Dork, June 2022

Index.

Issue 66 | June 2022 | readdork.com | Down With Boring

WHAT'S ON THE STEREO? BEABADOOBEE

Beatopia Fair play, Bea. For her second album, the Dork fave has stepped things up significantly. Set around her own long-standing magical mystery world - apparently she first came up with it when she was just seven-years-old - it’s an expansive, eclectic, textured delight. Sure to be one of the big highlights of summer 2022.

WORKING MEN’S CLUB

Circumference The days are getting longer and summer is almost here.

What better way to celebrate than a dark and brooding electro-synth track from an upcoming album called ‘FEAR FEAR’? Ok, so it isn’t exactly a sunshine anthem, but it is a Very Good Song Indeed.

ELIO

I Luv My Brain!

No wonder Elio loves her brain so much because It contains the mind of one of the best pop stars on the planet right now. Yet another hit from an ascendent pop legend.

EDITOR'S LETTER

WHEN MAKING A magazine, musicians become like characters in a fictional cinematic world. Some drift through, popping up in a scene when there’s something to catch the attention. Others snatch starring roles, making their presence felt as part of the canvas everything else is painted upon.

Since first snatching the focus as a 16-year-old prodigy, where Dork’s concerned, Alfie Templeman is certainly one of the latter. Now 19, and with a debut album ‘Mellow Moon’ about to land, he’s hoovered up the tip lists, co-signs and recommendations en mass. Dropping a run of indie bops that show a varied, instinctive talent, he’s a work in progress that still feels like the finished article at every step. Just how far he can rise remains unchecked; stratospheric seems a bit of an understatement.

So, as you’ll already have clocked, we’re delighted to welcome Alfie back to the cover of Dork for the second time this month, for an interview that’s deep, open and honest, UK indie’s most promising talent draws back the curtain on his journey so far. And Dan Carey, if you’re reading this, give the lad a call, yeah?

Alfie isn’t the only Dork icon we’re saying hi to this month. Former cover stars mxmtoon and Tate McRae are both dropping radically different but equally great new albums - you’ll find both in this issue - plus there’s alt-J, Porridge Radio, Mallrat, SOAK and loads more. It’s an exciting time. Enjoy!

‘Editor’ @stephenackroyd

readdork.com 100 gecs

16

5 Seconds of Summer

57

Alfie Templeman

Lauran Hibberd

21

Léa Sen

23

Lil Nas X

12

Lime Garden

21

alt-J

44

Lizzo

16

Amelia Moore

22

Mac Wetha

25

Anorak Patch

25

Maggie Rogers

16

Arcade Fire

50

Maisie Peters

18

Baby Queen

16

Malady

60

Bastille

65

Mallrat

14, 51

beabadoobee

16

mazie

24

Bear’s Den

51

Mitski

58

21, 28, 51

MUNA

Bombay Bicycle Club

21

Calvin Harris

7

Carly Rae Jepsen Charlie Hickey

18 26, 52

Coach Party

21

Cole Bleu

25

17

mxmtoon

38, 49

Mysie

12, 52

Opus Kink

60

Pale Waves

18

Phoebe Bridgers

16

PinkPantheress

17

Porridge Radio

36, 50

Conan Gray

12, 16

Courting

18, 21

Crawlers

27

Rachel Chinouriri

Dove Cameron

62

Run The Jewels

12

Dylan Fraser

27

Sam Fender

56

Easy Life

16

SEB

27

Ethel Cain

23

Sheafs

25

Everything Everything

50, 66

SOAK

10, 51

fanclubwallet

51

Florence + The Machine Foals

Sorry

17 21, 60

48

Static Dress

24, 49

12

Tate McRae

6, 49

Gently Tender

17

Tegan and Sara

George Ezra

60

The Mysterines

21

Gracie Abrams

17

The Wombats

60

Horsegirl

16, 21 51

Jamie T

7, 18

Jordana

52

Just Mustard

51

Kid Kapichi

20

L’objectif

21, 50, 60

12

Viagra Boys

12

Wallice

49

Wet Leg

54

Willow

17

Willow Kayne

18

Winnie Raeder

25

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Deputy Editor Victoria Sinden Associate Editor Ali Shutler Contributing Editors Jamie Muir, Martyn Young Scribblers Abigail Firth, Andrew Wescott, Connor Fenton, Finlay Holden, Jack Press, Jake Hawkes, Melissa Darragh, Neive McCarthy, Sam Taylor, Steven Loftin Snappers Alice Backham, Andrew Wescott, Anna Koblish, Frances Beach, Geoff Lawrence, Jody Evans, Kat Neisler, Martyna Wisniewska, Matilda Hill-Jenkins, Rosie Matheson, Olli Appleyard, Patrick Gunning, Pooneh Ghana, Sam Hiscox, Sarah Louise Bennett

PUBLISHED FROM

51

Sports Team

Holly Humberstone

Editor Stephen Ackroyd

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.

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This Month. #66. JUNE 2022.

Intro.

06 TATE MCRAE

After what feels like an age - despite the fact she’s still only 18-years-old - Tate McRae’s debut album is finally here. It’s been worth the wait.

10

12

SOAK

With their latest album, ‘If I Never Know You Like This Again’, SOAK has captured emotion like never before. Bridie Monds-Watson explains how they learned to reach what they’ve been striving for.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF...

MYSIE

You know what’s easier than following around your fave pop stars, day in, day out, to see what they’re up to right that minute? Asking them. Here’s what Mysie‘s day looks like.

14

16

MALLRAT

their belt, and a huge UK tour currently underway, alt-J’s legacy looks more assured than ever.

Mallrat’s debut album has been a long time coming, but now it’s finally here there’s no holding back - if only to do the music the justice it deserves.

BANGERS

The best of the latest new tracks, featuring Gently Tender, Pale Waves, Maggie Rogers, Maisie Peters, Baby Queen and ‘loads more’.

Festivals.

Incoming.

48 REVIEWS

The new releases you need to hear - and some you definitely don’t.

48 FLORENCE + THE MACHINE

Florence Welch reigns it in for nobody. That’s the lesson that runs through her fifth album, ‘Dance Fever’ - an outward explosion of kinetic energy that proves once and for all that, if it’s not broken, don’t try to fix it. Not too much, anyway.

20 LIVE AT LEEDS IN THE PARK

We’re all off to Leeds for some festival fun in a big old field. Here’s what we think you should be watching.

Hype.

22

49 ARTIST’S GUIDE: WALLICE

Inspired by her experience of growing up in LA, Wallice’s new EP sees her playing a fictional celebrity idol.

50 ARTIST’S GUIDE: L’OBJECTIF

Saul Kane runs through the band’s second EP, from front to back.

AMELIA MOORE

Singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and all-round-pop-talent Amelia Moore is breaking through with a seductive new take on alt-pop.

51

A break-up plotted across four tracks, Rachel Chinouriri gets real as she explains her latest collection.

24 STATIC DRESS

Static Dress find themselves at the crest of a wave. Smart, inventive and able to weave a universe around their music like few others, their debut album ‘Rouge Carpet Disaster’ is a triumph.

We caught up with leader Olli Appleyard to find out more.

24 MAZIE

Everyone loves an alt-pop bop, right? Right. Then you’ll want to get familiar with rising popster mazie.

25

ANORAK PATCH

Proof that age is but a number, Anorak Patch may have caused an initial fuss in part because of just how young they were, but make no mistake - this lot more than make the grade on any metric.

26 CHARLIE HICKEY

21-year-old Pasadena-based newcomer Charlie Hickey has arrived with his debut album via Saddest Factory Records, the label owned by his pal and fervent supporter, Phoebe Bridgers.

Features.

28

ALFIE TEMPLEMAN

The indie prince is ready for his coronation. With debut album ‘Mellow Moon’ finally on deck and ready to launch, Alfie Templeman opens up on the journey so far, and why he’s still striving for new and exciting worlds.

ARTIST’S GUIDE: RACHEL CHINOURIRI

52

Q+A: JORDANA

From bedroom pop to studio bops, Jordana’s new album ‘Face The Wall’ shows potential realised in grand style.

We dropped her a few questions to find out more.

Get Out. 54 WET LEG

Electric Ballroom, London. 26th April 2022

56 SAM FENDER

Brighton Centre, Brighton. 30th March 2022

57

5 SECONDS OF SUMMER

SSE Arena Wembley, London. 6th April 2022

58 MITSKI

Roundhouse, London. 28th April 2022

60 GEORGE EZRA

The Palladium, London. 12th April 2022

60 DORK’S NIGHT OUT

100 Club, London. 21st April 2022

61 62

THE WOMBATS

The O2, London. 15th April 2022

DECENT EXPOSURE

The best live photography from Dove Cameron and Bastille.

36 PORRIDGE RADIO

Backpage.

38 MXMTOON

66 ANY OTHER QUESTIONS...

EVERYTHING EVERYTHING

Their last album catapulted DIY darlings Porridge Radio into the stratosphere - so, where to now? mxmtoon is taking her music to new heights by delving deep and creating a guide for life.

44 ALT-J

With one of the albums of the year so far under

4. DORK

Yes, Dear Reader. We enjoy those ‘in depth’ interviews as much as anyone else. But - BUT - we also enjoy the lighter side of music, too. We simply cannot go on any longer without knowing that Jonathan Higgs from Everything Everything only ever has mayo in his fridge.

THE BEATING HEART OF POP.

Flyin’ After what feels like an age - despite the fact she’s still only 18-years-old - Tate McRae’s debut album is finally here. It’s been worth the wait.

high.

WORDS: MARTYN YOUNG.

6. DORK

‘FYI’ THE MUSIC NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW.

W

YEAH YEAH YEAHS

JAMIE T

Yeah Yeah Yeahs have signed to Secretly Canadian, with new music promised this autumn. The band – who dropped their album ‘Mosquito’ on 2013 – will play their first UK headline shows in nine years next month, and have just confirmed dates in New York and Los Angeles this October.

Jamie T has announced that his new album, ‘The Theory Of Whatever’, will be released on 29th July. Announcing the news with a trailer, it will include new single ‘The Old Style Raiders’, plus ’90s Cars’ and ‘Keying Lamborghinis’.

e’re currently living through a golden age for young, engaged, super smart and super creative new pop legends and shining as sparkly as any of them in 2022 is chart-bothering icon-in-themaking Tate McRae. In many ways, Tate’s rise feels like it has been both insanely swift yet equally slow-burning. It’s been a mixed-up few years. Now though, we’ve arrived at the point where Tate is ready to drop her definitive statement with the release of her debut album, ‘I Used To Think I Could Fly’, and Tate can finally live her pop star life in all its glory.

Sometimes in the new tech and social era, people like to downplay the importance of the album. For Tate McRae, though, it’s

CALVIN HARRIS Calvin Harris has announced he’ll be releasing new album ‘Funk Wav Bounces Vol.2’ this summer. The news was announced by – obviously – an image of a billboard, featuring the title and a super vague release window. It’ll be his first album in five years, following up on the first ‘Funk Wav Bounces’ back in 2017.

a special moment. It’s the realisation of a journey from dancer to music artist. “I’m 18 years old, but I feel I’ve been working towards this for so long,” she begins from her tour bus in the glamorous location of Nebraska in the middle of the USA. “It’s wild because I started posting original music on the internet when I was 13. I have millions of songs out in the world, so it’s very bizarre to think that I haven’t even officially done an album yet. It’s really crazy because I feel that I’ve been around for so long. I’m growing up and generally figuring out what my sound is and what I want to do with my life.”

The past couple of years have allowed Tate the freedom and space to experiment and find her sound and her voice. Her previous EPs, 2020’s ‘All The Things I Never Said’ and 2021’s ‘Too Young To Be Sad’,

were perfectly realised examples of talent in the making. Indeed, Tate even graced the cover of this here magazine after only releasing one EP. We know an exciting pop star when we see one. It wasn’t quite a seamless transition for Tate, though. “When I released my first EP, I was 16 years old,” she explains. “I didn’t know anything about music. I was a dancer. Music to me was just poetry sung. I had no idea about this whole industry and no idea about touring, even what an album necessarily was. I’ve learned a lot about myself. It’s really difficult to come into a career where it’s your future; every single decision you make and every single song you release is what you do for the rest of your life. That’s sometimes stressful.

I literally just graduated high school last year, and a lot of people take time to go to

college for four years and figure their shit out and get their head screwed on straight; I’ve started doing that really young. I didn’t even know who I was as a person, and I feel like I still don’t. I’m constantly evolving and understanding how much you have to keep yourself strong in the midst of the craziness of the industry.”

As Tate found her feat, her artistry emerged through her songs as she honed a beautifully honest and authentic approach to writing in which nothing was off-limits, and all her emotions and feelings were ramped up to the extreme. There are no boundaries to what she can do. She also worked incredibly hard at her craft. “The more you write, the better you get,” she says. “I just wrote hundreds and hundreds of songs, and then picking down to the readdork.com 7.

final few for the album was the hardest part. What I realised is it’s always going to be the same.

Writing is nothing if you don’t have experiences in life to talk about.

I went through a phase where I was like, I need to write this debut album, and I genuinely wasn’t doing anything other than writing.

I started to realise that once you start doing that and it takes over your whole life, you have nothing to actually write about. There are no real feelings. There’s no real shit. That’s what I’ve had to process. You have to go out and live your life, and you have to do things that you’re scared of and attempt things that you’ve never done before in order to write a song that you’ve never written.”

All those experiences, both good and bad, inspiring and heartbreaking, go into the album.

It’s a swirling cauldron of feelings and desires, experiences and fantasies. It’s also an incredibly accomplished pop record. “My album is all over the place,” laughs Tate. “I have so many emotions in that album. I would walk into the studio some days, and I would be pissed out of my mind, just so angry. You can hear it because there are some songs on the album where I genuinely show hatred for people. It’s something I don’t do as a person, but I can get out in my writing.”

The album also highlights a more sensitive, tender side, best exemplified on her recent single, the heartbreaking piano ballad ‘Chaotic’. “That song talks about some of my biggest fears, and a lot of that inspired me to put the whole album together,” she says.

“There are some really delicate pieces where I show a really vulnerable side of my writing. I feel like all around the album captures the feeling of growing up and facing reality for the first time.”

Tate’s willingness to delve deep into her soul and express her innermost feelings and emotions is one of the reasons her music resonates so deeply with so many people. It’s a kind of elemental connection, the way she channels her emotions to make such compelling music. Ultimately, though, she’s so relatable because she expressed the feelings we all share and express in our own, perhaps more everyday ways.

“It’s the same way people channel those emotions when writing a text,” she says. “If they’re really pissed off, then the first thing they’re gonna do is call someone, talk to someone, text someone, and the first thing that I do is get in the studio and write about it so that afterwards I don’t really need to text them. It’s very therapeutic because it stops me from saying a lot of things I shouldn’t say,” she laughs.

An example of how much Tate’s star has risen is the sort of collaborators she can work with, and this album features

8. DORK

songs written with fellow pop legends Charlie Puth and Billie Eilish’s big bro and accomplished producer and artist in his own right, FINNEAS. Tate shares an example of working with them on two different songs that highlight the different emotional dynamics at work on the record. “There’s one song called ‘What Would You Do?’ that I wrote with three really talented people: Charlie Puth, Blake Slatkin and Alexander Glantz,” she explains. “It was a really fun process because we were in this room, and I was doing all the lyrics. I was sitting in the corner just fuming and wanting to talk about this one situation, and Charlie’s going at it doing his magic that he always does, and it’s super angry. The last track on the album is called ‘I Still Say Goodnight’. I wrote it with FINNEAS; it is honestly one of the most heartbreaking songs I could ever have written. It’s talking about looking at someone in their eyes and watching them lie in front of you. There’s a lot of different sides on the album, and it’s not just one mode all the time.”

When it comes to collaborating, it’s very much a two way street in terms of both artists learning from each other and taking different inspirations. “I have so much to learn. Any session you get into, you should never feel like you know everything,” says Tate.

“There’s so much to learn from people. Watching genius minds inspired me to want to do my best work. What I brought into the room a lot of the time is that I have no filter when it comes to talking about stuff. A lot of people write songs just to write songs because it’s their job. I genuinely have a lot of real shit to say a lot of the time.

It hasn’t been manufactured or touched, and I’m not overthinking it. I walk in with a very blunt 18-year-old’s perspective, and that’s what they got with me.”

Perhaps that bluntness represents the new generation of pop stars that Tate is leading the way in. They have grown up in an era of anything goes openness and fearless expressionism. They’ve also grown up in an era of almost constant turmoil and flux in the world. Bluntness is required just to survive. “This generation is crazy, especially with TikTok,” she says.

“There’s so much talent out there.

So many people are coming out of the woodwork. Some of these people are obviously my peers like Conan Gray and Olivia Rodrigo, who I feel are doing the same thing as me. They’re trying to say real stuff and put it into a real crazy world right now. We’re honestly all trying to share our music the same way, so it’s really wild to be beside them and learn from them.”

The one thing that connects and binds these Gen Z artists is a relentless desire to capture every emotion and every feeling.

The thing that makes them stand

POP ART ↓↓↓

out is emphasising their own personalities and their own stories and telling them in a captivating way. It’s a principle that Tate is acutely aware of. “By now, we have heard every single song from every point of view with every single lyric. There’s literally nothing more you can say, and if it’s not real to you, then it’s just another song with the same set of words,” she says.

“If it’s not connecting to a story, then other people aren’t going to be able to relate it back to their own lives. You TATE M CRAE want your music to touch other people so they can put it into their own situations. If you don’t do that, then it’s just another song.”

Tate cites Lil Nas X as someone who is pioneering a new way of being a pop star. “He broke all the stereotypes and walked into this industry, and there’s a whole bunch of songs where he explains how everyone thought he was never going to make it,” she says.

“When you read through the entire album, you realise he talks about every single detail and every situation that’s so personal to him. You can tell he put his blood, sweat and tears into it, and I think that’s what made it a successful album. You’re reading the diary of

another person’s life. If it’s not true, then there’s no point in listening to it. People being very vulnerable is what makes you stand out right now.”

Tate McRae’s vulnerability, coupled with her inherent magnetic star power and personality, have already made her a formidable pop force, but ‘I Used To Think I Could Fly’ firmly takes things to the next level. The new experiences are now coming thick and fast after two years of pandemic stasis, and Tate is experiencing the wild pop ride in all its glory. “I’m so excited because the last time I came to London, I played a 175 capacity room. Next time I’m coming back, and some of our shows are 2200,” she beams excitedly. “It’s really wild being on tour. You think it would have hit me two years ago when I had my first song out, but it’s all hitting me now. It’s the first time that it’s not just numbers on the screen. Actual faces. I’m on my headline tour, and every time I step into a room, I’m like, ‘Why the hell are you guys here?’ I was stuck at home for so long that I couldn’t believe what my life was turning into. A lot has changed. It’s really crazy.” ■ Tate McRae’s debut album ‘I Used to Think I Could Fly’ is out 27th May.

“I’M 18 YEARS OLD, BUT I FEEL I’VE BEEN WORKING TOWARDS THIS FOR SO LONG”

One thing you will undoubtedly notice, Dear Reader, when you pick up Tate’s album on vinyl, or CD or cassette, or gaze at the tiny streaming service thumbnail pic, is that the album has incredible artwork. Perhaps the most incredible of any album this year. There’s a plane, there are flames, and there’s a brand new, instantly iconic image with a deeper meaning. We’ll let Tate herself explain all.

“The whole concept of the album I’ve been wanting to do for a long time,” she says.

“When you look at the title ‘I Used To Think I Could Fly’, it seems like a young and uplifting concept, but its roots are really dark. That’s why I wanted to explain in the cover art where I’m wearing this hot pink tight dress with shimmery gloves, and I’m all done up. I’m standing on a burning plane which I think is very much the definition of society right now. Everyone likes to highlight themselves in the best light, but little do we know that our lives are crashing down beneath us, but no one shares that. I really wanted to show that in my cover art and on my album.”

“I didn’t want to bullshit anything” WORDS: NEIVE MCCARTHY. PHOTO: SAM HISCOX.

With their latest album, ‘If I Never Know You Like This Again’, SOAK has captured emotion like never before. Bridie Monds-Watson explains how they learned to reach what they’ve been striving for.

W

e’re constantly capturing memories.

With the iPhone camera app perpetually at our fingertips, immortalising our every move is far too easy. Reminiscing on those photos and videos never grows old; the nostalgia is as potent and disarming years on as it is after a matter of weeks.

As the months and years race by, there’s something really special about having the chance to dive back into a specific moment in time. For Bridie Monds-Watson, the genius behind SOAK, a vivid recollection of the past is essential.

“I love taking photos. I have hard drives on hard drives of my whole life,” muses Bridie over the phone, tucked away in the Irish countryside. “When I was younger, a good Saturday was me and my best friend Jack getting the video camera and going out for the day making some weird skits. I think they can really benefit each other, music and video and visuals in general. You can tell so many different sides of a story, and you can be so expressive through those means – it’s so fun to play with.”

On the cusp of releasing their third album, ‘If I Never Know You Like This Again’, Bridie has crafted a musical time capsule. Stolen vignettes of nights with friends, crumbling relationships, existential crises, and flashes of earnest truths are at every turn, brought to startling life with every word. Bridie is a wordsmith, above all – on their latest, they prove their ability to suspend a moment in time, cutting deep with every remembered emotion.

“Before, I was overly poetic in an attempt to be more articulate or something, which ultimately removes a lot of the emotion in the story you’re trying to tell,” shares Bridie.

“I can look back at all of my songs and know exactly what specifically about the memories I’m trying to capture. I’ve gotten a lot better at doing that now. I’m less about the bells and whistles and more to the point.”

Since the release of ‘Before We Forgot How To Dream’ back in 2015, when Bridie was still in their teens, a lot has changed.

Experience and the kind of self-examination that can only come with age fuel this album.

As Bridie becomes at home with their sound and artistry, the strength of their output only grows. “I hadn’t strongly felt like I knew what I was doing until now. It very much feels like this is nearly the first record I’m putting out, in a way. It’s quite exciting to finally feel like I’ve found the sound I’ve been trying to

10. DORK

going to say it how I feel it is.” get to.”

Part of that expression of hope came That elusive sound they have finally from the newfound opportunity to push landed on is a shot of magic – it’s layers their sound in new directions. On this album, of texture and confrontative guitars that much more focus was placed on guitars accompany those distinctive SOAK vocals. and learning techniques. It’s elevating for The pure joy of creation and reinvigorated SOAK’s sound: on ‘neptune’, the guitar is passion lingers – such a successful debut at transcendent, and the knock-on effect such a young age is bound to leave the mark of pushing at instrumental capabilities is of pressure, but on ‘If I Never Know You Like audible throughout. “I definitely invested This Again’, that is completely shaken off. In a lot more in the guitar than I ever have its place is adrenaline, thrill, and a need to before, and that opened me up to so many expel this music like never before. different experiments and different sounds “It’s the first record that we’ve made all that I found exciting. It definitely inspired together as a band in one room. Everything before that was just me and one other person. me to do different things with the guitar.

Tommy [McLaughlin, long-time collaborator] We definitely wanted to make it a band record and have everyone come together and has always been my favourite guitarist and play on it for two weeks. Because it happened watching him play and learning things off him, we just really hype each other up. It’s in that just after lockdown, I think everyone was way of, hmm, maybe we could do this? It’s so desperate to see each other but also to nice. I feel very lucky to know him and have a play music. That desperation comes through partner in crime regarding the guitar.” in our playing because everyone was so On lead single ‘last july’, Bridie showcases genuinely happy to be there and doing it. It those newly honed guitar skills – combined felt like a bit of a summer camp.” with the specificities of their lyrics, they work While there’s a palpable happiness and in tandem to cast a optimism that allows film-like grain across the album some the album. Frequently, lightness, lyrically, Bridie’s work possesses there’s a great deal a quality that brings of internal glances those memories into and self-analysis vivid, moving life. Every that could read recollection has that as quite dark. In a magical movie moment sense, though, it feels touch – it plays out freeing. ‘If I Never shot by shot with all Know You Like This the romanticism of an Again’ is an album arthouse piece. From of understanding, the hammering of rain of being at home on a car windscreen in yourself. They in ‘guts’, a seething traverse through the figure at a corner table highs and lows of life B R I DI E M O NDS-WATSO N at the pub in ‘baby, in your twenties and, you’re full of shit’ and along the way, subtly moodily hopping on a plane in ‘red-eye’, it’s acknowledge their own self – the character all heightened and unravelling before your traits that are sometimes hard to swallow, very eyes. the way they react to certain things, their “With every album, you’re trying to build relentless need for positivity even when it’s a world, or at least replicate your own, and shatteringly unrealistic. On ‘baby, you’re full bring people into it. I love in other people’s of shit’, they sing, “I knew my twenties would make or break me / but what the fuck is this?” albums when you can hear things that have gone wrong, and they keep it – there’s That constant tug of war is crucial to the personality in it. We started ‘guts’ one day in album’s development – between euphoric the studio, and it was just pissing it down with and devastating, between rain and glorious rain, and it set the mood for the day. Michael, sun, between lingering and disappearing.

Life is unpredictable, so it becomes clear, and who plays keys on the record, went out and knowing which way you might be pulled next started recording it and we were just like, let’s put that in.” is an eternal mystery. For Bridie, capturing The album becomes more fleshed out that was key. through those moments; the memories it “I just didn’t want to bullshit anything,” immerses itself in more affecting. A sharp, Bridie admits. “I do feel that way all the time, shaky intake of breath precedes the album, like, what the fuck is life? Your twenties are and it is as though in recounting this old so pivotal, and there’s so much pressure on ground, there’s a release to be found. “It felt them. You finally have to really know where the fuck you’re at. A lot of me naturally wants like a relief,” recalls Bridie. “In my life up to to be hopeful and jazz things up when they’re this point, I’ve been trying a lot of different outfits and trying to work out what I’m about a bit shit. On this album, I was like: I’m just

“IT’S EXCITING TO FINALLY FEEL LIKE I’VE FOUND THE SOUND I’VE BEEN TRYING TO GET TO”

and what I really want to say. On this record, I felt quite comfortable and confident now I know a lot more about what I want to be. It felt unapologetic in terms of not overthinking how I’m going to be perceived.”

Of course, in reflecting on your past, you can’t help but line your previous selves up with who you have become. Bridie does so with a gracefulness that can only come with hindsight. Creating the album forced Bridie to get in touch with a new side to themselves, one which proved fruitful in masterfully winding these past versions of who they have been together into one.

“It was cathartic and also really maddening as well,” Bridie laughs. “The way I wrote it, I treated it like a job I go into 9-5 or more, and it was literally only me talking to myself. It was really rewarding, and I definitely learnt a lot about myself, but only hearing your voice is quite the maddening experience. Ultimately, I’ve benefited a lot and learned a lot from the experience. I’m a really avoidant person, so I definitely needed that – I’ve learnt my niche of how I learnt best, and it’s just sheer force. I find so much joy in what I do, but when you get to a bump in the road, it’s very easy to just give up on ideas. Now, everything I do is so stubborn. It’s the best work ethic I’ve ever had.”

Self-aware but no longer self-conscious, there’s talk of escaping the past throughout the album: moving on, moving away. It presents a conundrum, though. There is so much to be learnt from the past, and ‘If I Never Know You Like This Again’ proves that. Those things might be difficult to tread once more, but without these experiences of varying joy, Bridie wouldn’t have landed at the person they are today. “I drive around and listen to the album sometimes because it’s so personal to me. It’s like having a step back into my life and getting to review things.

It’s nice when I’m having a bad time to have those boundaries. There are a few songs that mean a lot to me – ‘bleach’ and ‘purgatory’, definitely. Both of those songs are about identity and trying to work out who you are in the world. They’re really huge questions, but they were so necessary.”

In nostalgia and memory, we are free to learn so much about who we are, how we react, what brings us happiness and what doesn’t. On ‘swear jar’, Bridie lingers on a feeling of being on the sidelines, passively watching your life unfold with little intervention. Things are happening, but they don’t necessarily feel like they’re happening to you – you’re external, floating above. ‘If I Never Know You Like This Again’ is a reversal of that. In soul-searchingly navigating the past and pushing new boundaries into the future, Bridie recasts themself as the main character in their life. No longer a spectator, that crucial self-understanding propels them into the light. ■ SOAK’s album ‘If I Never Know You Like This Again’ is out 20th May.

readdork.com 11.

got a filter of a huge orange with my facial features to represent the juice in gin and juice. I spent about two hours doing this, but it was super, super fun; time went waaaay too quickly, wow. I’ve realised creating outside of home, as in the UK, gets my creative juices flowing.

Mysie A DAY IN THE LIFE OF

You know what’s easier than following around your fave pop stars, day in, day out, to see what they’re up to right that minute? Asking them. Here’s what Mysie‘s day looks like.

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8:00AM I woke up in Bergen op Zoom in the Netherlands today. Arrived here last night; what a city.

Went down for my breakfast with my tour manager, guitarist and my cousin, who came down for the show. I usually fast, but I was feeling a bit peckish, so settled with a croissant and a boiled egg... yeah, a weird combination, but I’m not really on that ham ting in the morning. I actually kinda regret the boiled egg, but it’s okay.

I’m all packed and ready for our next destination, which is Rotterdam, where I’ll be playing at MOMO festival.

10:30AM We are off to Rotterdam. It’s going to take an hour to get there, and Dean, my guitarist, has already taken over the music... he’s making some interesting choices with this playlist, banger after

banger if I do say so myself. I’m obviously in safe hands.

11:30AM Dropped off my luggage and went for a short walk with the team... a short walk for food. I don’t know what it is about this city that makes me so hungry, haha!

A very early lunch for us today as I need rest!! We settled for Rotterdam’s finest, Wagamama.

Ordered mainly sides with my cousin, the good old Korean red onion and beef bun. It hit all the right spots, tbh. Plan is to go back to the hotel, and leave the guys to explore as I didn’t get much rest after the day before.

2:30PM Back at the hotel. So, I didn’t rest as planned. Instead, I decided to choreograph a five-minute TikTok dance for my next single, ‘Gin and Juice’. I think it’s slyly wavy,

4:30PM Time to get ready, waking up my voice as I didn’t get to do it in the morning. Brief 15-minute personalised warm-up made specially by my singing teacher, Emma. Love hearing her voice; it feels like she’s with me. Now I’m getting ready for the show, sorted out my outfit. I’ve set my two alarms at 6pm and 6:10pm. Trying to get my individual eyelashes done below 30 minutes, because it nearly took me 40 minutes the day before, and not really about that life; they’re so fiddly.

6:30PM Dinner at the venue, the venue is called Bird, and I see some familiar faces performed here literally a few days ago - Joel Culpepper and Jake Isaac, absolute g’s! Food was just what I needed!! I’ve been eating way too much meat on this trip, so I settled for a lovely veggie pasta and rice with salad; it was super comforting. Did another top-up warm-up a few minutes after, and sound-checking at 8pm. Straight after that, I’ll be performing.

8:00PM All warmed up now, soundchecking, all good! Now it’s show time babyyyy!

10:45PM Show went super well. Really lovely crowd, I enjoyed every minute. Of course, I was supplied with a litre of the finest Bombay Sapphire gin and wavy fresh tonic water… tasted better than usual. Partied to some drum and bass, which absolutely banged!!!

Sherelle was beyond sick, a presence I was mesmerised by.

Headed home cos got a super early start, going back to London for a day off, then off to Leeds!!!

Mysie’s EP ‘Joyride’ is out now.

‘FYI’ LIL NAS X

Lil Nas X has announced a worldwide headline tour. Titled the Long Live Montero Tour, the run will hit Europe at the end of the year, with a show at London’s Eventim Apollo on 12th November.

Before that, there’s. North American run through September and October.

VIAGRA BOYS

Viagra Boys have returned with news of a new album, ‘Cave World’, set for release on 8th July. The announcement comes alongside a brand new track, ‘Ain’t No Thief, which is streaming online now.

There’ll be a new UK and European run too, with the band hitting London’s O2 Academy Brixton on 25th January 2023.

TEGAN AND SARA

Tegan and Sara have inked a new record deal with Mom+Pop Music.

The news arrives alongside the Canadian duo’s new single ‘Fucking Up What Matters’, which was coproduced with John Congleton and is set to appear on their upcoming tenth album.

FOALS

Foals have made their own hot sauce, ‘Holy Fire Hot Honey’.

Made by drummer Jack Bevan in collaboration with Sauce Shop, it’s described as “perfect for drizzling on pizzas, chicken wings, or anything else you fancy.” Jack explains: “I’ve been a fan of Sauce Shop’s sauces for ages, so it only felt right to collaborate for Foals’ first-ever food launch. This is going to be a staple for me on our new tour and tastes amazing drizzled on anything!”

RUN THE JEWELS

Killer Mike has confirmed that Run The Jewels are at work on their next album. “I say this with a smile and a wink – me and El-P were in the studio together,” Killer Mike told Consequence. “We may have messed around and started Run The Jewels 5. So we’ll see what happens. I would say look for Run The Jewels to pop up on some guest appearances.

I’ve done some solo guest appearances as well. So just look for more music to be coming out period.”

CONAN GRAY

Conan Gray has announced his second album. The former Dork cover star will follow up debut ‘Kid Krow’ with ‘Superache’ on 24th June via Republic Records. It follows up on a run of singles since the last album, including ‘Jigsaw’, ‘Astronomy’, ‘People Watching’ and ‘Telepath’.

“The best way of summing it up is angel choirs and monster trucks” WORDS: MARTYN YOUNG. PHOTO: KAT NEISLER.

Mallrat’s debut album has been a long time coming, but now it’s finally here there’s no holding back - if only to do the music the justice it deserves.

“I

’ve always aspired to make something that is precious,” says Grace Shaw from her Melbourne home as she talks about the debut Mallrat album ‘Butterfly Blue’, as perfect a summation of a beautiful record as you could hope to hear. The journey to cherished precious work, though, doesn’t just happen by magic. It’s a product of Grace’s journey as an artist and a writer and her fierce desire to use Mallrat as a positive force to release all her staggering creativity.

It’s been a long time coming for Mallrat to release a proper full-length album after releasing her first EP, ‘Uninvited’, in 2016. “I feel like a little kid waiting for Christmas. I’m so excited for everyone to hear all this music and to see their reaction,” she beams. The long journey leading up to the album release has ultimately been a positive one, though, for an artist who has been finely tuning their alt-pop sound. “I’ve released three EPs. The first one was the first songs I’d ever made,” she says. “They were beats that I found on SoundCloud mostly that I was singing over. I was 16 when I made ‘Uninvited’. The two after that, I learned a lot in the process of making them. I got to work more on the production with other artists and producers that I was a big fan of that I really liked. They’ve all been incredible experiences. I feel like I got to go into the album with plenty of experience.”

The thing that marks Mallrat out is everything is Grace’s own vision, carefully curated and arranged by her hand. A lot of this is rooted in a more practical sense of growth. “It’s hard to gauge growth with songwriting, but it’s easier with production and confidence. I feel more confident and a better producer,” she

14. DORK

says. Indeed the album was originally going to be self-produced. “I realised that was an ego decision rather than in the best interests of the album because I’m surrounded by some of the most talented producers in the world.” She’s referring to people like Jam City and Styalz, Tommy English and Big Taste, amongst others, all carefully selected by Grace for their unique talents. “Being able to work with them is the sort of experience and knowledge that money can’t buy,” she continues. “You can’t go to the university and be lectured by these artists and my friends. I adjusted my perspective in the process of writing it. It was really nice and took a lot of the pressure off. I reminded myself that I can produce my own album in a few years, but right now, I just want to make the best debut album that I can and learn as much as I can. I’ve learned to not make decisions just to try to prove myself but rather to serve the music.”

The sound of ‘Butterfly Blue’ is that of Grace’s own creation, inspired by some of her key musical touchstones. “The best way of summing it up is angel choirs and monster trucks,” she laughs. “I love using vocals as a texture and an instrument.

It always adds immediate emotion to a song. On the other side of things, one of my favourite artists ever is the producer Sophie; I love all the aggressive sounds.

I feel really inspired and moved by really abrasive production. I wanted to be able to play with that.”

The cultural and musical environment of 2022 is undoubtedly a more welcoming one for people wanting to experiment with different dynamics and harsher sounds and tones, and it allows someone like Mallrat to indulge freely in all their sonic explorations. “It’s so interesting how in the last five years, with the growth and popularity of Sophie, PC Music and hyperpop, it has trickled down into pop and rap production,” she says.

One of the most interesting juxtapositions about Mallrat is that she can go from making abrasive, experimental sounds to blissful airy pop with effortless ease. She can have

someone like Azealia Banks featuring both of those ideas make sense at the on a song, as well as having the most same time.” tender and beautiful ballad. The album Grace highlights a couple of moments is a wild ride across different sounds on the album that are a perfect and textures. One area distillation of Mallrat that always remains in 2022. A combination important and a source between innovative sounds of pride for Grace is her and evocative songwriting lyrics and the openimagery. “The song ‘I’m hearted vulnerability Not My Body It’s Mine’ is and attitude she really cool and interesting, displays in her songs and you don’t know where and melodies. “What I it’s going to go. The music value in my favourite + Grace is from Melbourne is a beautiful journey. The albums, songs and swing melody and production in Australia writers is the details is so otherworldly. The they describe,” she says. second verse of “Heart + One of the first CDs she “They are usually very Guitar” paints a really owned that inspired her physical things that you strong, beautiful picture to make music was the can picture. I don’t think of sitting on the carpet at soundtrack to the telly you can get that sort of somebody else’s house. show The OC. You should detail when you’re trying Like a lot of artists, watch The OC. Wild ride to hide. It’s about trying the pandemic might to emulate the music + She loves reading, fashion have allowed them that I value.” time to be productive and animals: “They are Grace finds some of creatively, but the lack my three favourite things those values in Taylor of personal engagement besides music” Swift and Drake - two had a debilitating effect. + Specifically, Grace’s artists in different Now that Grace can play genres with a similar fave animals are insects. shows again, it brings storytelling approach. home the ultimate joy Obviously, butterflies are “A lot of Taylor Swift’s of being an artist and her fave. She also thinks songwriting, especially realising how Mallrat has pigeons are “pretty cute”, her earlier country stuff, despite not being an insect become so important to I really appreciate that so many people and how + Grace is fascinated by the ‘Butterfly Blue’ is a longside of it,” she says.

“Also, Drake’s ‘Take news story of a new species awaited gift for them. “I Care’ album. I like that have the most gorgeous of millipede found in you can imagine all the Tennessee that was named fans in the whole world,” characters in his life, after Taylor Swift: “I would she enthuses.”They’re and he has names for so sweet, and I’m just love it if someone finds a them all and all their obsessed with them. cool bug from Brisbane personalities. It lets you Whenever I meet them at so they can name it after feel like you know what’s shows, they always feel Mallrat” going on a little bit.” like friends. We’ve got a There’s also room lot of common ground. for a little bit of fantasy in the Mallrat They’re always so funny, generous and tapestry. “I also love completely made-up warm. I feel so lucky that my shows can situations and lyrics that don’t really be such a safe, beautiful, warm place make any sense,” says Grace. “It doesn’t filled with these beautiful warm people.” have to be biographical to feel honest ■ Mallrat’s album ‘Butterfly Blue’ is and interesting. I want to try and make out now.

MALL FACTS

↓↓↓

readdork.com 15.

THE BEST NEW TRACKS Check out all of this month’s bangers on Spotify now.

Scan this code to listen.

Lizzo

About Damn Time

“Oh, I’m not the girl I was or used to be, uh. Bitch, I might be better.” There’s no denying that the Lizzo that arrives strutting and sliding into comeback single ‘About Damn Time’ is very, very different to the one that demanded our attention on the fantabulous, quite probably under-appreciated ‘Batches and Cookies’ back in the day – but also, with a wider lens, maybe there is.

Lizzo’s magic comes from just how much of herself she gives to every single song she produces. In any other hands, ‘About Damn Time’ might be seen as watching the trends – a track that arrives in the wake of Silk Sonic and Dua Lipa, all funky and disco ready.

But it isn’t that at all – with Lizzo it never could be. An identifiable retort to years of universal stress, a confident determination that healing is possible, and countless flicks and flourishes to show there’s a route back to better days, Lizzo’s still got it.

Hear all these tracks and more on Dork Radio, 24/7/365.

Listen at readdork.com/radio or via the TuneIn app for iOS and Android.

REALLY VERY GOOD

Baby Queen Colours Of You

Recorded for the alreadya-smash-before-its-evenout new Netflix series Heartstopper, ‘Colours Of You’ feels like a real moment for Baby Queen. Slow burning and emotionally raw, everything here has been hinted at in her past offerings – but somehow now feels fully realised.

Confident enough to hold its own mirrored stare and recite back that internal monologue with unerring honesty, it’s pop music through a filter of dry ice and open hearts.

Sleep Tight

Holly Humberstone can do no wrong. There’s your sticker quote – but also, a pretty accurate summary of our Hol’s musical journey to date.

‘Sleep Tight’ is another cowrite with The 1975’s chief matey Matty ‘poke poke, can you hurry up and do something please, we’ve been waiting ages now’ Healy. It’s also genuinely brilliant; a textured, emotionally raw bop that feels both reassuringly classic and achingly right now. Big tick.

Easy Life BEESWAX

In truth, it hasn’t been all that long at all since Easy Life dropped their debut album ‘life’s a beach’ – but we live by a pandemic slowed clock where time is more a suggestion than a dependable measuring stick. A lot has happened, y’know? It feels like it’s been a minute. ‘BEESWAX’ is one hell of a reminder of just what sets the Leicester lads apart from the crowd – smart and bubbly, but dark and mischievous, they remain a unique prospect to treasure. Sweet as hot honey.

100 gecs

Doritos & Fritos

beabadoobee See You Soon

The second introduction to the weird, wonderful world of ‘Beatopia’, ‘See You Soon’ is the trippy, woozy rabbit hole to a fantastical kingdom.

Undeniably Bea, it’s a delicate touch gesturing towards a floaty dreamscape, but never so light it forgets the substance beneath.

That’s Where I Am

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Conan Gray Memories

Maggie Rogers TOTAL BOP 4EVA

Holly Humberstone

Have we defined the ‘Green Light Moment’ yet? If not, let’s start. Like when Lorde – already a popster of the highest quality – dropped the debut track from her second album ‘Melodrama’, it’s the point a musician ascends. From brilliant to stratospheric deity, in the space of one song. It’s a coming of age, a realisation of potential and a statement of intent all in one. A single point where everything comes into perfect, goosebumps-on-goosebumps, ultra high definition 8K focus.

For Maggie Rogers, that’s ‘That’s Where I Am’. What came before was better than great. What’s coming next is exceptional. In the first four minutes and thirteen seconds we’ve heard of her second fulllength ‘Surrender’, everything changed.

Finally on the finishing straight to that muchpromised second album, Conan Gray is getting out the big guns for ‘Memories’.

Utilising his unerring talent for an emotionally resonant earworm hook, this is Conan at his most dramatic.

Part Olivia’s slow-burning heartbreaker, part ‘Sign of the Times’ era Styles’ future-retro magpie, it’s a song that, by its final rising chorus, cranks the drama up to eleven before slipping out the side door, leaving the rest to burn.

100 gecs are not like other bands. They’re not especially like other anythings, really – and that’s for the best.

The early signs for new album ‘10000 gecs’ suggest the unfiltered mayhem that made their previous, breakout full-length cut through is still in full, fine form – even if it is cast through different, chaotic musical prisms. ‘Doritos & Fritos’ is beepy, bloopy hype-rska, should such a thing exist. Everywhere, all the time, doing everything all at once – 100 gecs remain an addictive riot.

Phoebe Bridgers Sidelines

We’ve reached a point in popular culture where Phoebe Bridgers as a concept has almost transcended her individual songs. But that in no way diminishes the brilliance of her music – quite the opposite. ‘Sidelines’ is a stunning lesson in atmospherics. While it could be tempting to describe it as a textbook lesson in a well-traced dynamic from an artist who has made that her calling card, that’s to utterly misunderstand just how difficult balancing the strands can be. Addictive, emotionally resonant and capable of putting hairs on end, it hits in ways others simply can’t.

↓↓↓ BIG TRACK ↓↓↓

Gently Tender: “It’s always the songs you think about least that other people tend to prefer”

Y

ou’d have been forgiven for thinking we’d not be hearing more from indie supergroup Gently Tender. Featuring three former Palma Violets and one current Big Moon, their previous offering came back in the pre-pandemic era of 2019. If you’re going to return after years away, you best go big - and that’s certainly what they’ve done with comeback track ‘Dead is Dead’. With an album to follow, we caught up with frontman Sam Fryer to ask more.

Hello Sam! How’s it going? What are you up to today?

Hi there, things are good. We are in rehearsals at the moment, which, to be honest, is an extremely rare event when it comes to this band as we all live in different parts of the country. Peter [Mayhew] last year moved out of London up to Manchester, and Will [Doyle] moved from London down to Brighton.

It’s all a bit of a shit show when trying to get people at the same place at the same time, but we will make it work. It’s going well so far.

No tantrums or fights. Just five excellent musicians taking their jobs seriously for once.

You’ve been away for quite a while now, what have you been up to since we last heard from you?

Any major life developments?

We’ve mainly just been writing all the time in our studio in North

London, constantly. I got into a really good writing rhythm during the lockdowns and just kept it going. The universe that we are trying to create with our music is really starting to take shape. We’re pretty happy with how things are going creatively. Just before the world stopped, we went out to Richmond, Virginia, to record a couple of songs with Matthew E White at his Spacebomb Studio. It was a really great experience, and it really helped us to achieve the sound we wanted. Recording with a live gospel choir was the absolute highlight. It was what I imagine being in heaven is like. Matthew was a dream to work with.

And now you’re back, with new music! Tell us about ‘Dead Is Dead’ - where did the idea for a positive take on death come from?

Without getting too deep, I find myself writing more and more songs with positive lyrics. I figured the more joy and hope I put into the words, the more it will have a positive effect on me and my mental health and, hopefully, other people too. Especially when you are on tour repeating the words every night, bellowing lyrics like you ‘still come on’ ‘we all go some place after time’. Even though I fluctuate on the subject matter in ‘Dead is Dead’, the more I sing it, the more I believe it!

Did the song come together easily, or was it a difficult birth?

The song was written in 2019, and it came about pretty quickly. It felt effortless and spontaneous. It arrived in the midst of a 10-minute improvisation session between me and Pete, and half an hour later, it felt ready to perform. Of course,

Kind Of Girl The ‘country one’ from MUNA’s self-titled third album, ‘Kind Of Girl’ sees the trio proving chops hitherto only hinted at. A song that puts goosebumps on goosebumps, they’ve never had an issue with pulling on the heartstrings.

This time, though, it’s a whole orchestra. With a swell of self-empowering brilliance that could send the enlightened to battle in their name, its equal parts hopeful and vulnerable, but all stunningly good.

Sorry

There’s So Many People That Want To Be Loved Sorry – the band that apologise before they’ve even entered the room – have always had a unique charm. Ramshackle, junkyard alternative pop isn’t an easy trick to pull off – it’s far too easy to scoot off into introspective wibble or fall off the tightrope into the neverending pit of unbearable mawkish twee. ‘There’s So Many People That Want To Be Loved’ does neither.

Built for a nice ride, not a madcap dash, it’s exactly the kind of instinctive, brilliant gem that proves there really, there’s nothing to apologise for. Maybe it’s time for a rebrand. You’re Welcome just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

Gracie Abrams

Block me out The latest in Gracie’s teamups with producer-of-themoment, The National’s Aaron Dessner, ‘Block me out’ is yet another example of a talent that’s destined to hit the very top.

Emotional, introspective but addictive, it has that same textured, real edge that slices through the sheen of modern pop.

Recorded at Long Pond Studio, and working with the producer of Taylor Swift’s last two gamechanging records, it would be oh-so-easy for some to box Gracie Abrams off as just another wannabe acolyte. She isn’t. Part of a gang of new, fresh talents pushing through to the mainstream, when it arrives that debut album will make waves.

PHOTO: JODY EVEAS.

Back for the first time since before the pandemic, and with a debut album on the way later this year, indie supergroup Gently Tender are up to big things.

MUNA

Gently Tender Dead Is Dead

It’s been a hot minute since we last heard from Gently Tender. Featuring three Palma Violets and a Big Moon, they almost magnetically attract that ‘indie supergroup’ tag, but there’s something significantly more permanent and deliberate to ‘Dead is Dead’. Synths swirl, brass swells, and vocalist Sam Fryer’s vocal pushes through with a strident determination.

With a debut album set to follow in the summer, Gently Tender are coming into focus – and they look really rather brilliant.

we have not performed this song yet due to the world events that ensued. Not long to wait now.

It’s a taster of your debut album, too - is that nearly done? What’s left to do?

Yes, it’s all done. We will be releasing it later this year. We are all very excited about it.

How does ‘Dead Is Dead’ fit within the album? Where does it

PinkPantheress rank in your’ favourite songs on the album’ league table?

‘Dead is Dead’ is the second song on the album. It’s probably the fastest, most dramatic song on the record, but the record has multiple landscapes. All the songs represent various stages in our growth as a band over the space of six years.

Six years is a long time, a lot of time for self-reflection.

We all have different views on where ‘Dead is Dead’ ranks. For me personally, it took me longer to fall in love with it than some of the others. Now, I love it! It just took me two years to realise it. It’s always the songs you think about least in the writing process that other people tend to prefer. Not sure why; I guess it probably sounds more organic, less dissected. ■

Who Are You (feat.

WILLOW) It’s almost certainly trite at this point to start talking about the breakdown in genre boundaries in modern music – but while ‘Where Are You’ might not be breaking new ground in combining two artists of tangential but different musical lanes, the result is proof that it doesn’t really matter from where the strands are drawn, just how they’re aligned. In truth, Pink Pantheress’ addictive, glitchy, distinctly British filter doesn’t sit too far from the gritty sugar-rush pop-punk that WILLOW has made her own in recent years. Joined together, they make for a heady rush of emotion that sounds both reassuringly classic and refreshingly fresh.

There’s nothing overdone about that.

readdork.com 17.

Willow Kayne Final Notice

Willow Kayne has long established herself as ‘one’ to ‘watch’ - a whirlwind of attitude and call-it-out directness, it’s the fact she never holds back that fills her music with such raw electricity. So much so that the possibly overdone (if somewhat understandable) refrain of an artist speaking back to The Man packs enough much needed snotty bite to push past familiarity as it storms out the door.

Take that vibrant sizzle and point it towards building the kind of positive force the world so desperately needs right now, and Willow Kayne can be anything she wants.

Jamie T

The Old Style Raiders

When he first burst onto the scene, nobody ever really stopped to consider what a legacy would look like for Jamie T. A fizzing tablet dropped into the hangover cure of mid 00s hedonism before heading out for a second round, he was an artist who existed in a glorious Polaroid moment. It’s to his credit, then, that he’s turned that immediate flash of excitement into something far more substantial. 2022’s Jamie T has lost none of that direct brilliance, but ‘The Old Style Raiders’ takes youthful exuberance and makes it stadium epic. At times, it recalls U2 - something nobody would have dared suggest on the strength of ‘Stella’ - and yet it’s never remotely bloated or grandiose. Growing up, but not growing old, Jamie T remains a lesson in chaotic class to all of us.

Carly Rae Jepsen Western Wind

HRH Queen of the Pop Bops Carly Rae Jepsen hath returned, Dearest Reader, and this time she’s all about the vibes. ‘Western Wind’ doesn’t rank high in terms of CRJ’s most direct hits, but that’s not a criticism. This time round, she’s taking a different path. Floating on its titular breeze, there’s something refreshingly relaxed about the start of this latest era.

Still an earworm, in an over saturated, constantly shouting world, Carly Rae Jepsen has become an oasis of serene calm.

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Pale Waves Lies

Between their first and second albums, Pale Waves went on a musical journey.

Starting the drift towards late-90s influenced pop rock, it worked for them; all attitude and bubblegrunge cool. ‘Lies’ - the first taster of a new album coming this summer - takes that switch up and kicks it into overdrive.

Bratty, immediate and taking no prisoners, it’s a million miles away from the gothpopsters who set the buzz machine rattling with ‘There’s A Honey’. Never knowingly behind the curve, the third iteration of Pale Waves have teeth.

Courting Tennis

When they fully embrace the nonsense, Courting are the perfect distillation of everything brilliant.

A double-strength shot of scattergun mayhem drawn from a scene built in backroom bars and stickyfloored venues, Courting have never been a band to colour carefully inside carefully defined lines.

They’re more thick, primary colours Crayola up the walls kind guys, and they’re so much better for it. Acerbic, sardonic, hyperactive and strutting, ‘Tennis’ is the vindaloo ladled on top of a plate of plain carbs. Boring better watch out. New balls, please.

Maisie Peters Cate’s Brother

THE TIKTOK ONE

A TikTok joke gone further than ever expected - and yes, it’s very easy to be far too cynical about this-kindof-thing in the face of a bit of fun - ‘Cate’s Brother’ is a track that’s been teased out to breaking point.

And honestly, that kind of fits. Nothing about it is dialled below 11. Running in the lineage of ‘Stacy’s Mom’, it’s big, brash and unashamedly goofy. Even in amongst the noise, there are still whipsmart flashes of what makes Maisie Peters so special, though. A line about how saying ‘his’ name tastes like “violets, rum and summer” has the sort of flourish her peers would often mistakenly leave on the bench, before a chorus that presses pause as a moment of clarity snaps into focus. Even in the slightly silly, Maisie Peters stands apart.

Festivals.

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS FESTIVAL SEASON.

KID KAPICHI

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They’re one of the headliners for the double-trouble Dork Stage at Live at Leeds: In The Park, so a quick catch up with Kid Kapichi seems ‘timely’, no?

Hello Jack! It’s been a while since your album came out now, are you guys on with new material? You’ve not long released a song with Bob Vylan, right?

Yeah, we’ve actually got tonnes and tonnes of new material that is waiting to go. So much has been going on behind the scenes, but it’s all been quite top secret. All I can say is there is a lot more to come, and if you enjoyed the Bob Vylan track, then you’ll be certain to enjoy what’s ‘round the corner.

You’re playing Dork’s stage at Live At Leeds: In The Park - are you going to be around all day? Who’s on your hit-list?

Yeah, absolutely. After years of missing festivals, we make sure to embrace every minute of them now.

Looking forward to seeing Sea Girls, Sports Team, Dream Wife, and it’ll be good to catch up with The Blinders and many, many more.

On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your Yorkshire pudding making skills?

Production 2-10 Consumption 11-10 What are the key ingredients for a good festival, do you think?

Good music, good beer, good weather and good friends. What more can ya ask for?

How do you prepare for spending so long on the road and in muddy fields?

As we’ve gotten older, we’ve definitely needed to prepare physically as well as mentally before we go on long stints.

I think spending a few solid months in the gym always makes you feel better for the amount of beer and bread that get consumed on tour or during festival season.

What else have you got coming up over the summer?

We’re playing a bunch of festivals, including Reading & Leeds, The Great Escape and 2000trees. We’ll also be releasing brand new music, which we can’t wait to get out into the world.

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LIVE AT LEEDS IN THE PARK 4TH JUNE 2022 LEEDS, UK

DORK STAGE

→ WITH FESTIVAL SEASON finally starting to rev its engine, four days off at the start of June feel like a real gift after two disrupted years of pandemic sponsored chaos - and if there’s one place you can bet we’re eager to get back to, it’s Live at Leeds.

But this year, there’s a difference.

The knock to the calendar caused by a worldwide shutdown has allowed the traditional inner-city new music extravaganza to make some changes.

That long established multi-venue blow out - usually held over the May bank holiday - has moved to October after last year’s successful return in a later slot. That earlier slot in the calendar hasn’t been abandoned though. With a little shift back into a traditionally sunnier month, 2022 will see the first edition of Live at Leeds: In The Park, taking place at Temple Newsam.

The original home of Leeds Festival, and current location for the northern leg of Slam Dunk, it’ll welcome some exciting names on Saturday, 4th June.

From Bombay Bicycle Club and The Vaccines to Sports Team, Holly Humberstone, Easy Life, Arlo Parks, Alfie Templeman and Lauran Hibberd, it’s a bit of an indie pilgrimage. But that’s not all - as we announced last issue - we’ve got our own stage featuring some exciting new talent, and an brilliant little twist.

Dork’s tent will feature not one, but two stages. Running back-to-back, there’ll always be something happening - no long gaps or waiting around for us. With The Mysterines, Kid Kapichi, ADMT, Coach Party, Courting, Finn Askew, Kynsy, Lime Garden, L’objectif, Molly Payton, Porij, Sfven and Zuzu, it’s gonna be brilliant. See you there. ■

RECOMMENDED

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There’s so many great names across the line-up for Live at Leeds: In The Park. Here are five must-sees.

SPORTS TEAM → With their second album ‘Gulp!’ imminent, there’s always genuine fizz around every Sports Team show. With new material to debut and a renewed sense of something to aim for, they’re quite probably a band at either the height of their powers or the depths of their nonsense. Both are good things, neither are to be missed.

HOLLY HUMBERSTONE → Former Dork cover star Holly Humberstone will get round to a debut album eventually - but so far, she’s not really needed one to make waves.

Dropping show stopping tracks and the kind of short-form projects that demand undivided devotion from a growing legion of fans, it’s probably a bit late to claim you’ve arrived early, but there’s no excuse to be late.

5 TO WATCH Two back-to-back stages, one big tent - here are five acts we think you should make sure you check out.

THE MYSTERINES → Fresh off the back of their top 10 debut album ‘Reeling’, The Mysterines are on a roll. Taking one of the headline slots on the Dork Stage at this year’s Live at Leeds: In The Park, you can bet it’ll be a triumphant moment.

COACH PARTY → With their latest EP ‘Nothing’s Real’ just dropped, Coach Party have developed a track record for big indie bangers. And what goes down especially well at festivals?

Yeah. Exactly. It’s going to be brilliant.

BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB

COURTING

→ At a festival dominated by new names and fresh talent, there’s still a home for legends of their craft.

That’s the kind of legacy we’ve got to give to Bombay Bicycle Club in 2022. A band who have influenced so many of their younger peers, they’re the perfect act to close things down with their headline set.

→ Now Courting are on the road to a debut album, it’s time we stopped joking about. Part of an exciting new wave of indie talent, they’ve got the personality to match the bangers. Embrace chaos, choose Courting.

ALFIE TEMPLEMAN → He’s on the cover, Dear Reader. This one should be obvious. The indie prince is in for one hell of a summer, and Live at Leeds: In The Park provides a perfect opportunity to experience it first-hand.

With his Really Very Good debut album out just a week or so before, this should be a coronation for one of the very best.

LAURAN HIBBERD → What can we say about our Hibbo? With a debut album due later this summer, she’s got a run of top pop bops behind her longer than a trail of breadcrumbs through Temple Newsam’s woodland. Never knowingly lacking in the funtimes, if anyone is going to bring the sun out, it’s our Lauran.

LIME GARDEN → The other day, Lime Garden got a co-sign from Hayley Williams. That’s all the recommendation we need when it comes to Lime Garden. Really good band; endorsed by Paramore.

L’OBJECTIF → Hometown heroes L’objectif are on the fast track to big things.

So much so we fully expect their Live at Leeds: In The Park set to properly go off. You wouldn’t want to miss that, would you? No. You wouldn’t.

FESTIVAL

‘FYI’ LATITUDE

Alfie Templeman, Nova Twins (pictured), TV Priest, Courting and more have joined the line-up to this year’s Latitude Festival.

More than 30 new names have joined the bill, including Honeyglaze, piri & tommy, Crack Cloud, Matt Maltese, Pus Kink, Priestgate, Prima Queen, Conor Albert, Curtis Harding, Caroline, Harkin and more. Latitude takes place between 21st and 24th July at Henham Park, Suffolk.

BARN ON THE FARM Barn on the Farm festival has announced a bunch more acts for this year’s event, including Saturday night headliners Bombay Bicycle Club, special guests The Vaccines, and an acoustic show from Cavetown.

Also joining the bill will be the likes of Will Joseph Cook, Rachel Chinouriri, Lucy Blue, Fatherson, AU/RA and more. Barn on the Farm takes place between 30th June and 3rd July. Tickets are on sale now. You can find the full line-up so far in the poster below.

LEISURE Clairo and CMAT have joined the bill for this year’s inaugural LEISURE festival. Held at Margate’s Dreamland, they join a bill including Mitski, Soccer Mommy, Nilüfer Yanya, Sorry, L’Rain and HighSchool and more. The festival takes place on 24th June. Tickets are on sale now.

TRNSMT TRNSMT has signed up a handful of new acts. New to the bill are Years & Years, Dylan (Saturday, 9th July) and The Skinner Brothers (Friday, 8th July). The latest raft of additions join headliners Paolo Nutini, The Strokes and Lewis Capaldi, as well as Sam Fender, Foals, Wolf Alice, Fontaines DC, Sigrid and more. TRNSMT takes place at Glasgow Green, from 8th-10th July.

GREEN MAN Green Man Festival has announced a new wave of artists for 2022. Tune-Yards, Sofia Kourtesis, Mary Lattimore, Nia Archives, Donny Benét, Carwyn Ellis & Rio 18 with the National Orchestra of Wales and more join the bill alongside the likes of Penelope Isles, Joe & The Shitboys, The Long Blondes, Honeyglaze, Charles Watson and more.

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YOUR ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO THE BEST NEW NAMES.

“IF YOU’RE TRYING TO TEACH A ROBOT HOW TO LOVE, YOU SHOULD PROBABLY JUST DO YOURSELF A FAVOUR AND PACK UP AND LEAVE” AME LIA M O OR E

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AMELIA MOORE Words: Martyn Young.

is Singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and all-round-pop-talent Amelia Moore breaking through with a seductive new take on alt-pop.

“I

have very big plans and very big goals.” Amelia Moore is a new pop sensation in a hurry.

She’s only been making music for a few months, but as we approach the release of her debut EP, ‘Teaching A Robot How To Love’, it’s clear that we are dealing with a singular talent.

“I feel like it’s been a long time coming for me. I’ve known that this is what I wanted to do for a very long time,” she explains as she outlines her vision for pop domination. It’s a vision based on incredible ambition and a desire to transform herself. She describes her rise as, “being on a journey from homeschool to Hollywood.” “I grew up very sheltered, and I went to school in Nashville and had the biggest culture shock. I didn’t realise a lot of things about reality that were actually normal, but I was just raised so differently to everybody else.”

Her formative years were spent in Nashville, Tennessee, before moving to Los Angeles. She spent her childhood playing violin as a 5-year-old, then had a phase of being obsessed with musical theatre before she realised, aged 13, that pop glory was her destiny. “I realised I wanted to be an artist because I was doing all these plays, and I had this moment where I thought, why would I want to be on Broadway and pretend to be somebody else and sing somebody else’s songs when I can write my own songs? I was dreaming big and working really hard.”

All that aspirational dreaming ultimately led to the stunning series of songs released in the last six months that have got people so excited. Amelia Moore makes big music. Big dramatic, emotion-laden music with an expressive, dynamic future-facing flourish. She uses her voice as an intensely powerful and malleable instrument full of personality and texture. On songs like ‘Sweet and Sour’ and ‘Vinegar’, you can hear an artist working at the midpoint of Charli XCX-style sonic innovation and Mariah and Ariana-style vocal masterclasses. It’s

an intoxicating mix.

There is a rawness and directness to the music on her debut EP. “This project is my perspective on falling in love for the first time and what that was like as a homeschooler who was just learning a lot about the real world growing up,” explains Amelia. “Unfortunately, it was a negative experience, as you will hear in the music. This first project is really an exploration of me learning a lot about the world after growing up very sheltered.

It’s me growing into myself. Since being away, I’ve grown into myself more as a person and artist. I feel so connected to the music because everything I’ve learned about has happened so recently, so it still feels very real to me. It’s like an open wound.”

In the studio, Amelia channelled all that emotional vulnerability into the music. “There were days when I would walk in and just absolutely sob, and they would just hold me on the couch before I could write anything,” she says.

“I learned to not overthink too much in the studio, and the music that connects with people the most is just honest and vulnerable. It’s really important not to shy away from anything, be honest with yourself and be real. Even teasing some of these songs on the internet now people have really connected with some of the moments that were just conversations in the studio.”

Online teasing is a big part of the buzz surrounding her like it is for many artists in the social age. “In December 2021, I started taking my social media really seriously,” she says. “I posted this song about moving away from all of my best friends in Nashville to LA; it was literally the first original song I posted on TikTok. Within a week, I gained over a hundred thousand followers. It was insane. From that point on, I continued to post my original music, and people seemed to like it. That moment in December when things really started to kick off on social media was a big moment for me.”

Amelia has already released three statement singles, but she says the EP will highlight a different side to her

artistry. “I have a lot of different sides to me that people are yet to hear,” she says confidently.” I love making more R&B influenced music. I’m very inspired by a lot of R&B singers. There’s also some raspiness in my voice on this project that nobody’s heard from me yet. I’m excited for people to hear that.”

In a further example of Amelia’s burning ambition, she emphasises her desire to push the boundaries of pop at a time when pretty much anything goes. “Pop music is changing a lot, and it has in the past year,” she explains. “A lot of things are getting very popular.

A lot of artists are experimenting with combining different genres. We’ve seen a lot of hip-hop and country, which is really exciting, and R&B pop is extremely popular right now. I really want to experiment with R&B hyperpop.

I’m really excited about that. I don’t think I’ve heard that from anybody else.”

The reaction Amelia has had to her first few songs is based on universal feelings of deep emotion that we can all relate to and learn from. “I hope people take away a feeling that if you’re trying to teach a robot how to love, you should probably just do yourself a favour and pack up and leave,” she laughs.

“Sometimes we’ve just gotta learn what it feels like, and it’s ok, but going forward, let’s notice the red flags, feel all of the emotions but save ourselves the heartbreak. Being in love with somebody should not feel like you have to teach them how to love.”

Opening statements made, this year promises much for Amelia as she adjusts to becoming a big deal and strives to bring her pop vision to life. “I will be releasing a lot of music throughout the year,” she promises. “I’m currently going back into the studio and working on the next project. It might not be an album yet, but I think a mixtape would be really fun. This year is going to be really fun.

I’m continuing to work hard, show up to the studio and do what I love every day.

I can’t wait for everyone to hear what Amelia Moore’s going to smack them in the face with this year.” ■

FIRST ON.↓ ETHEL CAIN

→ Last year’s ‘Inbred’ EP might have started to make waves for Ethel Cain, but debut album ‘Preacher’s Daughter’ promises to start an entire tsunami of buzz.

Based around a tale of conflict in an American family, it’s a record which seeks to tell a story as old as time. This is no stuffy old concept record, though - drawing from across the sonic spectrum, there’s something addictively brilliant about the scale of Cain’s ambition.

LÉA SEN → London-based 22-year-old Léa Sen has maturity beyond her years.

Writing, producing, and mixing all tracks herself, debut EP ‘You Of Now Pt.1’ showcases an artist in control of her own future. “People assume that if you’re a woman, you’re just a singer, whereas I do so much more,” she says. “I’m not going to make myself feel insecure though – I’m going to be comfortable expressing myself however I want.” Already working with the likes of Joy Orbison, alongside delivering her own multifaceted productions, that creativity is only going to send her soaring higher. readdork.com 23.

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Photo: Olly Appleyard.

MAZIE

I know there’s an end goal to everything that we start. Half the time, the chaotic journey in between is what makes the end product so great. I pool all my ideas and store them on one local drive for me, so if that goes missing, then I’m completely fucked!

What comes first - the concept or the song? Do you end up writing songs to fit the bigger plan, or working the bigger picture around the music?

At first, I always have the grand idea of writing to a concept, and finding a way into that, but I’ve found that doing this tends to hinder the writing and gets in the way of true art. So nowadays, it’s more a freestyle of what comes naturally, then that is moulded and crafted to fit the narrative in the post process.

What *is* a ‘Rouge Carpet Disaster’?

Rouge Carpet Disaster is the idea of death in Hollywood. Underneath the glitz and glamour, there’s a true nightmare waiting to be unveiled. This record explores this theme in a deeper way.

There was once a time where the louder end of the music smorgasbord was seen as something ‘of the past’.

With a new breed of fresh and exciting acts pushing through, Static Dress find themselves at the crest of a wave.

Smart, inventive and able to weave a universe around their music like few others, their debut album ‘Rouge Carpet Disaster’ is a triumph. We caught up with leader Olli Appleyard to find out more.

October 2020.

This was initially going to be our first release at the time, as ‘Prologue’ wasn’t even a thought at this point. But due to delays, problems making the record and the pandemic, this record ultimately took way longer than we thought it would to create and form it into what it is today.

But with that being said, all these steps had to happen in order to end up with the product we now have. We’re all really proud of it and hope you’re all going to love it.

For a band with such creative control of every aspect of their work, you have super high standards. How much of your time is spent creating the imagery and ideas around the music, compared to the songs themselves?

Sometimes, if not more, just as much as time as the music goes into upholding high standards of presentation. This band wouldn’t be able to exist without this world we’ve created, and if one part of the project lacks, then the whole thing lacks.

If you had an unlimited budget, what sort of creative projects would you really love to do? Would you still want to keep that same level of creative control?

Absolutely! I want to create what I’ve always dreamed of and what this band has always aspired to be. I want people to never forget us because of what it’s created, and I think with an unlimited budget, we’d be able to achieve that. Upholding this level of creative control is no easy feat, as I feel like there are times when we could let standards slip, and because I do this by myself, I’m the only person I have to blame.

“I WANT TO CREATE WHAT I’VE ALWAYS DREAMED OF”

Did the concept spring fully-formed or was it more a gradual evolution?

Hi Olli! How’s it going, what are we Initially, a bit of both. interrupting?

Hello! Currently, we are just over the halfway The concept and idea was almost completely mark on our first headline tour. It’s been constructed before any an overwhelming response and really music was even put to unexpected. Each night has blown the night paper.

You guys have packed an before out of the water, and that water just We have been teasing the awful lot into your time keeps rising up. album title for nearly two together, and mostly years at this point, hiding during the pandemic You guys are about to release ‘Rouge codes in images, printing too - what’ve been your Carpet Disaster’, what does your day-tohighlights so far? day look like at the moment? Is there much it on merch, hiding the title in videos etc.

Our headline tour. There to do before it drops?

Throughout the making was no smoke and mirrors, From the second I wake up, I have at least O L L I AP P L E YARD of the record, though, it and we were finally able four things that need to be sorted. It’s to see the chaos we’ve definitely the busiest I’ve ever been in my life. gave me more time to I’ve been putting together merch designs, to really tunnel vision on what I wanted the final created. We have been seeing our real-life idea to be. fans, and this tour is all about us, not us being more simple things like social media posts…

‘Prologue’ definitely helped the curation and the support for another band. the wheel never stops turning - especially finding a format for the story behind this at the moment with such a busy summer record. Even though it was created at the Is there anything else we should know? schedule. But I’m not complaining, though; For now, dig deeper into ‘Rouge Carpet the opportunities we have are crazy… it’s just same time, having that project there really helped me with the framework of this album Disaster’ - there’s a lot to find once you go A LOT of work! and finding an audible aesthetic. beneath the surface; that’s both about us and yourselves. ■ How did you approach crafting your first How do you keep such an ambitious album, what was the starting point? project in-hand, do you have strategies for Static Dress’ debut album ‘Rouge Carpet So we started the album mid pandemic and Disaster’ is out 18th May. started the recording process in September/ keeping track of everything?

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Everyone loves an alt-pop bop, right?

Right. Then you’ll want to get familiar with rising popster mazie.

Dedicated to her first year living in the bright lights and starry ambition of Los Angeles, ‘All I Ever Wanted (Was You)’ is about holding up a mirror to her relationships with her friends, in a world where people would quickly enter and exit at will. It’s also Really Very Good Indeed – and coming off the back of her acclaimed ‘Rainbow Cassette’ EP, certainly not a one-off, either.

When did you start to write songs of your own?

I remember writing my first song when I was 9 years old, but I didn’t really start trying to write real songs until about 15.

I met my neighbour, Elie Rizk, who had a recording studio in his house, and I started writing songs 24/7 after we met.

Did it take long for you to find your sound? Do you think you have found it?

Oh my god, yes. Elie and I have been making music together for the last seven years. In that time, we’ve made about four different projects together.

Every project has been drastically different and the first handful of years working together was dedicated to finding a “sound”. I’ve been working on a new project, and I really feel like I’ve hit my stride and found a sound that is genuinely me. I’m so excited to start sharing these new songs I’ve been working on Tell us about your latest single ‘all I ever wanted (was you)’ – where did it come from?

I wrote this song with Elie right before I went on tour. We wrote the whole thing acoustically, and I didn’t track anything until months later. I had gone through a bit of heartbreak and was so, so bitter.

I just wanted to pour every ounce of bitterness into one song, so I could put it all in one place and move on. It was an extremely cathartic process.

Is being a musician living up to the hype? What’ve been your highlights so far?

Absolutely! There is nothing else I’d rather be doing with my life. I think the main highlight is being able to create and develop my artistry every single day. It is such a blessing to be able to do music full-time, and I am so grateful for the life I am living as a creative. ■ mazie’s single ‘all I ever wanted (was you)’ is out now.

ANORAK PATCH Proof that age is but a number, Anorak Patch may have caused an initial fuss in part because of just how young they were, but make no mistake - this lot more than make the grade on any metric.

Words: Steven Loftin. Photo: Geoff Lawrence.

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dly kicking a Coke can down the street on their way home isn’t an after school pastime for Effie Lawrence, Eleanor Helliwell, Oscar Ryland and Luca Ryland. No, their extracurricular activity is Anorak Patch.

With a brash wind of hypnotic vocals, darting guitars, biting drums and a whole heap of promise, the Colchester-based band - still in school and college, don’t you know - are enamouring

“I DON’T THINK WE EVER EXPECTED IT TO GET THIS FAR” ELEAN OR H ELLI W E L L

themselves to more and more fans by the day. Even trying to get them on the blower for a quick chat can be a challenge, it turns out, but when you’ve got A-Levels and a bubbling music career to deal with, who can blame being a bit hard to pin down?

“I don’t think we ever expected it to get this far, but it’s just a very enjoyable thing to do,” bassist Eleanor says as she wanders home from college, seemingly surrounded by a swarm of screaming children. “And it gives you a lot more confidence within yourself.”

Stemming from initially knowing keyboardist Effie “for years”, Eleanor eventually met brothers Luca (bass) and Oscar (drums) through music, and the four began toying around, tinkering with what would become Anorak Patch. They found their proper start in 2019 after Eleanor’s dad needed a band for a local pub festival. Standard pub fare, it turns

out, but with a cheeky cover of Radiohead ‘No Surprises’ for good measure. “That was a really terrible idea,” Eleanor chuckles. “It just wasn’t great.” It wasn’t long before they started cobbling their own material together. “We’re playing that again this year,” she says. “I think it’s three years since our first gig, so it’s nice to go back to it.”

Being a young band in the most extreme sense of the term - Luca was just 11 when they started up - getting gigs was rather tricky.

It’s something that still proves a bit of an issue, given most bars don’t allow minors after a certain time. “We used to play a venue in Colchester called Three Wise Monkeys, and they used to do under eighteens gigs, which was good because it was quite difficult to find places to actually play.

So that was really good. But we struggled to find places that would let us.”

As the pandemic took hold, Anorak Patch’s time in the

spotlight began to beckon. Finding themselves on the BBC Radio 6 Music playlist and popping up on the few socially distanced festivals that took place (plus eventually some that weren’t), 2020 and 2021 were fruitful, to say the least.

“At the end of the lockdown, we were allowed to go into the studio,” Eleanor recalls. “We didn’t really get to do much together through lockdown, obviously. We got so much recognition because my dad was our manager at that point and had nothing else to do, so he just kind of spent every single day phoning people to get us on radio and stuff, and that really helped.”

Their debut EP ‘By Cousin Sam’ proves what the four-piece can string together. A seven-track journey through the weird and wonderful world of Anorak Patch, no two tracks sound alike. While Oscar and Luca combine forces to construct the musical form of Anorak Patch, it’s the other half of the band who builds the melodic and lyrical side. Really, it all boils down to the succinct yet simplistic truth that they “just kind of write what we think sounds good.”

‘By Cousin Sam’ isn’t a destination for Anorak Patch’s evolving musical identity.

Instead, it’s a path of stepping stones on the way. “It’s definitely more experimental and more interesting” than their earlier material, Eleanor admits. A bold move by any standards, given those were the sounds that enticed people in.

A band born out of necessity, things are looking bright for the young quartet. “It’s all gone in our favour which I don’t think any of us expected at all,” Eleanor muses.

“We started it for fun, and then it went from there.”

Eleanor’s dad might hold a bit of jealousy, though, having had a crack at band life himself a few times over. “He’s been in bands for so long,” Eleanor smiles. “And it’s never got as far as we did. We’d only really been playing together for not even a year when we got on the 6 Music playlist - he just kept saying he’s jealous.”

Whatever’s in store for this wonderfully weird and brash group, chances are few will be able to replicate their unique blend of influences and experience. That’s just what makes Anorak Patch so special. ■ Anorak Patch’s debut EP ‘By Cousin Sam’ is out now.

HYPE NEWS. ↓↓↓ COLE BLEU

The Let Go have announced they’re set to change their name. Taking to social media, they revealed that their future music will be released under the name of one of the duo, Cole Bleu.

In a statement, they explain: “Scout and I are still making music together, but our artist name will change on streaming platforms over the next week, all social names will updated in a few days, and all new music moving forward will be under the name Cole Bleu. We’re so excited to show you what we’ve been working on, and thank you all loads for continuing to follow us on this journey,” they continue. “Anyone who has pre-ordered vinyl will receive it in June, and it’ll be one of only a few The Let Go records to exist in the world ever. Hope you’re loving the mixtape”

MAC WETHA

Mac Wetha has shared his first new music of 2022, ‘Dani Song’. It’s the first taster of an upcoming EP, ‘Cloud Paint’, due this summer via Dirty Hit. It will also feature last year’s single ‘IDONTBELIEVEIT’.

Mac explains of the track; “‘Dani Song’ is about leaning on your partner so hard that you lose your own footing”.

SHEAFS

SHEAFS have announced their debut album, ‘A Happy Medium’. Set to arrive on 15th July via Modern Sky UK, the news comes alongside a new single, ‘Millennial’. The band explain: “‘Millennial’ is a direct reference to our generation and the burden of trying to find success in every avenue of life. The track tries to echo the frustration that accompanies this so-called ‘pressure to succeed’.”

WINNIE RAEDER

Winnie Raeder has shared details of her new audio/ visual project, ‘I Could Swim’. Set to arrive on 6th May via EMI, the collection comprises of five new songs with inter-connecting visuals to form one longform piece. The news comes alongside the second part, ‘Promised Love’, with a video directed and choreographed by Rianna White.

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26. DORK

CHARLIE HICKEY Words: Jack Press.

21-year-old Pasadena-based newcomer Charlie Hickey has arrived with his debut album via Saddest Factory Records, the label owned by his pal and fervent supporter, Phoebe Bridgers.

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haos theory suggests that if a butterfly flaps its wings in one town, a tornado will take down another. Small changes, big consequences.

For Pasadena’s bedroom-pop singersongwriter Charlie Hickey, his butterfly effect moment began when he met his label boss Phoebe Bridgers at a club show when he was just 13 years old.

“If you were to tell me when I met Phoebe that she would be my A&R, I’d have laughed in your face,” smiles Charlie from a car travelling somewhere in Kansas City on a day off from his tour with MUNA. “I always think of meeting Phoebe as a turning point in my life. I had always been doing music. I always knew that was what I wanted to do, but seeing her perform when I was 13 at a tiny club was so inspiring to me. It made it all feel a lot more tangible.”

Watching Phoebe grow into C H A R LI E H I C K E Y a superpower helped mark a cultural shift for Charlie. Suddenly, the music that mattered to him and his friends could go beyond the circles they’d caught them in.

“It is still so inspiring to see everything happening with Phoebe, to see great songwriting like that get rewarded, because she’s one of my all-time favourite writers.”

Phoebe’s influence can be felt throughout ‘Nervous At Night’, Charlie’s debut album. Whether it’s in the confessional ‘Thirteen’, the isolating balladry of ‘Mid Air’, or the countless happy melodies and melancholic lyrics that make for magic juxtapositions, it’s all there in these tales of growing up.

“Everything is complicated, and nothing is 100% sad or happy,” Charlie reflects one of many moments he pauses, sips his water thoughtfully, and ponders his next

answer like a grandmaster musing over chess moves. “I think that some of those juxtapositions are just the reality of how those moments felt; they were happy and exciting, but there was also sadness in them.”

Sadness is something that permeates ‘Nervous At Night’. It haunts it like a ghost; an outsider looking in at the party. On an album that traces Charlie’s journey of growing up in the suburbs of Pasadena, sadness shifts gears more than any other emotion.

“There are different kinds of sadness.

There’s a sadness that’s more melancholic, and then there’s sadness that has a bit more urgency and anxiety to it. I feel that sometimes lends itself to a song that is a little more passionate or soulful, sounding less downtrodden.”

Sadness for singersongwriters is often seen as the milliondollar moment, but for Charlie, it’s a line he’s trying not to get stuck into completely. Whilst his idols have built themselves on being fundamentally sad, he doesn’t want to be so easily pigeonholed.

“This genre is often reduced to being sad music, which I think is incredibly reductive.

Me and all my friends grew up listening to Elliott Smith and Bright Eyes, music you could say is sad, but I think something you maybe don’t hear about is that even though artists can write about their pain, it doesn’t mean that it has to consume them.”

There’s plenty of pain folded into the mix of ‘Nervous At Night’, but it’s not the only ingredient. There’s the anxiety of falling for someone new, the joy of latenight drives and lost weekends, and the joy of heart-to-hearts with loved ones. In many ways, it’s a profoundly personal display of something utterly universal: growing up.

In a world where pop stars promote the glitz and glamour of fairytale lifestyles,

“EVERYTHING IS COMPLICATED, AND NOTHING IS 100% SAD OR HAPPY”

Charlie is going against the grain. ‘Nervous At Night’ is an album about everyday life, written by a normal person. It exists to show that it’s not all sunshine and roses, but it’s not all sadness either.

“We can express these parts of ourselves but also lead happy, healthy lifestyles.

Maybe it’s not the most glamorous or rock and roll thing, but it’s important because otherwise you die eventually. You just can’t stay in the space of being unhappy.”

These existential thoughts play out on ‘Nervous At Night’ like mini monologues.

Opener ‘Dandelions’ is the album’s theme song, whilst its title track caps everything off. And it’s all a reflection of the anxiety that Charlie struggles with on a daily basis.

“One of my really good friends was describing to me that she had a friend claiming she had something called Nervous At Night syndrome, which is exactly what it sounds like, and I thought that was funny.

“It also resonated with a lot of the aimless anxiety of having an empty night ahead of you, not being anxious about anything specific, which I can relate to.

Along with growing up, anxiety forms this theme on the album of trying to hold space for your childhood self, to unlearn some of the myths you have about yourself, of transitioning into an adult, and all the anxieties that come with that.”

Throughout his life, Charlie has been led by the lives of those around him. Whether it’s through watching videos of his touring musician parents, through the tutelage of long-term producer Marshall Vore, or by watching Bridger’s rise to stardom, he’s often felt like he’s been kept under their wings. But as ‘Nervous At Night’ enters the world, it’s his time to turn on a light for others in their darkest moments. It’s a role he’s more than willing to play.

“I just hope that they see some of themselves in it and that I can help them feel seen and supported in all the contradictions of life. To feel like they’re validated in struggling, but also that there’s tonnes of hope and beauty to be found.” ■

Charlie Hickey’s debut album ‘Nervous At Night’ is out 20th May.

HYPE NEWS. ↓↓↓

DYLAN FRASER

Dylan Fraser has shared a new track, ‘Apartment Complex on The Eastside’.

The new song comes alongside news of a new EP, ‘2030 Revolution’, set for release on 15th July.

Dylan explains: “This song is about trying to appreciate life and what we have whilst we’re here. Whilst the lyrics are quite dark, I feel the message is hopeful in a twisted way. I was clearly having an existential crisis at the time of writing but aren’t we all?”

SEB

SEB has shared a brand new single, ‘SAVE ME’. His second track of the year, it follows up on February’s ‘fuck it, i’m the man’, it is set to appear as part of a new body of work, due to follow in the coming months.

SEB explains: “Save Me is about that point you reach after you’ve tried self-destructing. You’ve tried partying, you’ve tried drugs but once you’re sober, that self hatred is still there.

You’re calling out for help but who you’re calling out to, is still enabling you to go down that same path.”

CRAWLERS

Crawlers have announced a new October and November headline tour. The Liverpool four-piece will play ten dates throughout the UK and Ireland, including a show at London’s Scala, following summer festival appearances that features stops at Reading & Leeds.

You can find all the dates on readdork.com now.

Compelling, brilliant and never ever boring, it’s genuinely exciting to see just where she’ll go next.

readdork.com 27.

COVER STORY

The indie prince is ready for his coronation. With debut album ‘Mellow Moon’ finally on deck and ready to launch, Alfie Templeman opens up about his journey so far, and why he’s still striving for new and exciting worlds.

WORDS: JAMIE MUIR. PHOTOS: SARAH LOUISE BENNETT.

28. DORK

ALFIE TEMPLEMAN

readdork.com 29.

COVER STORY

“Alfie wants to be great. That’s his priority.” Justin Young of The Vaccines knows a thing or two about greatness. He’s reached the top and played the grandest stages, and sitting around the recording studio table with one Alfie Templeman has opened his eyes to another type of greatness. “I’m sure he wants to be big and successful, and I imagine he wants to be cool too, because who wouldn’t? But what really drives him is the desire to be great at what he does and to keep getting better. Now that’s actually depressingly rare, I think.”

CUT TO MARCH 2022, London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire. There’s a certain atmosphere that comes from an artist making that step up to the big leagues.

When a favourite you’ve known and loved for years is fully embraced as becoming A Very Big Deal Indeed. It takes an evening from just another cracking night out to one you feel part of. Their story is your story.

It’s a feeling impossible not to have as Alfie Templeman grabs that headlining moment.

As soon as he steps on stage, the fizzing sugar-rush that comes with every track is all-encompassing - serving up a night that sees young and old on their feet and revelling in a superstar proving just how super they really are.

As giant inflatable balls bounce across the Empire and track after track is screamed back at him, you’re left with no doubt about the rocket Alfie Templeman sits on. Not many artists can take on such a stage before dropping their debut album. A melting pot of ideas, genres and creativity - his every move has been formed by taking that energy and love for music and transforming it into universal anthems.

After such a journey so far - one that’s taken his voice from his bedroom walls in the village of Carlton, Hertfordshire, to continents, countries and playlists of fans from Australia to Alaska - what’s next? For Alfie, ‘Mellow Moon’ doesn’t just serve as a debut album but as a snapshot of a time in his life when everything changed.

30. DORK

IT’S A MONTH AND A HALF after the

Shepherd’s Bush show and Alfie’s biggest headline tour to date, and he’s in a reflective mood as he sits outside a cafe in East London.

“Like, people come to see you!” smiles Alfie, beaming with a sense of disbelief but also pride. “They’re there to support you, and it’s incredible. It’s such a beautiful thing to be all together and to see everyone for an hour or so onstage. It was a shock to the system when it first happened. I was meant to feel amazing about everything, but it actually scared me.” He pauses. “I’ve never really talked about it because I feel like people will think I’m ungrateful, and I’m absolutely not - but it’s just the way my mind works. That’s something I’ve seen over the past two years.”

‘Mellow Moon’ is a record that lives up to the hype and more - a glimpse into one of the most creative minds in new music and one that’ll be soundtracking people’s lives for years to come.

“This album and I guess everything I do with music is me saying, here’s what’s going on in my brain. I’ve never been that good at explaining my mind in words, but music has always been able to do that for me. Not even just lyrically, but just actual sounds that really get what’s going on in my brain. It’s kinda scary, but I’ve learnt that an album doesn’t define who I am or who I will be. This album is a glimpse into what’s been going on and what I’ve been trying to do. I want people to see me as who I am someone who is learning, someone who is changing with every day.

“A big point of art is that you’re doing something different. You’re trying something different. You’re going down a different path that helps you to see something differently, and that’s what a lot of this album is about. ‘Mellow Moon’ is like putting on a new pair of glasses that lets you see the world differently. That’s definitely what it was for me.”

Behind the shimmering pop bangers and side-splitting fun is a journey of selfdiscovery and a mind full of ideas and questions. There’s a restless desire to show the world what he can do while also coming to terms with the personal toll that being front and centre can have. Together, it’s the making of a superstar but also the making of Alfie Templeman himself, and it’s taken him to brinks he wondered if he’d ever come back from.

“Quite simply, Alfie is exceptional,” explains Circa Waves’ Kieran Shudall. Over the past few years, the pair have served up a juicy batch of bangers - with ‘Colour Me Blue’ from ‘Mellow Moon’ just another shimmering example.

“He can play every instrument in a band set-up better than most bands. He is so young, but the musical taste and choices he makes are so mature. All he needs is the time and space to make the albums he wants.”

FROM THE AGE OF 7, Alfie Templeman’s

love of music was clear. Receiving a live DVD (yes, a DVD) of prog titans Rush in concert served as the starting pistol on an ever-growing fascination with grooves and sound, blossoming into jumping on any opportunity to play, experiment and learn.

The first guitar he picked up (his Dad’s) was left-handed, but that razor-sharp focus won through. Early bands, countless hours of crafting songs and sounds and uploading them online for fun - it all fed into the Alfie Templeman seen today. A trailblazing genius-in-waiting who will blossom into one of his generation’s finest.

Since releasing an EP when he was 14, he’s stormed the airwaves with a string of bangers - including ‘Happiness In Liquid Form’, ‘Obvious Guy’, ‘Forever Isn’t Long Enough’ and ‘Everybody’s Gonna Love Somebody’ - and even been broadcast across the nation on Top Of The Pops during the festive period. The ride so far has been heading to one destination: the top.

Behind the scenes of every glorious success, though, Alfie has been learning to deal with new emotions. “I became scared of what people thought about me, 24/7,” he admits. “I couldn’t really write anything because I kept looking online and seeing things. Misconceptions about me, like the real me wasn’t coming across in what I was doing. I had to read things, and I didn’t want to respond because I was worried it would make the situation worse or people would troll me and… reading negative things about you can really suck. It makes you never want to write a song again. It still scares the shit out of me to see that.”

With the early foundations of ‘Mellow

ALFIE TEMPLEMAN

Moon’ beginning to form in early 2020, the sudden halt that the global pandemic brought had a direct effect.

When this here magazine stopped by to catch up with Alfie in his home village in the summer of 2020, it sat just as the whirlwind of radio plays and millions of streams truly kicked off. By the end of the year, all the tip lists were aimed squarely at his door. “Looking back on that time, I’m still dealing with a lot of things that I was thinking about back then,” recalls Alfie. “I wasn’t able to really go outside or see my girlfriend or anything, and so I got really depressed. It sucked a lot of life out of me, and it took a long time to heal from that.”

With his success came questioning.

It was a jolt rather than a smooth rise for a young adult growing up and trying to make his way in the world. “When I started seeing myself getting more and more radio plays and that attention - it didn’t feel like me,” he continues. “I had gone from writing songs in my room to suddenly everything happening so quickly, and I dunno - it felt like some of that magic got taken away. It felt like

I wasn’t doing it for me anymore. It became a business or my job rather than fun. When you write songs that people love, there’s a pressure to keep doing exactly that when I actually want to try all these different things… and I think that’s why this album is really great.”

It’s an honesty that previously Alfie may have held back on, but much like ‘Mellow Moon’, it comes now at a vital time in his life where being true to yourself is arguably the most important element of being the artist he wants to become. Anxiety has been something Alfie has been aware of from a young age, but that bubbled over both in 2020 and especially in 2021. Even now, thinking back to that time forces Alfie to stop to ponder everything he went through. “Just when I thought things were getting better, I had the worst few months of my life. I really got depressed, and everything was very black and white. There was a pit in my stomach where I would wake up in the morning, and my arms would be tingling; I was that anxious. I wouldn’t eat properly, I couldn’t talk to anyone or bring myself

“Everything I do with music is me saying, here’s what’s going on in my brain” - Alfie Templeman

readdork.com 31.

COVER STORY

to go anywhere. Just when my freedom was coming back too. I was doing things very impulsively, and it wasn’t me at all; I left my own body for a while.

‘I was doubting myself and felt like I didn’t deserve any of this,” he continues. “I would think of all my past mistakes or regrets, and it honestly was like they were just slapping me in the face over and over. It kept hitting for a long time, this voice saying I was a shit person - that feeling of not being worth anything. I wouldn’t wish that feeling on my worst enemy. I can’t even talk about some of those feelings and thoughts yet.”

It left such a mark on Alfie that it took some time to get back to a place where he was ready to write and create music again, and when he did, the songs began to form from the experiences he had gone through. Every track on ‘Mellow Moon’ is filled with what Alfie has gone through over the past 24 months. ‘Do It’ spotlights that battle within your own mind as life continues to ring round and round, ‘Candyfloss’ is a shimmering 80s pop gem with a core that suggests that sometimes things are too good to be true. ‘Broken’ is an anthem of self-discovery, while closing track ‘Just Below The Above’ cuts right to the bone in a bubble of raw emotion. “I can remember writing that song in my room and putting it all together, and yeah, it hurt.

It actually really hurt to make,” remembers Alfie. “It was all the questions I had in my brain, and I was trying to answer them. Pretty unsuccessfully, but I got some of them down. It definitely still hurts to go back and listen to it.”

At its worst, the anxiety that swept over Alfie was “like a wall, where I couldn’t really jump over and get to all the things I wanted to do. Like a big brick wall built right in front of this like beautiful creative freedom. There was this rumble in my stomach that kept building up, and I just couldn’t fight it.” It’s only recently that Alfie feels like he’s starting to climb that wall.

“That’s why I like this album,” he points, “because it’s not perfect, but it’s got so much character to it.

It’s got so many bits in it that I can just hear back to that time. I can hear it. They all come together and evolve, and that’s really important to me.”

Each track on ‘Mellow Moon’ has its own important place in the story of Alfie’s life. Take ‘3D Feelings’. “It came together when things were actually getting better last summer. At the time, I wanted feel-good music, something that

ALFIE TEMPLEMAN

“’Mellow Moon’ is like putting on a new pair of glasses that lets you see the world differently” - Alfie Templeman

would lift me up - it’s something you could never have made me do before,” admits Alfie. “I came out the other side as a new person. I’d been through a tough year, and I needed reassurance. Justin [Young, The Vaccines] and Will [Bloomfield] gave me that, and when I went back to listen to these songs, I was like - oh shit, that’s me! It felt pretty brave to do it.”

His anxiety may be in a better place than it was this time last year, but it’s still something Alfie lives with every day. Now, there’s an understanding that he can be “okay with it not going away, as long as I have the answers for it.” Those answers come in many forms, from spending time with his loved ones away from a world full of constant comments and doubts to being locked in a studio or deep in his own creative world. “I think it’s something that a lot of artists have in common, where you get this feeling of someone’s eyes always being on you.

I can’t help but feel vulnerable about that,” notes Alfie. “I’m very privileged to have this position, to be an artist and have so many people interested in what I do and what I have to say, but it’s also scary. I don’t want to let people down, and to be honest, I don’t really have my shit together. I don’t know how to preach a message or anything if I don’t really know how my mind works yet. I’m working that out.”

As a result, and as Alfie explains, ‘Mellow Moon’ is a record full of many different emotions. Coming together as a record that sonically pushes at the boundaries of everything that he’s done before, it emotionally reaches places that not only serve as an outlet for Alfie but will resonate with everyone coming of age in a time of growing uncertainty and worry.

Alfie’s every move is nothing short of essential - and entirely unpredictable.

“Listening to tracks like ‘The Western’,” highlights Alfie. “It feels like there’s finally music out there that shows the craziness of what’s going on inside my mind.” He smiles, thinking about the twists and twirls on ‘Mellow Moon’. “Yeah, it’s kind of cool that my label are letting me put this out, to be honest,” he laughs.

‘People seriously, seriously underestimate how talented he is.” Thomas Headon has seen firsthand how vast Alfie Templeman’s musical universe truly is. From collaborations, regular sessions together and much more - they sit at the forefront of a new generation of artists bursting out of the bedroom and aiming for a whole lot more. “He makes the majority of his music entirely by himself, plays a billion instruments incredibly well, and despite stating that he’s not a lyric guy, he writes some of the most intriguing lyrics I’ve heard. Genuinely, what is there not to love?”

WHILE ‘MELLOW MOON’ soundtracks escapism and another world, it also sets the opening bar of a catalogue Alfie Templeman is already dreaming of exploring. He practically jumps out of his seat when talking about everything he wants to do and the avenues he wants to probe next. “I’m really keen on making something that’s completely out of my mind.

Completely uncensored and raw, that shows this different side of me that hasn’t been shown yet. I feel like at the moment I’m just cooking, getting better at playing my instruments and exploring different things musically and rhythmically.”

Bands like Black Midi and Black Country, New Road fill his dream vision of the sort of music he’d love to investigate (“[Producer] Dan Carey is an actual God,” he enthuses).

The idea of writing and recording an album in that vein in one day is something he’s already itching to

have a go at - not just to prove to himself that he can, but also to slide across the table to the naysayers and doubters. “A lot of people are like, but you’re only 19 - you can do it later,” he quotes, raising his eyebrows with cheeky defiance. “I’m like - well… why can’t I do it now? Why can’t I try now? If people don’t like it, they don’t like it, but all that matters is I’ve done it myself. If I make something crazy, it doesn’t have to define me for the rest of my life - but I want to try at the very least. To not be afraid of that.”

A mixture of frustration and hunger comes across Alfie’s face; the world hasn’t seen yet how big and bold his goals are. “I want to try new things, and you know what, they may fail. Things could go terribly wrong, but the fact is that I’m doing it because I want to go out there and create music,” he states clearly. “I want to create art, and the fact people may listen to it and like it, that’s readdork.com 33.

COVER STORY

Alfie’s all star fan club. ↓↓↓ Sure, scribblers like us might think Alfie is Really Rather Good, but so do his peers. We asked a few about our hero.

Here’s what they had to say...

Justin Young, The Vaccines What’s it like working with Alfie?

Alfie is a true creative. He’s literally overflowing with great ideas. Within two minutes of starting a song, any anxiety about whether or not we’re going to write something good disappears. Even if you really like an artist, you never know if you’re going to be speaking the same musical language until you get into a room and start making music together. I feel like Alfie speaks most musical languages, though - he’s so easy to work with.

Thomas Headon

“Just when I thought things were getting better, I had the worst few months of my life.

I really got depressed, and everything was very black and white” - Alfie Templeman 34. DORK

How did you first meet Alfie?

Alfie and I met at the beginning of the first lockdown. It was one of those things where I had heard his name around a bunch first, but we actually then got to “meet” when we went live together on Instagram for the first time. I remember being shocked to find out he was only 17 at the time. Mental.

How big do you think things could get for Alfie?

Massive. But I don’t really see it as like, “wow, this could be huge for you” anymore, with him I kinda think like, “you are going to be headlining every festival in this country by the time you’re 22”. The new music is just so good; I don’t know anyone else at all that can create such good music so effortlessly as he can.

Kieran Shudall, Circa Waves Do you have any funny stories from working with Alfie?

When doing sessions, I always have to tell him to stop slapping da bass while I’m trying to concentrate. He constantly got an instrument in his hand making some racket, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. He’s the real deal, and I feel privileged to be a small part of his musical exploration.

awesome - like, so awesome. What’s really important to me is that I can go into the studio and get into that flow state and just get away from everything in my head.

“Everything I do has to have a reason, and it may be something in a few years’ time that I’m not sure about. There are definitely songs I’ve released that I look back on now and think, ‘oh, I could have done that better’, but that’s okay. That’s growing as an artist. That’s being honest with yourself and seeing how you can evolve and what you can learn. I want to try and create something better than what I’ve done before, and hopefully, people like it. If they don’t? That’s fine too.

I’m learning that’s okay. I just want people to know that I can do more.”

Not backed into one genre. Not trying to fill a particular request.

Not playing to the gallery for simple clicks and a quickfire burst of success. For Alfie Templeman, it’s going to be big-time festival stages and continued adoration as thousands take a trip to the ‘Mellow Moon’ and discover much more than cosmic tunes and otherworldly bangers. There’s something a lot more grounded and immediate than that. It’s an album that can be switched on during the bleakest of winter nights and make the world turn into a tropical paradise.

On the warmest of summer days, it’s a glass of refreshingly cold water. It’s the diary of Alfie from Carlton and every battle he’s found himself encountering while trying to discover himself. More than anything, it’s real.

“I’m just a guy, really,” reflects Alfie. In the next week, he’ll seize the day at a festival in Liverpool before hopping on stage with his pal Declan McKenna at the Royal Albert Hall (guitar solos and the lot in hand), but his journey continues.

“I’m just a son, a brother, someone in a really healthy and good relationship. I’m happy where I am.

Musically it’s a big mess, and I never know where I want to go next. At the back of my mind, there’s always this constant anxiety about how I’m going to be perceived or portrayed, but there are seven billion people in the world, and they all see me in a different way to how I see myself.

I’m not a ‘soft boy’ or anything like that - I’m just a guy still learning so much about myself. It’s not fair for me to define who I am, I’m just a person that makes mistakes, does things and has a normal life sometimes.” ■ Alfie Templeman’s

album ‘Mellow Moon’ is out 27th May.

ALFIE TEMPLEMAN

FEATURES

Radio

“ heads Their last album catapulted DIY darlings Porridge Radio into the stratosphere - so, where to now?

WORDS: CONNOR FENTON. PHOTOS: MATILDA HILL-JENKINS.

36. DORK

PORRIDGE RADIO

“I

THINK THIS BIT might be the calm before the storm,” drummer and co-producer Sam Yardley jokes as anticipation ramps up ahead of Porridge Radio’s third album, ‘Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky’. “I guess because we’re actually coming off the back of campaigning for the last album, which has been held at bay for the last two years.”

Despite their previous full-length ‘Every Bad’ debuting the same week as the 2020 Covid lockdown, there’s no whiff of disappointment or melancholy when recalling those days.

“It was what it was. It was a hard time, but it was alright,” vocalist, lead guitarist, and songwriter Dana Margolin explains.

Their tour of ‘Every Bad’ was pushed into summer 2021 while the band was in the process of gathering their new album.

Thanks to this and the everchanging spurts of restrictions, ‘Waterslide...’ was built up through many sessions. So many that Dana and Sam spend a few minutes DAN A M A R G O L I N struggling to remember how and when they put the whole puzzle together.

“Some songs are at least as old as when we recorded ‘Every Bad’ back in 2018,” Sam recalls. “There are songs we’ve played and learned and then forgotten, re-learned and then demoed. There are some which have evolved over the years.”

Even through the mayhem, Dana

SOMETIMES I WANNA MAKE A MASSIVE POP BANGER, AND SOMETIMES I WANNA MAKE A SAD LITTLE SONG -

believes it was a blessing to the recording process. “We recorded it in stints, and then we gave it some time to rest and came back to mix it. When you record, you get so deeply into the songs you forget how they sound. If you leave them for a few weeks and come back, they sound fresh.”

Fresh they certainly are. ‘Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky’ is not only a new injection of Porridge Radio into our collective ears, but also an enormous growth in their sound. The maturity of Dana’s lyricism and vocal expression read new levels, with a more measured approach compared to previous work.

Porridge Radio still implement their no holds barred mentality, but this time with more precision and refinement.

It’s a change that’s immediately evident on the album’s first track, ‘Back to the Radio’ - an enormous ballad that swells and intensifies with the addition of horns, chorus and what feels like a million other layers. “When I was writing, I was just splurging out a song and bashing out chords on a guitar,” Dana explains. “This time, there was more intent to think about other ways to play that weren’t as heavyhanded.”

Sam says the sound was also influenced

by Dana’s frequent requests for a ‘stadium epic’ sound while recording. “I kept being like, ‘Make that stadium epic!’ and Tom and Sam were like… ‘What the fuck?’”

Dana recalls, laughing.

While they may achieve stadium epic status, make no mistake - this is still the same plucky band from their previous releases. “Because we had many years prior of doing it ourselves and have a very strong vision of how we want it to be, we still have the attitude of wanting to be sure we have ultimate control of what we’re making,” Sam states. “Making and creating things is the most rewarding part.”

‘Waterslide...’ is a testament to the benefit of creative ownership, with the tracklist boasting titanic pop tunes and stripped-down dirges alike. “Sometimes

I wanna make a massive pop banger, and sometimes I wanna make a sad little song,” Dana says, shrugging. “You make what you make, no worries, no pressure.”

Porridge Radio’s creative possession is almost authorial. Even the cover art is from a series of Dana’s paintings made during lockdown, which eventually inspired the album’s title.

While their music has gotten bigger, there’s still an undeniable sense of Porridge Radio’s unique tone in play. Sam sums it up, “We do just have our identity, so it’s still gonna sound like us.”

“It sounds more like us than ever before. Maybe the other ones sounded less like us, but now, finally, we have emerged in our true form,” Dana adds jokingly.

“The next one will be even more like us until eventually, we make an album that is a glowing orb, and the orb is our souls.”

“We’ll only exist as waveforms,” Sam confirms, on board with the plan.

Two years of a pandemic has certainly not hampered the creative efforts of Porridge Radio. “It was an incredibly difficult few years, but it was also incredibly valuable,” Dana reflects on the time since ‘Every Bad’ was released. “It was very lucky that we had some time to just stop.”

Since it looks like nothing can stop the wheels from turning on this album, the band are excited to play live but are taking steps to ensure they look after themselves on their upcoming tour with plenty of rest, support and good food. “It would be nice to get to the end of a tour without having to collapse for weeks,” Dana chuckles while Sam nods knowingly.

‘Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky’ is not only a monolithic, emotional outpouring; it’s a pure expression of Porridge Radio in their current form. Just one of the many exciting steps in their journey to become glowing orbs. It’s nice to have goals, eh?

■ Porridge Radio’s album ‘Waterslide,

Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky’ is out 20th May.

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FEATURES

38. DORK

MXMTOON

All

mxmtoon is taking her music to new heights by delving deep and creating a guide for life.

WORDS: ABIGAIL FIRTH. PHOTOS: SARAH LOUISE BENNETT.

rise readdork.com 39.

FEATURES

HEN DORK FIRST met mxmtoon, she was 19, embarking on her first tour in support of her debut album ‘the masquerade’, which she’d made in her room, mostly just using the ukulele. She was a proud introvert, but never shy, and equally as comfortable answering personal questions over the phone as she was oversharing on social media.

Shortly after touching down back home when the tour ended, it became apparent she wouldn’t be jetting off on another one any time soon. The isolation of 2020 kept Maia locked away in her childhood bedroom. For a bedroom pop artist, that doesn’t sound like hell, but Maia knew she always wanted bigger than what her four walls would allow.

Releasing two EPs, ‘dawn’ and ‘dusk’, in 2020, she actually didn’t spend any of that year writing, rather just getting to grips with what the bloody hell was happening to the world and figuring herself out. As it became safer to travel in 2021, she started work on her follow up record ‘rising’.

A musical boomerang, it flings us a million miles from the defining mxmtoon sound, from timid uke-driven confessions to bright disco-pop bangers, but it lands right back where she started, answering the questions she asked on her debut. Delving into themes of life and death, coming of age and existing online, self-perception and how others perceive you too, ‘rising’ is deeply personal, shedding the lyrical mask but building sonic walls of electropop to hide behind.

What better reintroduction then, than ‘mona lisa’, with its opening lyrics about hiding behind the ink and pen? The track details Maia’s imposter syndrome and desire to see herself as enough, something she’s grappling with on her whistle-stop Europe - MX M TO O N trip.

“I’m doing all these interviews and, like, in Paris, I was all too aware of what I was wearing and how I presented myself. One dude called me unstylish,” Maia recounts. “I was like, this is freaking me out.

I just want to wear what I wear, which is pretty comfortable, plain clothing, like any person would wear - sneakers, leggings and a big t-shirt.”

That’s exactly what she’s wearing as we chat in her label offices. She’s just arrived in London and, like a true professional, cracked straight on with interviews.

“There are days where I’m like, is that enough for what I do? Being a musician that’s in the spotlight?

THIS PROJECT FEELS LIKE THE EMERGENCE OF UNDERSTANDING WHAT SORT OF SONGS I WANT TO MAKE FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME

I don’t want to change myself in any way, but there are days when I need to remember that I’m good enough as I am. That whole idea of wanting to be a Mona Lisa, do I need to be more to be perceived as beautiful? And I don’t; I can just be myself, but it has been a harder process to accept, and I’m not all the way there all the time. I think any person in the music industry probably looks at like, Dua Lipa, who writes amazing pop music and looks fabulous every single day of her life. I’m not her, and I will never be her. But you do wonder, do I need to be that in order to exist in this world?”

Granted, within a couple of hours, we’re in a studio getting ready to shoot the pictures for this feature, where Maia sits having her hair and makeup done while a stylist chooses from an assortment of poofy dresses and funky knitwear to pop-starify her. She’s happy to join in, the makeup artist

MXMTOON

commenting that Maia often does her own elaborate eyeshadow looks, but it’s hard not to wonder if she’d rather not have the fuss; it’s all still very new to her, after all.

It’s something she’ll have to get used to as she steers into poppier territory with ‘rising’. Gradually introducing more elements to her music over the past couple of years as she became more familiar with simply how to do so, the songs on ‘rising’ are the kind Maia always wanted to make.

“I definitely realised early on that my style of music was made on ukulele and with my voice, so I felt like there might be some preconceived notions that I would continue to do that on all of my projects going forward. And it’s not to say that I don’t like the ukulele - I still love it, and I still play it in my day to day life - but that music was made out of necessity because I didn’t know how to make music other than that.

“This project feels like the emergence of understanding what sort of songs I want to make for the very first time and doing it without thinking too

heavily about what people are going to expect of me.

Just making songs for the sake of making them and loving them and enjoying them.”

Returning to her family home in the California Bay Area at the start of the pandemic, Maia wound up digging through old CDs from her childhood. Old favourites like the soundtracks of Mamma Mia and Hairspray – which she admits she still knows every word to every song on each – and a compilation of children’s music titled ‘Free to be You and Me’. It was in those songs that she first found comfort in music and wanted to recreate that feeling in her own.

Favouring uber-catchy melodies, ABBA-esque piano, the occasional horn section, and lyrics that pull from actual nursery rhymes (“if you’re lonely and you know it, clap your hands and show it,” goes ‘dance’), she used ‘rising’ as a chance to indulge her inner child.

Thematically, ‘rising’ is influenced by (any

guesses?) the pandemic, more specifically, Maia trying to find herself during an incredibly confusing few years. Looking into her birth chart for answers, the record is based around the idea of being a Libra rising (that’s the sign that represents how other people view you, btw).

“I was looking into astrology a lot over the course of the pandemic because I feel like I was pretty lost and just trying to find explanations for why I was feeling certain ways, or just looking for some sort of way to understand what I was going through, maybe in a more spiritual sense. Looking at your ascendant sign is all about the person that you portray to the world around you and the mask that you wear, which is kind of poignant because I’ve made an entire album called ‘the masquerade’ too, so it’s always been a topic of conversation in my music.”

Throughout the writing of ‘rising’, Maia confronted her tendency to overshare online.

Growing up online was taking its toll, and after years of putting personal stories into songs and tweets in equal measure, it was time to take a step back.

As she watched her following grow, she became concerned with how much of her life she was sharing and the personality she was projecting, too. Her personal and professional lives had been intertwined since she was 12, and she needed to find who Maia was off the screen.

“I was talking about this yesterday with my manager. I was like, I think my brain is broken. I’m literally just destroyed from thinking about, how can my life exist as content for a day?” she confesses.

“It’s not healthy for your brain to be thinking about how can I tweet about a situation, or how can I make a TikTok trend video about something that I’m going through. I try not to be too hard on myself because I recognise that’s a part of my job, and it’s also something that I do enjoy sometimes, but I definitely recognise that being online, while I think is natural for people around our ages, is also not something that you should do every waking second of the day.”

She continues: “It’s this self-deprecation. It’s like you immediately want to make it a joke or something that other people can be like, ‘OMG, I totally relate to that’, but it’s like, hold on, that was an experience that you went through, how do you feel about that?

Not how can you make people laugh about it?”

It’s this holding back that gives us one of the most personal songs on ‘rising’. The track ‘florida’ recounts Maia’s trip to the state to visit her grandparents for her grandpa’s 81st birthday, just weeks before he passed away. It was a turning point; despite wanting to let her followers know she wasn’t in a good place and had lost a loved one, she channelled her emotions into creating and shared the song with family first, finding out how healing

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FEATURES

MXMTOON

music could be.

“I didn’t want his life to be summed up in 240 characters, so let me write a song about it instead. Being able to share it with my dad and having a moment with it was way way more productive for me and way more healing than any tweet could ever be. But I did have to stop myself for a second where, the moment I heard that he had passed, I was like, oh my god, I really wish that I could tell people. At that point, I was across the country from my parents, and so I couldn’t even give them a hug.

You really just want to find people that understand what it’s like to lose someone.”

For someone who’s only 21, Maia has been pondering getting older for her whole career. Finding it difficult to live in the moment, so to speak, she’s often looking back and into the future.

Caught between reminiscing on the past and being terrified of the future, she’s also been coming of age for her entire career and writing about it as it happens.

“So many of these songs from this album are about growing up and getting older and understanding where you are in your life with your age. What does your story become, and what will it be? I had two grandparents that passed away during the pandemic, and I had a lot of conversations with them about what they thought about their life; my grandmother got to her late 70s, and my grandpa was 81, but even at the end of their lifetime, they were like, ‘Oh God, I wish I had more time’, and I was like, wow, I’m 21, and I’m so tired already. I can only imagine getting so far down your life, and then you’re still like, oh there’s so many things that I want to do.

“A lot of the songs ended up having lyrics about getting older and my own story of growing up online and being a musician in the public eye, then also thinking about their experiences of being people who still feel like they’re 20 inside and wish that they had more time. That was definitely something that was really important in my brain, and family was very pivotal and what I was thinking about and needed throughout the pandemic.”

Some of the tracks on ‘rising’ end up mirroring songs on ‘the masquerade’, not intentionally, rather because Maia still has the same feelings and has grown into them. ‘seasonal depression’ on album one is responded to on ‘frown’, where Maia tells her old self it’s okay to be sad all of the time. Where ‘prom dress’ addressed feeling like you’ve missed out on teenage experiences,

Style

CLASH!

↓↓↓

Now, we’re not saying that mxmtoon is strictly in a ‘chart battle’ scenario with Harry Styles - but he has announced he’s releasing an album on the same day ‘rising’ lands. And you know what we’re like, Dear Reader. It’s nice to dream...

Oh, you’re fighting with Harry then!

I know! I didn’t know Harry Styles was supposed to release music man, I was just going off on my own schedule. Then he comes out of nowhere with an album.

I’m just like okay, well, it’s an impossible task, but maybe people will be willing to stream multiple pieces of music in the same day.

Yesterday it got announced, so we were like, who’s moving their date then?

I have literally no idea because we had this planned like he just beat me to it by a singular day. We had this one planned forever, which I’m sure he had planned forever as well. So it is what it is. I don’t make music like Harry Styles, so hopefully, I’ll fill another bucket that people can listen to. No, I could never outdo Harry, but I will be excited to listen to his project.went bust now.”

‘sad disco’ relishes in experiencing joy alone.

“I’ve definitely taken this back and forth conversation with a younger version of myself, gotten older and then made music for her. That way, she can understand how to navigate through life,” she says.

As the world returns to some sort of normality, Maia is preparing to tour again. She’s in London to play a small show at Omeara, picking up right where she left off as her last pre-pandemic live show was in London too, but the official ‘rising’ tour kicks off at the start of May. With two years away from the stage to grow, she’ll be bringing the fully formed version of mxmtoon around the globe this summer.

“I feel like some days I wish I was a little bit older when I first started off doing this,” she says, “because I think having to grow up with so many people watching you, it’s really not a normal experience. There are definitely pieces of me that think, did I miss out on what my life could have been? If I

had gone to university or just followed the pathway that I thought I would follow? But I think I’m in a place of acceptance now where I’m proud of the person that I’ve become in the process of this, and even though it has been hard and it’s gonna be weird. It’s just my reality and my story, and that’s okay. Nobody’s life is very standard in any way. I think it probably would have been weird in different ways if something else had happened.” ■

mxmtoon’s album ‘rising’ is out 20th May

HAVING TO GROW UP WITH SO MANY PEOPLE WATCHING YOU, IT’S REALLY NOT A NORMAL EXPERIENCE - MXMTO ON

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44. DORK

ALT-J

With one of the albums of the year so far under their belt, and a huge UK tour currently underway, alt-J’s legacy looks more assured than ever.

WORDS: JACK PRESS. PHOTOS: ROSIE MATHESON.

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OMETIMES, YOU’VE JUST got to

sit back and smell the roses. After ten years and four albums, a Mercury Prize win, and Number 1 hits, alt-J are living the dream. The trio have been tessellating their indierock with art-pop and folktronica since their debut ‘An Awesome Wave’ drowned out landfill indie like a tsunami in 2012.

While ‘An Awesome Wave’’s songs jumped from genre to genre, 2014’s ‘This Is All Yours’ and 2017’s ‘Relaxer’ tightened up the cogs for more concise efforts.

This year’s ‘The Dream’ opens the floodgates for twelve flights of fancy that owe as much to barbershop quartets and operas as it does The Beatles. But ten years on from ‘An Awesome Wave’, how do they feel its successors weigh up?

“I think ‘The Dream’ is a better album,” asserts keyboardist Gus UngerHamilton, juggling his thoughts with watching his child in a San Franciscan hotel room mid-tour. “But I also understand that ‘An Awesome Wave’ was super special for people. We’re well aware it’s our fans’ favourite album, but we were very young when we made ‘An Awesome Wave’ and were still figuring out what was what.”

Some pine for ‘Breezeblocks’ night after night, but alt-J look to the future.

While ‘The Dream’ is “more assured, and more mature” than anything before, it’s no guarantee for future form.

‘Relaxer’ divided fans like Marmite does the nation, whereas ‘The Dream’ has endeared the faithful once more. But they wouldn’t want it any other way; they find figuring out music’s mysteries fun.

“It doesn’t necessarily mean that our fifth album will be better than ‘The Dream’, it might just be that the stars aligned on this one, and maybe it’ll be our seventh or eighth album where we reach this form again, but it’s exciting. The ups and downs are part of the journey, and if we were chucking out 7 out of 10 albums each time that sounded vaguely similar, that wouldn’t U N G E R- H A M I LTO N be a very interesting band to be in.”

If they were looking to shake things up a bit, Covid19 came like dropping a Mentos in a Coke can for them. Breaking habits they’d built since ‘An Awesome Wave’, they had to shake up their studio rituals – but they weren’t even sure they’d make

“THAT LACK OF OUTSIDE STIMULATION DID MAKE US MORE STIMULATED ON THE INSIDE” - GUS

46. DORK

it that far at first.

“We went from planning everything and anything, and barring a major mishap, you knew something was going to happen. We could go ‘we’re going to go play in Manila in nine months’ time’, and suddenly we had no idea because we’re talking about variants of a disease; it’s all like something out of a disaster film. When you step back from it all, it’s like, ‘what the fuck is going on?’”

The break in routine came at the right time. Rather than hop in the studio with all their eggs in one basket, they got to go back and forth when they felt ready.

For the first time in a while, they weren’t pigeonholing themselves in any one sound. It also saved them from throwing in the towel.

“We had these breaks from the studio during lockdowns that let us have a bit of a mental reset and come back to the studio feeling hungry to be there again, rather than smashing all that in one long session,” reflects Gus, laughing at just how different the pandemic pushed alt-J to be. “We would’ve done that had there not been a pandemic and gotten to the point where we were all knackered and pissed off at each other, as often happens to us.”

While ‘Relaxer’ waded into internetera pop waters and swam the channel, ‘The Dream’ travels the world in eighty days (or twelve tracks, to be precise). In

fact, not being able to tour or take off on holiday meant they had to travel in different ways.

“We couldn’t travel anywhere, we were all stuck at home for two years basically, and I think that made us travel further in what we were doing musically in the studio. It was this armchair travelling thing where if we couldn’t go anywhere, we were doing what we could do, which was staying at home and experimenting with songs. I think that lack of outside stimulation did make us more stimulated on the inside.”

It wasn’t all bad. Wedging themselves in a studio sandwich between Hackney and Islington, feeding themselves on a deli they deny sharing the name of, they began to build ‘The Dream’ out of a need to escape. At a time when we were all locked in our rooms, they created a communal space both physically and spiritually, threading their family and friends through every track.

“My mum is on the album, Joe’s mum’s on it, Joe’s dad’s on it, my wife’s on it, my best friend who I grew up with arranged all the strings for the album.

That was a very nice thing for us to do.

It’s the kind of thing that doesn’t really matter to fans; to them, it’s just a voice or just a name. But to us, it’s a nice feeling of working with people who we love and saying thank you to them.”

Some of ‘The Dream’’s easter eggs

ALT-J

can be found through these moments, from popping to the shop and picking up a couple of Coke cans for their friend Lance to crack open at the start of opener ‘Bane’ to recording ice cream vans speeding past the studio. It’s an ode to appreciating the little things. But if you thought ‘The Dream’ was a lofty title with lofty ambitions, unlike its songs, it was a little less thought out.

“It’s quite an arbitrary title because we just couldn’t decide on a name. ‘The Dream’ was nobody’s favourite, but everybody’s third. My favourite was Tom’s least favourite, whereas we were all like ‘yeah, ‘The Dream’ is okay’,” he shrugs nonchalantly. “We realised afterwards that so many of these tracks are different types of dreams, whether literal dreams or broken dreams or aspirations or nightmares – we accidentally stumbled on the perfect title for the album.”

‘The Dream’’s subject matter is a therapy session for split personalities.

In fifty minutes, you’ll find out about the joys of drinking Coca-Cola (‘Bane’), the perils of cryptocurrencies (‘Hard Drive Gold’), the death of John Belushi (‘The Actor’), and the heartache of seeing those you love suffer through pain (‘Get Better’).

It’s the latter that’s truly transformed itself into something else. A skeletal acoustic number that nurtures itself with

gentle nourishment throughout, it takes influence from vocalist Joe Newman comforting his partner through period pains as much as it does the pandemic and its lyrics of cheering on frontline workers. It’s the song they couldn’t have sung in any other situation.

“A lot of it was written before the pandemic, but it took the pandemic to finish that song. I’m not gonna say that was good luck because it would seem inappropriate to talk about the pandemic in that way, but some pieces of art need a certain time to make them happen.”

‘Get Better’ has become an unlikely fan favourite, fostering a special relationship they haven’t seen since ‘An Awesome Wave’. It’s something their American tour has opened their eyes to in world-shattering ways, Gus explains.

“I know that song has become very personal to a lot of people. We met a fan the other day in Washington DC who wanted to meet us after the gig, waited for ages so we’d sign a poster of his grandmother who died of Covid, and he was extremely close to her, crying his eyes out. It was quite incredible to see the impact a single song had on someone.”

‘Get Better’ might have become a fan favourite, but Gus, Joe, and drummer Thom Sonny-Green had all but banished the track to album-only status.

“We had to stop the gig in Seattle

because somebody fainted, and we were standing awkwardly on stage, and some fans at the front shouted at us to play ‘Get Better’,” Gus laughs, finding it funny on reflection. “We were like, sorry, we’re not playing that song.

People kept asking for it.

“We were like, shit. We’d written off ‘Get Better’ as a live song because we were worried it would be what my wife calls ‘a talker’. And it probably would be, ‘cause the people who are there to have a good time, have a few drinks and jam to ‘Breezeblocks’ - they’re great, but when their attention wanders, they talk loudly and forget that maybe 50% of the audience wants to hear the song.

As artists, we take that as a sign that the song isn’t working.”

Since ‘An Awesome Wave’ sent them into the stratosphere, often at war with the music industry media but adored by listeners, they can lose sight of how far their sounds travel. ‘The Dream’, in many ways, has helped them land their feet back on the ground, giving them a purpose to their madness. It’s bought it full circle for them.

“When we were a band in university, we were writing for ourselves and never thought we’d have an audience beyond a few random people on MySpace. Now we’re aware we have a large audience, and we’re writing songs for them instead of ourselves.

“Sometimes you can get desensitised to it all because it’s almost too much to take in. I’ve read YouTube comments and things with people saying stuff like, they were hospitalised after a suicide attempt, and our song saved their life.

It’s such a huge thing to hear.”

Like spandex-donning superheroes, with great power comes great responsibility for bands like alt-J. But talking to fans after shows in America has cemented the purpose they serve once and for all – they’re not tessellating sounds; they’re tessellating meanings.

“When you really think about what that person has been through and what they’re telling you, it’s the biggest privilege in the world. Just knowing that one story is enough to make you realise you’ve made a difference to one person, and that’s an amazing thing.” ■ alt-J’s

album ‘The Dream’ is out now.

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ALL THE RELEASES YOU NEED TO KNOW (AND SOME YOU DEFINITELY DON'T)

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

Florence + The Machine

DANCE FEVER ★★★★

Out now. → Florence Welch reigns it in for nobody. That’s the lesson that runs through her fifth album, ‘Dance Fever’ - an outward explosion of kinetic energy that proves once and for all that, if it’s not broken, don’t try to fix it. Not too much, anyway.

It’s very easy to pick at Florence + The Machine’s trademark dynamics. Witchy, earthy, fairytale vibes delivered with a voice that could level a city block, being iconic should never be seen as a bad thing.

Opener ‘King’ sees Welch putting it all on the table, like the forced restraint of pandemic era lockdowns has left her with an excess of raw power to expel at the first possible opportunity.

Follow up ‘Free’ runs like a jackhammer, pounding at the walls as it smashes through to open fields. Though working with two ‘name’ producers - the now ubiquitous Jack Antonoff and Glass Animals’ Dave Bayley - there’s no doubt as to who is in control here. Both get the opportunity to add flourish or guide the path, but Welch is the one with her foot on the accelerator.

That’s not to say everything is all the way up to eleven.

‘Choreomania’ builds to its climax, questioning “you said rock and roll is dead, but is that just because it has not been resurrected in your image?” as it ascends into near religious euphoria. ‘Back In Town’ and ‘Girls Against God’ take a more serene route, but even they yearn for escape - the former based around a post-pandemic trip to New York, the latter promising “if they ever left me out, I’m gonna really let it out”. Even those quieter moments yearn for the bigger ones. Proof that absence can make the heart grow fonder, ‘Dance Fever’ is an album straining at its leash, dreaming of the freedom of the dancefloor.

Now it’s here, there’s no holding back. STEPHEN ACKROYD

48. DORK

mxmtoon RISING

★★★★★

Wallice ARTIST'S GUIDE.

90S AMERICAN SUPERSTAR EP

Inspired by her experience of growing up in LA, Wallice’s new EP sees her playing a fictional celebrity idol.

Wallice

massive collection of DVDs in their basement, which, of course, ended up being the genesis of this song. It’s a fun track– I want people to dance, sing along and just let go.

Rich Wallice

At this point in the EP, things start to take a darker turn. The tolls of success ★★★★ are starting to eat away Out now. at the character, and the → Fame is an consequences are showing. odd beast.

This song was born when I Everyone walked into Walmart in Utah knows it’s a on one of our writing trips. I double-edged saw a bunch of things that sword, and yet there’s little I wanted to buy, and I just less attractive than the said out loud, “I just want famous complaining about more money, I want to buy their lot. Wallice is smart, more stuff,” and my friend/ though. With ‘90s American producer David was like, Superstar’, she’s created a okay, well, I’ll write that down, contained world weaved and we will make it a song. around a fictionalised It comes at a place in this version of herself - one that EP where “I” have achieved gradually escapes their own grounded reality and skips “rich Wallice” status, kind off into the void as the story of losing track of reality develops. From the woozy and taking on some of the delusion of car crash ‘Rich bad characteristics of fame: Wallice’ to the dramatic full drinking too much, not caring stop of ‘Funeral’, it’s a about anything, not treating compelling tale as old as others well. Of course, there’s time, that still feels as fresh also a theme of wanting more as the spring daisies material wealth – there’s no STEPHEN ACKROYD need to be famous to know what that feels like. It’s a little but sometimes it’s okay to be bit of a modern sequel to a loser. I played cello on this ‘Rich Girl’ by Gwen Stefani track, an instrument that I (an icon of mine). studied for years growing up.

PHOTO: ANNA KOBLISH.

90S AMERICAN SUPERSTAR EP

I like to build characters with my music. This EP documents the journey of an American superstar.

From her origin story to her peak, to her decline and her rock star death, I wanted to explore the life cycle that we’ve all watched unfold on TV and social media a million times. I think there’s an honesty in her lack of self-awareness – demanding a camera crew at her funeral in the last track of the EP reveals a lot about the way this character thinks, whether or not she realizes it. By starting at the beginning, I tried to create someone who felt grounded. Over the course of the five tracks, she gets further and further from reality.

Little League

This track is about the cost of always wanting to be the best and letting competitiveness or the need to win take over your life. It can be hard to stop yourself– whether I’m bowling or playing a board game, it’s easy for me to get caught up in the heat of the moment. I wrote this with my longtime collaborator and dear friend marinelli at his studio in Silver Lake, Los Angeles. This is the only song on the EP that we made in LA. This is chapter one of my character’s story.

It’s their start of needing to win and be on top – and the eventual search for fame. I want people who relate to being sometimes way too competitive to not feel alone–

90s American Superstar

John Wayne

This is the part of the EP where the wheels In the EP’s broader arc, this is completely fall off. The the fun part. It’s the ascent to song is a meltdown from fame without the jadedness, a character who has been the calm before the storm. chewed up and spat out by This track is a break-up Hollywood. It’s also a diss song with a washed-up track to John Wayne. In my rock star. It’s filled with 90s visuals, I like to incorporate movie references in the first a lot of cowboy hats and verse and then gets more boots – John Wayne is, of personal in the second. I course, the quintessential also wrote this song with cowboy. Being inspired by marinelli, but this time at my him is complicated because grandparents’ house in Cedar he wasn’t exactly the best City, Utah. We like to bring guy... so I wanted to write him all our studio gear up there a diss track. We wrote this on and just camp out, write and the same Utah trip as ‘Rich record for a week at a time.

Wallice’ and ‘90s American My grandparents have this Superstar’. Originally it had a

different chord progression, but then I brought in Zach Abels and Mikey Margott from The Neighbourhood.

The three of us and marinelli reworked the song by just jamming over the vocals and coming up with new instrumentation in an organic way. Once we had a solid demo, we thought that these lyrics and melody lived more naturally over a band track.

So we rented a studio and invited my touring band to come over and play the song the same way we would at a show. It’s the only song on the EP where we live tracked a full band together – hopefully, you can feel the same energy you would at a concert.

Funeral

‘Funeral’ is the final track on the EP – we always knew it from when we first wrote the song. In the lyrics, I imagine a rockstar’s funeral. It’s a totally indulgent vision, with camera crews and a coffin carried in a muscle car. But that’s the point – it rounds out the narrative of the EP with the same melodramatic tone. The intro reminds me of walking down an old desert highway, kind of dragging your feet.

Then in the first verse, I meet the Grim Reaper. Death is around the corner. The pre-chorus and chorus try to shift the feeling of the funeral to something more fun, almost like a concert.

It’s my fantasy of a funeral. I imagined it like a party – an open bar, a pregame, and of course, rock and roll. It’s larger than life; it’s wanting to be so remembered and celebrated right to the bitter end. I’m really proud of the production on this song. I played cello on it, we recorded my friends playing saxophone, trombone, flute, trumpet, and, of course, this epic guitar solo at the end.

I hope this track feels as special to those who listen to it the first time as it does the 100th time. ■

Out: 20th May. → In truth, aren’t most of the albums we’ll get in 2022 at least in some way about healing?

After two years of heartache and heartbreak, locked doors and missed possibilities, if we’re going to partake in communal healing, mxmtoon is a more than worthy session leader. ‘rising’ is an album of remarkable resilience. In amongst a storm of the shitty stuff, Maia doesn’t shy away from the hard things. Instead, she finds a way to push through, never losing sight of the sunnier uplands ahead.

Unguarded, open and honest, ‘rising’ is both brilliant and important, for its author and those who will be touched by its impact. STEPHEN

ACKROYD

Static Dress

ROUGE CARPET DISASTER

★★★★

Out: 18th May. → Thank fuck we’re finally rid of all those ‘rock is dead’ think pieces, huh? With a new wave of vibrant voices pushing through the louder lens, socalled guitar music has rarely seemed in such healthy shape. That’s not to say it’s not in need of something, though. A touch of drama can create bands that truly matter - bands like Static Dress. Embracing narrative and storytelling, creating a world littered with Easter eggs, there’s a touch of My Chemical Romance to the way they so liberally colour both inside and outside the lines. One of the most exciting prospects around. STEPHEN ACKROYD

Tate McRae

I USED TO THINK I COULD FLY

★★★★

Out: 27th May. → With chart superhits already under her belt, Tate McRae may still just be 18-years-old, but it feels like we’ve been waiting for her debut album for an eternity. ‘I Used To Think I Could Fly’ is modern pop music through a typically broadly spread prism, but this is no surface level breeze through. With tracks like ‘Feels Like Shit’, ‘Chaotic’ and ‘Hate Myself’, it’s clear there’s more than a touch of introspection going on in the shadows. Rather than wallowing depression, though, Tate packs a sense of steely determination in the despair. ANDREW

WESCOTT

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Everything Everything

Porridge Radio

★★★★

★★★★★

WATERSLIDE, DIVING BOARD, LADDER TO THE SKY

RAW DATA FEEL

Out: 20th May. → Coming to life like a digital Frankenstein, art-rock mainstays Everything Everything have programmed their stunningly diverse and impossibly intricate new album, ‘Raw Data Feel’. The dawn of a new phase of experimentation for the Manchester four-piece, they stuff each track with perfect portions of infectious beats and deliciously complex melodies that make each listen completely fresh.

With the assistance of an A.I. counterpart, equipped with a million internet comments, literary works and LinkedIn’s terms and conditions in full, Everything Everything have achieved a new grade.

STEPHEN ACKROYD

PHOTO: MARTYNA WISNIEWSKA.

CONNOR FENTON

Out: 20th May. → Coming fresh off the back of ‘Every Bad’, their 2020 album that unexpectedly but deservedly made the Mercury Prize shortlist, Porridge Radio find themselves in a moment where the glare has never fallen quite so intensely upon them. It’s a pressure that undoubtedly will have impacted the creation of new full-length ‘Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky’, but not one that clips its wings. Like a diamond formed under a weight of expectation, instead it’s a concentrated form of everything that has made the band so special. Full of emotion and expression, their ascent isn’t over yet

L’objectif ARTIST'S GUIDE.

WE AREN’T GETTING OUT BUT TONIGHT WE MIGHT EP Saul Kane runs through the band’s second EP, from front to back.

Arcade Fire WE

★★★★ Out now.

→ Arcade Fire have never before found themselves in the place they did when launching their latest album, ‘WE’. With their last, the maximalist ‘Everything Now’, divisive, sometimes jarring and generally not what was expected from a group who’d always felt so organic and real, their sacred cow status was genuinely in doubt.

‘WE’ has no time for any of that. An album of connections and belonging, it taps into the mood of a planet that saw community thrown into chaos. Big, confident and playing to its strengths, this is the Arcade Fire than wins hearts and

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minds.

They haven’t fully disconnected from the social zeitgeist. An album split into movements and tracks, the two that make of opening thrust ‘Age of Anxiety’ very much understand the ills of the world around us, but where once sat fear now comes hope. ‘End of the Empire’, arriving in two tracks and four separate parts, swells in a way only Arcade Fire can.

Returning to their sonic roots, ‘WE’ sees each and every strand of the band bound together in perfect formation. Arcade Fire are back, and they’re brilliant.

STEPHEN ACKROYD

Same Thing

The opening track ‘Same Thing’ was originally just this bass line idea I had, and I expanded it from there.

I wanted to make a song that people can dance to and get moving to; when Ezra (Glennon, bass) got the groove down, I thought it definitely had potential.

I guess it’s got a bit of an attitude to it, so I thought it would be a good way to open the EP.

Get Close

‘Get Close’ was a song that just poured out of me in one go; all the sections came naturally. It’s very introspective lyrically; I felt like I was dusting off some existential worries. The chorus felt like one of the poppier moments in the EP,

though, which I didn’t mind.

are about, but with this one, I think each section in the song is about a different Feeling Down stage in someone’s life and ‘Feeling Down’ was how the perspective changes completely different to as they grow older, but it’s up anything we have done before. I was listening to a lot to anyone’s interpretation. of hip-hop at the time and all the samples they used, Thought It Was but I didn’t know how to do Real that, so I just sampled my The final track, ‘Thought It own voice. Saves copyright Was Real’, is the oldest on problems, I guess. It’s a the EP. It felt right to end it depressing love song; seems with this one; it’s a ballad, to be a common theme in our but a ballad that builds and music now, to be fair. builds to breaking point.

It’s the only song we really have that’s built around the To Be Honest piano, so the lyrics are more ‘To Be Honest’ was the last vulnerable. I forget about this song written on the EP. It’s song because it was written the most indie guitar band so long ago, but when I hear moment of the EP. Took it, it takes me back to the a while to perfect, but we time in my life it was made are definitely proud of how and everything I was feeling it turned out. Sometimes I then. don’t know what my songs

L’objectif

WE AREN’T GETTING OUT BUT TONIGHT WE MIGHT EP

★★★★

Out: 22nd April. → Leeds’ youngest post-punk band follow up their gritty debut EP with an effervescent record that immediately reinvigorates a sense of excitement in the group. On ‘We Aren’t Getting Out But Tonight We Might’, L’objectif inspire feelings of familiarity one moment while being entirely unrecognisable the next.

The electronic quaking of opener ‘Same Thing’ bursts into a rumbling guitardriven jangle soon joined by moody, casually-delivered performance from frontman Saul Kane. Twisted vocals and an explosion of fresh production shine through ‘Feeling Down’, while ‘To Be Honest’ boasts feisty riffs fleshing out a playful fourminute thrasher. Closing up with a last-ditch expression of frustration, these quick five tracks provide another short but sweet taste of L’objectif’s vast talent and potential. If you’re already a fan, take a step forward in their journey; if not, tune in for something special.

FINLAY HOLDEN

Rachel Chinouriri ARTIST'S GUIDE.

BETTER OFF WITHOUT EP

A break-up plotted across four tracks, Rachel Chinouriri gets real as she explains her latest collection.

All I Ever Asked

in the best way a five year relationship could end. If it didn’t happen this way, one of us would’ve fallen out of love and then we would lose respect for each other.

He had already fallen out of love with me a long time ago and I could see it in how he Better Off treated me, and I didn’t want Without to hold anger in my heart, So this is where the sadness so I left and acknowledged comes in. All my friends and he needs help without me. family can see the difference This isn’t an “I hate you” but in me since leaving my last no one truly understands a relationship but it doesn’t relationship unless you’re in make anyone in this a bad it, and it’s a gentle reminder person, we just were not to him of why I left and meant for each other. We hopefully he can forgive were such extremes of me. When I finished this we each other so that’s why were still friends and now we attracted I think. I’m the EP is out we don’t talk at an extrovert and he was all, so this EP truly feels like an introvert. When I see an entire chapter of my life how far I’ve come and how being handed to the world, my gut instinct was right and I can move on and begin in the third year of our the next chapter of my life relationship, I just felt we without him. wasted so much time. Not only am I better off without him, he’s better off without me. He robbed me of a lot of joy but I robbed him of being able to find it alone Happy Ending which I think he needed. I I see this song as a reflection of what happened have an issue of trying to help people too much and in my relationship. When not let people figure it out you’re with someone for themselves. I’d throw 100 so long (I was in it for five solutions, but maybe he just years) you start to forget life without them. The thing needed some patience. I’ve figured out my happiness is here, as heartbroken as I was, I’m the one who pulled and I pray that in a few years the plug. So in a way I’m like, he figures out his. do I owe you anything when you robbed me of a happy Fall Right Out Of ending? His behaviour didn’t Love make me feel happy like I This is an end to quite a used to be so I felt like it left journey. This is a reflection me no choice. This is kind of the entire relationship of like, “I told you I’d leave and realising it is done but This EP is essentially a timeline of me before, during and after my break up, but I didn’t know it. It’s been a journey and it all began here. I was still in my relationship at this point but I was frustrated. I was in the studio and got a call from my best friends and only had a few minutes and I could tell something was up. She told me her partner just broke up with her while he was away in Paris and this fuelled the destiny of this entire song. I came back and just put myself in my friend’s shoes (which I do a lot) and wrote it. I have a lot of empathy but fall short at sympathy, so I felt I could really understand the emotions my friend went through but didn’t want the song to sound like I was “wallowing” in sadness. The chorus is quite liberating and it’s one I’ll always hold dearly to my heart.

but you didn’t believe me”.

It’s the moment when you feel relief when you leave a situation you know you should’ve left ages ago, but the sadness and regret hasn’t hit me at this point.

Rachel Chinouriri

BETTER OFF WITHOUT EP

★★★★ Out now.

→ From the opening moment of first track ‘All I Ever Asked’, Rachel Chinouriri proves her mettle as both one of indie’s greatest hopes and current sparkling gems. Emotive, emotional and resonant, it’s the opening gambit for an EP that wears the difficult times on its sleeve. ‘Happy Ending’ and title track ‘Better Off Without’ both deal with the conflicting emotions of a break-up, while closer ‘Fall Right Out Of Love’ manages to find perspective and a sense of closure. Heartbreakingly raw but brilliantly delivered, Rachel Chinouriri is a star.

STEPHEN ACKROYD

Just Mustard HEART UNDER

★★★★

Horsegirl

VERSIONS OF MODERN PERFORMANCE

Out: 27th May. → Irish fivepiece Just Mustard return with their stunning second album. Masters of atmosphere, it sees the band refine their craft, showing that while they can perfect a woolly ambiance, they can just as easily and skilfully cut through with striking precision and flair. ‘Heart Under’ brings a certain heaviness, with a potent sense of yearning.

Frontwoman Katie Ball’s pure vocals stand out, with her ethereal crooning creating special moments across the album. Instrumentally, there’s an impressive exploration of sound too, with often unconventional techniques making their mark throughout. With gentle vocals and often minimal accompaniment, it’s easy to get lost in ‘Heart Under’’s sombre intensity. MELISSA

★★★★

Bear’s Den

SOAK

DARRAGH

BLUE HOURS

★★★

Out now. → Bear’s Den are just a lovely sort of band. A palate cleanser for a rough day; smatterings of sweetly mellow piano and guitar blend into a stress antidote.

The folk duo certainly have their craft down to a tee, managing to balance the soft-handed touch of their twee DNA with a deft bite that gives it a little kick up the backside. It’s hard to take any issue with ‘Blue Hours’, but therein lies a part of the problem. Everything coalesces to make something doe-eyed, but it does little else to push forward. The melodies ring luscious, and the words sit pretty as emotional vantage points, hoping you resonate with them. If you do, great. If not, it can feel a bit aimless.

STEVEN LOFTIN

fanclubwallet

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME

★★★

Out: 20th May. → In a world that’s shouting ever-louder, sometimes it’s nice to take a break and find a bit of quiet, particularly in the kind of place that feels like a daydream. Soaking in a warm bath surrounded by genteel noises that flit between Gameboy and 00s twee, newcomer Han Judge - the brainchild behind Fanclubwallet’s twinkling, lofi sounds - has finally found a way to get the words off her chest. With a charming embrace that feels familiar comes a heart of gold, and a wit to match. Certainly, at twelve tracks ‘You Have Got To Be Kidding Me’ feels like it lopes on a little bit too long given the steady tempo and light touch, but when things are already a bit manic everywhere else, there’s nothing wrong with soaking in the sun for a bit longer than needs be. STEVEN

LOFTIN

Out: 3rd June. → Welcome to the vampish cult of Horsegirl.

It’s all rainy days, burgundy hues and grungy basements in their sonic sphere. They’re a deft hand at hypnotism – from the first notes of ‘Anti-glory’, they have you cast under their ghoulish spell. Scuzzy and unpolished, this is Horsegirl at their rawest, truest selves. They never shy away from distorted meandering instrumentals, embracing eery moments of pause amidst freneticism.

Enveloping and inescapable, ‘Versions of Modern Performance’ is the kind of album that to lose yourself in time and time again.

NEIVE MCCARTHY

IF I NEVER KNOW YOU LIKE THIS AGAIN

★★★★

Out: 20th May. → We’ve just survived two unforgettable years, but how much do you actually remember?

SOAK has chronicled their pandemic in the form of song-memories on their third album, ‘If I Never Know You Like This Again’.

Fuelled by a fear of forgetting, it’s a microscopic documentation of even the banalest of experiences.

Every track strikes a chord, whether lamenting homesickness in ‘red-eye’ or struggling to endure the slowness of an uneventful year in ‘purgatory’. Razorsharp in its honesty, it’s never been so easy to peer into an individual’s mind.

CONNOR FENTON

Mallrat

BUTTERFLY BLUE

★★★★ Out now.

→ “How can you give me butterflies then tie them up in knots?” asks Mallrat on ‘Heart Guitar’, the sixth track on her debut ‘Butterfly Blue’. It’s a visceral question that is at the core of the album.

‘Butterfly Blue’ finds itself at a crossroads – between the ethereal and delicate, the butterfly taking flight, and the edgy, unexpected darkness of those gossamer wings. Mallrat, aka Grace Shaw, is making mammoth pop with a multitude of hidden depths, and this is the musical spreading of her wings. It’s irresistible and sees Mallrat solidify herself as an unstoppable force.

NEIVE MCCARTHY

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Jordana F Q+A.

ROM BEDROOM POP TO STUDIO BOPS, JORDANA’S NEW ALBUM ‘FACE THE WALL’ SHOWS POTENTIAL REALISED IN GRAND STYLE. WE DROPPED HER A FEW QUESTIONS TO FIND OUT MORE.

PHOTO: POONEH GHANA.

When did you begin work on your new album, what was the starting point?

I had technically started working on ideas for an album around the beginning of 2021 with Jef Melvin (co-prod.

‘Something To Say To You’).

Then I began working with Cameron Hale a little more after a song we did with Ryan Woods called ‘Doubt of Revival’. We got to work on some of the ideas Jef, and I made that we didn’t know where to take, plus some new tracks.

Mysie

RECOMMENDED RELEASES

JOYRIDE EP

★★★★ Out now.

→ With an Ivor Novello already long under her belt, Mysie’s rise is far from its embryonic stages. On the strength of new EP ‘Joyride’, it’s easy to see why such acclaim would flow towards her with such magnetic attraction.

From its opening title track, her latest collection moves with such effortless ease it’s infectious.

Drawing influence wide and far, fragments are mixed and matched into a heady indie soul brew, pleasingly progressive but reassuringly familiar.

From the smooth as silk bop of ‘Gin and Juice’ to the warm, slow burn of ‘Fade’, each song packs a different wow factor.

Those glittering prizes aren’t about to dry up any time soon. STEPHEN

ACKROYD

Charlie Hickey NERVOUS AT NIGHT

★★★★

Out: 20th May. → If you listen to Charlie Hickey speak, you’ll quickly learn of his love of some of the iconic alternative singer-songwriters. While some of that adoration might be cast upon his label boss Phoebe Bridgers, Elliott Smith’s influence is audible in the best possible way on debut album ‘Nervous At Night’. At times big, at others delicately intimate, it’s all tied together by Charlie’s ability to distil experiences down to perfect moments. An uncommon trait that makes this first taster both identifiable and essential listening.

ANDREW WESCOTT

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MAKE SURE YOU CHECK OUT THESE ALBUMS AND EPS.

Charli XCX

CRASH → Tight, focused and moving with dangerous intent, ‘Crash’ is Charli XCX’s main character moment.

Alfie Templeman MELLOW MOON

★★★★★

Out: 26th May.

→ Long-standing members of this parish will be familiar with Dork’s habit of referring to young Alfie Templeman as a prince in line to indie’s glittering throne. Since his earliest manoeuvres, Alfie has had that certain something; an assured talent that was surely building to something great.

Well, Dear Reader, we’re finally here. Though he’s already dropped several EPs stuffed to the rafters with brilliant bops, debut album ‘Mellow Moon’ showcases a subtly different Alfie Templeman.

Emotions bubble beneath the surface, elevating what might sound like breezy songs to higher plains. Every

moment of self-discovery and acceptance comes with a sense of empowerment.

‘3D Feelings’ stomps with equal parts indie disco and flamboyant funk, while ‘Galaxy’ blips, bloops, plinks and plonks with a genuine strop. ‘Candyfloss’, meanwhile, is Dua Lipa, if Dua Lipa was actually Alfie Templeman.

Those rawer thoughts do offer up some musical brilliance, though. ‘Take Some Time Away’ swells with a Bond-like grandness, while closer ‘Just Below The Above’ - delivered on an acoustic guitar - is a true showstopper. Nobody ever said Alfie was a onetrick pony. Someone find that crown. STEPHEN ACKROYD

Thomas Headon

VICTORIA EP → Fast pushing through the pack of main alt-pop boys, Thomas Headon’s new EP ‘Victoria’ is a lesson in how to play the game to perfection.

Catchy, immediate and packed with joyful abandon, its youthful exuberance spills out.

The title, ‘Face The Wall’, can be interpreted in a few ways - what meaning do you take from it?

For me right now, ‘Face The Wall’ means acknowledging my flaws and all of the things I don’t like about myself in order to learn and grow to love myself. Sometimes though, in a literal sense, it means to face the wall and try to cry like I’m in time out, but add 10 cups of numbness to it!

You’ve released a couple of EPs since your debut. Did those help you figure out what you wanted to do with this next record?

It honestly inspired me to expand even more, get out of my comfort zone, and actually try some things I’ve always wanted to try. Like belting, and ripping violin solos totally hoping it’ll be received well…

Notions...’?

Oh, yeah, entirely different!

I recorded that album in Garageband, and now I’ve been in studios working with talented producers who have helped me make the music I’ve always wanted to make. I was wary about involving other people in the creative process because I wanted to prove to myself I could do it on my own, but when you’re in a room with people who get your vision, it’s an emanating understanding.

It opened me up for sure.

What’s your favourite instrument to play? Is there anything you haven’t mastered yet you’d like to?

I’d say baritone uke. Just cause it’s like two-thirds of a guitar. Easier to play, harder to find! And the banjo! I’ve always wanted to play the banjo…not quite sure what’s stopping me… I’m gonna do it!

What do you most enjoy writing songs about at the moment? Are there any themes you’re repeatedly drawn to?

Right now, the overall vibe is both heartbreak and emotional confrontation of past scenarios that I’m attempting to ease me ole noggin on. I guess you could say it’s going swimmingly, but I only know how to doggy paddle…

What do you get up to when you’re not working on your music?

I love to kiss my sweet pooch Ducky, and I also love to play video games.

You’ve got tours coming up with two of our favourite acts, Remi Wolf and Wallows - are you already pals?

I had only recently met Remi in person - we have some mutuals in LA! I have How did you find the process of pulling this album never met the Wallows boys, though… I’ll be seeing them together? It must’ve been pretty different to ‘Classical very soon!

Jordana

FACE THE WALL

★★★★

Out: 20th May.

Wallows

TELL ME THAT IT’S OVER → Wallows have an innate ability to make any day that little bit sunnier just for hearing one of their songs, and it’s a trait that runs right through the centre of their second album.

→ When Jordana first arrived, it was her bedroom pop chops that made her an artist of note. Crafting songs through GarageBand that showed talent that stretched the four walls of her room, the potential was scary. On ‘Face The Wall’, that promise is fulfilled, and then some. From opener ‘Pressure Point’ - a Polachek level bop injected with a dose of realness - it’s an album that loses none of

Jordana’s inherent charm, but dials everything else up to the maximum. ‘Play Fair’ stomps like a lo-fi Goldfrapp buried under dirty laundry, while ‘Go Slow’ drifts on the breeze with addictive ease.

It’s ‘To The Ground’ that really stands out though; a glistening gem that’s unafraid to get a bit dirty in the mud, it’s the kind of sleeper hit that takes hold way after the lights fade.

STEPHEN ACKROYD

THE BEST OF LIVE MUSIC STRAIGHT FROM THE FRONT.

Wet Leg are rewriting the rule book Electric Ballroom, London. 26th April 2022 PHOTOGRAPHY: Alice Backham.

→ TWELVE MONTHS AGO, if you’d have asked who Wet Leg are, it’s likely that 99% of people would have looked back with confused eyes. Tonight, they find themselves filling Electric Ballroom to capacity, already a show that feels almost criminally too small. That’s what happens when you capture something bigger than any mere hype act could conceive. With sceptics firmly cast aside and a Number 1 album under their belt, this isn’t about a coronation. Instead, it’s one of the wildest shows of the year from a band rewriting expectations as they go.

That rapid growth plays perfectly into their live show. While most bands evolve with life on the road, Wet Leg haven’t lost any of their unique spirit. That sense of playful fun is there from the first note of ‘Being In Love’. An early airing of ‘Wet Dream’ is sung back word for word by the packed crowd in front of them, while ‘Supermarket’ and its yodelling hooks have arms in the air, embracing the sort of party atmosphere that puts smiles on faces with a click of the fingers.

After all the anticipation, Wet Leg’s selftitled debut album – and the wild success accompanying it – sets the stage in the boldest font possible. Rich and varied with pulls from early-00s indie at one moment and more textured American alt-rock the next, live it becomes a jaw-dropping display that refuses to let go. ‘Piece Of Shit’ and

54. DORK

‘Obvious’ – an unreleased track, much like ‘I Want To Be Abducted (By A UFO)’, that fits perfectly within their set without breaking a sweat – are another arrow to their already formidable bow. Fizzing energy bursts from ‘Too Late Now’, the electric pits that emerge, but an opening gambit. ‘Oh No’ is a whirlwind of limbs and flashing lights, while ‘Ur Mom’ may fast be becoming a standout favourite with effortless pop harmonies and hilarious one-liners. And the scream?

Electric Ballroom takes that to wallcrumbling levels. Sometimes it can seem so simple, but it’s anything but – Wet Leg are simply built differently.

A band with a level of presence that makes them one of the best nights out in the country, if not the world right now, the reaction leaves them speechless. Searing through the overflowing ‘Angelica’, it sets the stage for a true moment. 2021’s Song of the Year contender ‘Chaise Longue’ drives the Electric Ballroom to pandemoniumlevel scenes with a new degree of fire. The extra spark cements their place as capable of defining an era.

Tonight, Wet Leg prove just why they’re a league above, and – more importantly – why this is nowhere near the peak of how big they’re going to become. Rising to the very top in a manner that bands simply don’t do anymore, the Wet Leg takeover continues – and what fun it is. JAMIE MUIR

readdork.com 55.

Sam Fender’s hot streak continues Brighton Centre, Brighton. 30th March 2022 PHOTOGRAPHY: Patrick Gunning.

→ NOT JUST COMING into his own over the past 18 months, but breaking away from the pack to lead his own revolution – there may not be an artist better at soundtracking our times right now than Sam Fender. Brighton Centre is a large venue, but in comparison to his summer of festival headliners, huge outdoor moments (Finsbury Park, anyone?) and even bolder plans for the future, it almost feels intimate.

“It’s fucking mental; this is the ‘small show’ of the tour,” laughs Sam. It sets the vibe for the night – from the opening electric refrains of ‘Will We Talk?’ and ‘Getting Started’, it’s clear that Brighton Centre is fit to burst. Bar staff gather at balcony doors to catch a glimpse of a guy leading his band through a triumphant set.

When tracks like ‘The Borders’ hit, they do so in a way that overflows with every emotion. Wearing his

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heart firmly on his sleeve, he finds celebration in catastrophe and freedom in the face of fear.

The ferocious, almost uncontrollable rage of ‘Spice’ and ‘Howdon Aldi Death Queue’ are wild garage-rock sizzlers, and when Sam cuts deep, it’s like he’s able to put into words what many of us live through. ‘Dead Boys’, a song that took a deeply personal moment in his own life and was grasped by so many, comes early in the set tonight – setting the bar for a set that’s emotional and euphoric in equal measure. Whilst his debut brimmed with confidence, follow-up ‘Seventeen Going Under’ kicks that up a gear. ‘Get You Down’ stops everyone in their tracks, while ‘Spit Of You’ harnesses a collective singalong. ‘The Borders’ lays a tale that reaches beyond that, and ‘Play God’ bubbles with menacing energy.

Punctuated by tales of meeting

fellow Geordies in Japan and walking past the venue with his band after playing The Great Escape in years gone by, wondering if they’d ever play such a stage, tonight is the fully-formed result.

Sam is a songwriter who has captured a mood and feeling in a country all so often torn apart, shown effortlessly with main set closer ‘The Dying Light’, a snapshot of a lonely lad at the pub on last orders dreaming of tomorrow.

Sam at Brighton Centre proves his game-changing levels. When he steps back out to play ‘Saturday’ and the sold-out room sings back at him, it means something. As ‘Seventeen Going Under’ rings out and fans clamber on shoulders to revel in its soaring hooks, it means something. As ‘Hypersonic Missiles’ kicks into another gear, confetti and all, it means something. Sam Fender is becoming an essential artist for our times. JAMIE MUIR

5SOS are still arena ready SSE Arena Wembley, London. 6th April 2022 PHOTOGRAPHY: Frances Beach.

→ HOW LONG HAVE we been in a pandemic? Long enough for Aussie alt-pop hotties 5 Seconds of Summer to release an album, announce a tour for it, indefinitely push it back, have two of their members release solo projects, record a whole new album and resume touring that instead.

Phew, all in a day’s work.

This tour marks the group’s proper return to arenas – pre-pandemic they played to theatres in support of 2018 comeback record ‘Youngblood’, hailing a new, more mature direction that was well received, but needed breaking in. They did exactly that on follow up ‘CALM’.

Cutting their teeth supporting pop titans One Direction, 5SOS have always written tunes built for arenas, and it’s clear that’s where they’re meant to be. Opener ‘No Shame’ hits hard, and runs into a buffet of big singles and album cuts – ‘Easier’, ‘More’, ‘Want You Back’ and debut EP favourite ‘Disconnected’.

Slicker than ever, the boys slide between bangers, barely coming up for air between tracks, merging eras and morphing sounds so there’s rarely a lull in the 90 minute set.

Perhaps it’s because they’re trying to cram in as many hits as possible (there’s bloody loads), or just because they’re older now, but the days of clowning around on stage seem to be long gone.

Where in their early years, the space between songs was filled with Blink182-style banter, it’s been replaced by meaningful speeches and reminiscing on those early days.

During frontman Luke’s speech, he talks about the first time they played in London a decade ago – they’ve been looking back on their beginnings a lot lately, releasing 10th anniversary tune ‘2011’ last year to commemorate. Guitarist Michael asks who was there at the last 5SOS Wembley show, when his hair caught fire and they were touring their second album. He’s met with screams aplenty and gives a “fucking hell” in disbelief.

If there’s one thing 5SOS have never lost, it’s the fan loyalty. It’s apparent from the word go that the boys would not have to work hard to get a reaction tonight. Luke could’ve stayed off the mic all night and they’d have filled in the silence.

Still, the fun of those early shows isn’t all gone, neither is the pop punk love. “Y’all mind if we do 15 minutes of pop punk?” Michael announces before ripping through ‘2011’, ‘Castaway’ from ‘Sounds Good Feels Good’, and ending up on debut single ‘She Looks So Perfect’, which they’ll ceremoniously perform until the end of their days (much like Miley Cyrus does ‘Party In The USA’). There’s power in owning your early material,

especially when it was initially shunned for not being ‘real’ enough.

Never fully shedding the ‘boyband’ skin, they still garner screams any pop act would be envious of, but their live show is the best it’s ever been. Ten years of performing together – and probably a welcome break from it during the pandemic – has done its job.

As their catalogue plays out through the evening, the enormity of their sound makes sense.

Throughout the years, they’ve been influenced by a variety of huge hitters – the pop punk angst of Green Day and Blink-182, the synth driven 80s sound of The 1975, the belting pop melodies of One Direction. As they prepare to release their fifth full-length, the tracks take a turn into wide open choruses and the kind of lighters-in-the-air ‘woah’ing that Coldplay are good at.

After two years of being locked up, the new material (‘Complete Mess’, ‘Take My Hand’ and unreleased ‘Easy For You To Say’) sounds made for live shows, and is met with as much enthusiasm as the big smashes they’re sandwiched between.

To call a gig a triumph can be a bit cliche, but what else are you meant to call a roaring return to Wembley?

5 Seconds of Summer sound like they’re in it for the long haul.

ABIGAIL FIRTH readdork.com 57.

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Mitski offers up the most bonkers pop show there’s been in years Roundhouse, London. 28th April 2022 PHOTOGRAPHY: Patrick Gunning.

→ WHEN MITSKI WRAPPED up touring

‘Be The Cowboy’, the 2018 record that catapulted her to indie stardom, she announced she’d be bowing out of the music industry. Thank god she didn’t.

Returning to the stage with her comeback album ‘Laurel Hell’, Mitski remains a force, flitting between the intricately choreographed numbers of her recent albums and her frantic, guitardriven earlier work.

Opening on ‘Love Me More’, its chorus begs in a way Mitski needn’t. When she hits the stage, the screams could rival those of pop superstars, not to mention the hours of queuing fans have done outside, wrapping the Roundhouse and into Camden. Although often nursing a difficult relationship with her fanbase – her reluctance to succumb to celebrity rivalling her fans’ adoration – there’s no doubting her connection to them on her return tour.

Still, there’s something detached about her performance. She rarely interacts with the audience besides to ask if they’re feeling good, and later to profess her love in return. Instead, she favours rattling through a set comprised of material spanning her decade long career. Particularly special moments like ‘Your Best American Girl’, which prompts swaying arms and phone lights in the air, and ‘Washing Machine Heart’, where Mitski invites everyone to join her in “live karaoke”, feel like Mitski breaking character and letting her guard down.

While a recent tweet about how she would prefer concert goers to not record entire songs ruffled a few feathers, it’s largely taken on board. Phones remain

down for most of the show, aside from the performance of sleeper hit ‘Nobody’, which has everyone pulling out their devices.

Mitski’s shows deserve to be seen in real-time, though. There’s not really any other performer like her. From the way that she combines her signature avant grade choreography with erratic pacing around the stage, to the obvious emotional release of every song performed, often disappearing into a cloud of smoke when she finishes each one, everything feels intentional, but somehow intuitive too.

When we reach ‘Working For The Knife’, Mitski is completely obscured by smoke and pink light, a perfect nod to how she values her privacy for a track that expresses her hesitance to perform, and the one which ended her could’ve-been early retirement. By the end of the show, it seems like Mitski is glad she didn’t give it all up too.

With an even bigger show lined up tomorrow at Brixton Academy, and a slot supporting Harry Styles on his stadium tour later this year, Mitski might be shying away from the spotlight but she is firmly in it. And for good reason too. For all the Björk and Kate Bush comparisons, she’s in her own lane, and this is the most bonkers pop show there’s been in years.

When Mitski performs, it’s so clear the stage is where she’s meant to be.

On ‘Working For The Knife’ she sings “I always thought the choice was mine, and I was right, but I just chose wrong”; there’s plenty of people who’d disagree with that tonight. She might’ve been a pioneer of the sad girl wave in music, but tonight she brings so much joy to the Roundhouse.

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Opus Kink, Malady and L’objectif bring communal spirit to Dork’s Night Out x The Great Escape showcase 100 Club, London. 21st April 2022 PHOTOGRAPHY: Patrick Gunning.

George Ezra, the last true bop’n’roller The Palladium, London. 12th April 2022 PHOTOGRAPHY: Patrick Gunning.

→ BY THIS POINT a national treasure up there with David Attenborough and that lad who does TikToks about trains, George Ezra‘s loveable brand of mesmerising tales and heartwarming honesty has set him apart as one of the biggest names in British music.

Returning to the stage in the grand halls of the London Palladium, tonight’s comeback feels like an unveiling at his next insatiable chapter. The show being delayed by a late bout of chickenpox only adds to how grateful he is to be back doing what he loves most, and his set shimmers with everything that makes our Geoff a cut above. At times a campfire singalong, at times a bonafide superstar – he straddles the balance in a way that acknowledges his festival-topping status while still feeling like each person gathered is along for the ride with him.

It’s bubbling from the off.

‘Anyone For You’ already feels like a classic Ezra rider, while ‘Get Away’ and ‘Barcelona’ are a perfect distillation of the jumping throws

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to George’s game: arms in the air moments matching effortlessly with ripped raw bedside tales.

When his last album, ‘Staying At Tamara’s’, took off, his quick rise to festival headliner status was one he nailed perfectly – but with added time and warning, his show has grown leaps and bounds into one that knows the big-time places he’s about to conquer.

Dropping ‘Pretty Shining People’ and ‘Listen To The Man’ early in the set is a moreish offering that sets the tone for what’s to come.

It’s George, and it’s us – and that combination is a surefire route to good times.

Not missing a step despite almost three years away, there’s pleasure in the comfort. A hot water bottle of hits, it’s also a night that shows the breadth of his style. ‘Saviour’ is a gospel-tinged late-night ode, ‘Did You Hear The Rain?’ is a rollicking beast of a cinematic soundtrack and ‘Hold My Girl’ is a tear-jerking communal singalong. Every moment is wrapped around him, front and centre on stage, telling stories of what made these songs real.

Aside from the opening single, the only other taste of George’s hyped upcoming third album is ‘Green Green Grass’ – a sugarsweet pop banger that could have been made from the desk of the biggest superstar DJs. With a backstory based on celebration in the face of death, it’s the ridiculous hit that’ll catapult his ascent even higher, with a chorus born for radio spins and summer montages.

‘Paradise’ has fans lifted from their West End seats, while ‘Blame It On Me’ has shuffling adulation from fans across the age pool.

His ability to connect all of them is a rare skill, reaching across generations purely as a great human being that serves up tracks that snapshot everyday life.

‘Cassy’O’ punches directly, while in ‘Budapest’, George has the sort of peerless track that unites one and all.

Trading in escapism and universal hopes, tonight at the Palladium sees George Ezra return in a way that makes it feel like he’s never been away. The last true bop’n’roller is back, and it’s a very big deal indeed. JAMIE MUIR

→ IT’S THE MOST wonderful time of the year! No, we’re not talking about Christmas (though we definitely used that line then, too) – it’s The Great Escape season, after three years away. As news of the final schedules for three days of new music scavaging land, it falls to your trusty friends at Dork to bring an official warmup to London’s legendary 100 Club in style.

Already achieving potential indie superstar status, L’objectif‘s first-on set is a revelation. Even bolder and brighter on the live stage and with a surefire confidence to their every move, they wrap The 100 Club in a warm glow.

In intimate settings, the likes of ‘Same Thing’, ‘Do It Again’ and ‘Drive In Mind’ are emphatic, commanding the stage in a manner that recalls festival headliners (Arctic Monkeys) and long-held favourites (Fontaines D.C., Blaenavon) alike. Frontman Saul Kane truly comes into his own, leading his comrades to no-nonsense heights. If this band don’t have diehard devotion and moshpits at every stage they come to in the next 12 months, we’ve all failed. L’objectif are the real deal.

In their first live set since November – and first with a brand new drummer – Malady are the talk of the town.

Effortlessly blending rave and pop at one moment, then crushing indie and punk at the next, it’s a jaw-dropping display of a band that stand apart from the rest. ‘Famous Last Words’ and ‘Round The Bend’ may

have arrived at different stages of a mixed-up world over the past few years, but there’s a line that holds it together.

Finding the rapturous moments of release in every detail, they build an all-encompassing world of sound that spins The 100 Club into their personal dance floor. Reminding everyone just how special they are, the rings of ‘London I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down’ say it all. Malady are thriving as one of the coolest bands going right now, and they’re just getting started.

To close out a night like tonight can take a lot.

Thankfully, Opus Kink are a band born to soundtrack parties. They begin their set like a match lighting a fuse.

Part Orville Peck yeehaw, part Fat White Family mayhem, always at the peril of derailing but somehow still in control – the adrenaline rush that comes from both situations is addictive. Their kick-pedal breaks off at one point, and the band are left in limbo. A quickly raised hand from L’objectif sorts the issue out in no time – a perfect distillation not only of Opus Kink’s closing set, but the night’s communal spirit.

It’s electric. It’s crackers. It’s hard to believe at times. Opus Kink come to define a night made up of three incredible bands leading the way in their own unique voices. Add an iconic venue and a festival spotlighting must-see bands, and that’s a Dork’s Night Out in a nutshell. You’d be a fool not to take our word on it. JAMIE MUIR

The Wombats are the most fun you’re likely to have this year The O2, London. 15th April 2022 PHOTOGRAPHY: Frances Beach.

→ CERTAIN OCCASIONS FEEL like they were destined – that perfect coming together of right band, right time and right place.

Nearly 20 years into their career, The Wombats have become go-to party starters with an ever-growing legion of fans. With their first-ever Number 1 album ‘Fix Yourself, Not The World’ arriving earlier this year, a crowning moment feels both long-overdue and perfectly timed.

The Wombats taking over The O2 on a sizzling hot Good Friday?

There might not be a better combination going.

Owning a support slot at The O2 isn’t new ground for Sports Team.

When they opened for Two Door Cinema Club back in 2019, it served as another tick on a ridiculous journey to become one of the biggest new bands in the land.

Tonight, the Sports Team that step on stage are far above that; their next chapter is laid out in all its appetising glory.

‘Happy (God’s Own Country)’, ‘Camel Crew’, ‘Going Soft’, and ‘M5’ are all served up with an added swagger, but the new cuts point best to Sports Team mk.2.

The first taste of second album ‘Gulp!’, ‘R Entertainment’ feels like classic Sports Team, while ‘The

Drop’ could very well be their most ambitious cut to date. Purposebuilt for something bigger, whether it’s shouting out crypto companies and ‘oil lads’ owning private boxes around the venue or jumping into the crowd, Alex Rice leads the Team through another notable set.

If you’ve ever doubted the Church Of The Wombats, all you need is 10 minutes nestled in The O2, and you’ll know exactly why they continue to rise and rise: tonight is a bonafide party for a band who’ve grafted every step of the way. The blistering opening run of ‘Flip Me Upside Down’ and ‘This Car Drives All By Itself’ prove just how all-engulfing their career has been to date, with crowds drowning out the band as they sing along.

When ‘Moving To New York’ arrives three songs in, it rips The O2 into absolute bits.

The Wombats never click pause from start to finish. ‘Cheetah Tongue’, ‘Give Me A Try’ and ‘Pink Lemonade’ capture something universal. That razor-sharp knack to grab euphoric indie-pop hooks and turn them into festival-filling anthems mixed with something quite simple: fun. From the unrelenting limbs and launched drinks that fly through the sky

to ‘Kill The Director’, all the way to the knockout selection of ‘If You Ever Leave, I’m Coming With You’, ‘Emoticons’ and ‘Lemon To A Knife Fight’, they’re a band laser-focused. ‘Jump Into The Fog’ and ‘Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves)’ sound bigger than ever before.

By the time ‘Greek Tragedy’ rings out, the main set coated in a shower of pyrotechnics, they’ve served up the sort of Friday night that the preceding “Good” really understates.

Reaching this landmark isn’t lost on the band either. As Murph reflects on playing their first London show almost 15 years ago and tonight being 20 years in the making (as well as his daughter’s first-ever Wombats show), it’s a full-circle moment. A band who’ve done things their way, creating indie bangers to soundtrack the joy of everyday life, it’s a case of hard work paying off big-time. With an encore including ‘Let’s Dance To Joy Division’ and ‘Method To The Madness’, it’s also a sign that The Wombats continue to deliver that soundtrack to this day. The people’s true headliners, there may not be a more fun night going than the one you spend with The Wombats. JAMIE MUIR

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PHOTOS FROM THE FRONT LINES.

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Dove Cameron’s superstar power Omeara, London. 14th April 2022 You don’t get many superstars playing London’s smaller venues.

Not ones with 46.7 million Instagram followers and a current smash hit single, anyway. That’s part of what made Dove Cameron‘s shows at Omeara so very, very special; but not the entirety of it. Because, probably unsurprisingly, Dove is really, really good. With every pair of eyes and phone camera in the venue locked firmly on the star, we captured all the action, both offstage and ‘behind’ the ‘scenes’. cont PHOTOS: Frances Beach

»

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THE BEST PHOTOS FROM THE FRONT.

↑ DOVE CAMERON 64. DORK

(CONTINUED)

↙ BASTILLE

The O2, London. 7th April 2022

‘Give Me The Future’. That’s what the title of former Dork cover stars Bastille‘s most recent album demands. Currently on the road in support of the record, you can tell they’re going for the space age vibe – all giant screens and super swish stage set ups. Still, we live in the here and now, which is why we headed to London’s O2 to capture the action.

Photos: Patrick Gunning

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Any Other Questions?

Ev y E ryth Yes, Dear Reader. We enjoy those ‘in depth’ interviews as much as anyone else. But - BUT - we also enjoy the lighter side of music, too. We simply cannot go on any longer without knowing that Jonathan Higgs from Everything Everything only ever has mayo in his fridge.

WHAT WAS THE FIRST RECORD YOU BOUGHT? With my own money, I think it was The Outhere Brothers ‘Boom Boom Boom’. Album-wise, it would’ve been a Motown comp.

WHAT’S THE WEIRDEST THING YOU’VE EVER EATEN? I ate sea anemone in Chile. It was great, actually.

IF YOU HAD A PET ELEPHANT, WHAT WOULD YOU CALL IT? Intheroom.

WHAT DO YOU ALWAYS HAVE IN YOUR REFRIGERATOR? Mayonnaise, and not much else.

IF YOU HAD TO HAVE ONE WORD TATTOOED ON YOUR FACE, WHAT WORD WOULD YOU HAVE? DON’T. WHAT FASHION WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO MAKE A COMEBACK? I’ve been dressing the same for ten years, so whatever was cool then would bring me back in line.

your duvet like a poncho, thus never getting out of bed. Onesies became popular later, and he felt plagiarised.

IF A GENIE GRANTED YOU THREE WISHES, WHAT WOULD YOU ASK FOR? Peace on earth, peace of mind, piece of cake.

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE YOUR DYING WORDS TO BE? “And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make, man.”

WHAT IS THE STRANGEST FOOD COMBINATION YOU ENJOY? Once ate a boiled egg with chocolate finger soldiers. What’s not to like?

HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A GHOST? No, but I once stayed in a house in Totnes with a load of mates where a certain ‘presence’ could be felt... we were all very stoned, though.

WHO’S YOUR FAVOURITE POP STAR? Self Esteem.

WHAT’S THE PETTIEST THING YOU’VE EVER DONE? WHAT STRENGTH NANDOS SAUCE I bet a friend £20 he couldn’t cycle home in the time he reckoned. He DO YOU ORDER? crashed his bike badly at the end of Medium for the cookery, lemon and my road and was quite bashed up. On herb for additions. the way to A&E, I made him give me the £20 (which I later gave to charity IF WE GAVE YOU £10, WHAT in a fit of guilt).

WOULD YOU SPEND IT ON? I’d try to get two pints out of it, IF YOU COULD READ THE MIND OF probably unsuccessfully.

ONE PERSON, WHO WOULD IT BE? Jonathan Higgs.

WHAT’S YOUR BREAKFAST OF CHOICE? WHAT’S YOUR BIGGEST FEAR? Eggs florentine, or anything eggy The future. and greeny.

WHAT’S THE BEST INVENTION YOU’VE THOUGHT UP BUT DIDN’T DEVELOP? Jon dreamt up ‘The Duvet Door’ in 2008, whereby you could wear

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INSTANTLY, WITHOUT NEEDING TO PRACTICE, WHAT WOULD YOU PICK? Proper piano playing.

WHAT’S THE BEST WAY TO COOK A POTATO? Roast.

WHAT’S THE LEAST AMOUNT OF MONEY YOU WOULD TAKE TO EAT A DEAD WORM? Oh, surprisingly low, I reckon… £380 cash...?

IF YOU HAD TO BE ON A TV GAMESHOW, WHICH WOULD YOU HOW PUNK ARE YOU OUT OF TEN? CHOOSE? It would be so unpunk to put yourself University Challenge. any higher than 6. So I’m a 6.

WHAT IS YOUR EARLIEST IF YOU COULD LEARN ONE SKILL MEMORY?

The commotion around my brother’s birth, shortly before my second birthday.

EVER HAPPENED TO YOU? I am not telling you that. Some people know, though…

WHAT IS THE MOST IRRATIONAL SUPERSTITION YOU HAVE? We have to listen to the intro and first half verse of ‘If I Only Knew’ by Tom Jones before we go on stage. There’s a specific moment where we cut the track, and depending on how tight that is or isn’t, we will or won’t have a good show. Obviously, there’s never any real correlation.

IF YOU COULD HAVE A SUPERPOWER OF YOUR CHOOSING, WHAT WOULD IT BE? Steadfast emotional fortitude.

WHAT’S THE NAUGHTIEST THING YOU DID AT SCHOOL? Mummified an entire mobile classroom in clingfilm overnight.

TELL US A SECRET ABOUT YOURSELF? I’ve never really been able to get into Nick Cave.

WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS? Hmm. My principal pursuits and interests have remained the same since I was 17, which can’t be healthy.

WHAT’S THE MOST EMBARRASSING THING THAT’S

Everything Everything’s album ‘Raw Data Feel’ is out 20th May.

THE INDEPENDENT

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21-24 JULY 2022 : HERTFORDSHIRE, UK

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