula. It's all very well being Red Stripes aloft in sticky-floored basement dives, but without those hooks, it's a temporary endeavour at best. That's not an issue that troubles Bloxx: debut album 'Lie Out Loud' fizzes with immediacy. From the sugar-rush of '5000 Miles' to the instant ear-worm of 'Hey Jenny', there's a confident ease throughout. 'It Won't Work Out' shows both a maturity and deftness of touch that eludes so many peers, while the more acoustic-led 'What You Needed' strips back to base principles and still grabs the attention.

Though 'Coming Up Short' - one of a cache of frontloaded massive singles - might be a standout, it's by no means descriptive. When the chips are down, Bloxx more than deliver. Stephen Ackroyd

Ursa Major eeeef

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Twin Heavy eeeef

Lie Out Loud eeeef

Incoming.

T

hings can build to undeniable points pretty quickly. For Dominic Fike, an endless build of creativity and freedom has rung true with everything he's turned his hand to. '3

Dominic Fike What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Photo: Daniel Parkopcyk.

eeeef

Nights', released nearly two years ago, introduced to the world an artist enjoying exploring every musical terrain possible, pulling it all together with a sound that pinpoints so many influences yet ultimately is thrillingly original. It's a spirit that passes through to 'What Could Possibly Go Wrong', a debut album rich with immediate alt-pop that has you hanging on every word and turn.

Turns that make you want to go back and run them over and over. 'Double Negative (Skeleton Milkshake)' is a whipping breeze of Strokesesque licks, 'Why' a surging alt-pop kiss of a track and in 'Chicken Tenders' - a bonafide smash that perfectly captures the pop-twisting movements Dominic Fike has mastered. To simply point out one comparison is obsolete, a melting pop of Mac Miller, emo-rap and The Neighbourhood just a scattering of shades drawn across 'What Could Possibly Go Wrong'. Scribblings of modern life, anxiety, love, heartbreak and more ooze through the scattered sways of 'Good Game', the 00s R&B of 'Vampire', the hypnotic 'Politics & Violence' and the ripping 'Wurli'.

Infused with the sights and sounds he's grown up on and broadcast through the eye of a generation coming to terms with technology, division, connectivity, darkness and ultimately light - Dominic Fike thrives with individuality, and nobody is coming close.

'What Could Possibly Go Wrong' has that feel of an album that clears the surroundings around it. It doesn't try to play to one style, or fit in one lane.

In fact, it revels in being distinctly its own character - a fast-moving and wideopen world that sets Dominic Fike as an artist ready to play his own game. Music to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and click repeat on over and over.

Undeniable? Absolutely.

Jamie Muir

readdork.com 65.

ASKING THE USUAL STUFF IS SO BORING.

This month, it's...

Arlo Parks

Yes, Dear Reader. We enjoy those 'in depth' interviews as much as anyone else.

But - BUT - we also enjoy the lighter side of music, too. We simply cannot go on any longer without knowing if Arlo Parks has seen any ghosts, or what's in her fridge. So we asked her. See?

'Diamond Dogs' by David Bowie.

Who's your favourite pop star?

Charli XCX.

What did you last dream about?

Something surreal involving a cherry orchard and a goblin.

We've got some fresh herbs, avocados, heirloom tomatoes - I'm attempting guacamole.

Can you dance?

I can dance like a dad with a sprained knee if that's what you mean.

Hae you ever seen a ghost?

I've seen at least four ghosts in my lifetime - I'll save the explanation for album six.

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

Photo: Charlie Cummings.

What was the first record you bought?

What's in your fridge right now?

Teleportation.

What is your most treasured possession?

My limited edition 'Operation: Doomsday' 7" collection.

Have you ever had an imaginary friend?

what would your specialist subject be?

I'm afraid I have not.

Mexican food, watching Hitchcock movies and traipsing around galleries.

Radiohead.

Only when hayfever season comes knocking.

I'm afraid I'm gonna take that one to the grave.

If you weren't a musician, what would you be doing?

Who's your favourite new band?

Decide to be a musician.

What's your fave TV show?

If you could bring something extinct back to life, what would you choose?

Porridge Radio.

What is your earliest memory?

How punk are you out of ten?

Have you ever been to a showbiz party?

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

The Quagga - it's a kind of horse/zebra crossover.

Probably a solid 6.

Do you have any hobbies?

Writing poetry, cooking

I have indeed - open bars are a beautiful thing.

If you were on Mastermind,

Getting really excited about eating Babybel cheese.

What was the last thing you broke?

My own heart (oof).

Do you snore?

Rick and Morty.

Tell us a secret about yourself?

My party trick is doing the fast rap bit in 'Rap God' by Eminem. P

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66. DORK

SEA GIRLS OPEN UP YOUR HEAD THE NEW ALBUM OUT AUGUST 14

FEATURING THE SINGLES ALL I WANT TO HEAR YOU SAY, DO YOU REALLY WANNA KNOW AND READY FOR MORE