Dork, November 2022 (ENNY cover)

ENNY.

INDEX.

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Issue 71 | November 2022 | readdork.com | Down With Boring

WELL, THAT WAS A MONTH, WASN'T IT? We've spent most of the last few weeks stuffing envelopes, lining the pockets of Postman Pat and learning more about packaging options than we ever figured possible.

October's issue was - by a margin - our biggest ever, with tens of thousands of magazines flying out from our door direct to readers all over the planet. If you're a new regular just joining us - hi! Thanks! Make yourself at home.

This month, we've got a typically wide and diverse cast of cover stars showcasing the very best of the Dork universe. Of our three returning cover stars, both Cavetown and The Big Moon have offered up gems of new albums sure to soundtrack the rest of our year, while we link back up with Inhaler right as they announce their second full-length, set to arrive next February. They're joined by chart-topping sensation Kim Petras - who is stepping out with new purpose following her world domination alongside Sam Smith - and the fantastic ENNY, embarking on her second phase with the kind of assured brilliance that already has her turning heads as she charges through.

Now, if you don't mind, we've got next month's double issue to get to grips with. From the Hype List to our end of year round-up, Readers' Poll and something extra special, we're going to be very busy bees all over again.

What a shame.

readdork.com Editor Stephen Ackroyd

#71. NOVEMBER 2022.

Deputy Editor Victoria Sinden Associate Editor Ali Shutler Contributing Editors Jamie Muir, Martyn Young Scribblers Abigai Firth, Connor Fenton, Dan Harrison, Dillon Eastoe, Finlay Holden, Jake Hawkes, Jamie MacMillan, Jessica Goodman, Melissa Darragh, Neive McCarthy, Rob Mair, Sam Taylor Snappers Em Marcovecchio, Frances Beach, Harvey Pearson, Jamie MacMillan, Joel Palmer, Kenny Laubbacher, Lewis Evans, Marieke Hulzinga, Nic Bezzina, Patrick Gunning, Sarah Louise Bennett, Tatiana Pozuelo

PUBLISHED FROM WELCOMETOTHEBUNKER.COM PO BOX 420, HASTINGS, TN34 9LZ

‘Editor’ @stephenackroyd

INTRO.

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FEATURES.

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08 10 12 16

CONNIE CONSTANCE PVA WITCH FEVER A DAY IN THE LIFE OF... APRIL BANGERS

HYPE. 18 20

ALISSIC BONNIE KEMPLAY

PERSONAL TRAINER

ENNY THE BIG MOON CAVETOWN INHALER KIM PETRAS TOVE LO

INCOMING. 48

REVIEWS

48 49

THE 1975 ARTIST’S GUIDE: CRAWLERS ARCTIC MONKEYS

GET OUT. 5 SECONDS OF SUMMER

BACKPAGE. 54

ANY OTHER QUESTIONS...

PIXEY

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.

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INTRO. THE BEATING HEART OF POP NONSENSE.

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INTRO

Second album 'Miss Power' sees CONNIE CONSTANCE embracing her powers to make herself a true contender.

Words: Martyn Young. Photos: Joel Palmer.

→

READDORK.COM 5.

INTRO

sound, and I know where I want it to go."

Crucially, Connie also gained some very handy skills to help navigate the choppy waters of the industry by starting her own independent label Jump The Fence. "I've been through so many different processes that I've gained lots of business knowledge which I enjoy having.

I enjoy being a boss bitch," she laughs.

What was the key principle behind this new feeling of creative freedom? "Trusting myself and trusting my own opinion," she says confidently.

Kanye said something funny when he said, 'it's not that I'm not right, sometimes I'm just not right now'. It has allowed me to trust in my ideas and think if you think you can't make it happen, well, you probably can make it happen. I've done it DIY; I've done it on a major. I've done it so many different ways now that I know I can do it, and don't worry about it if it's stressing you out."

That liberating feeling of casting aside any self-doubt manifests itself in an album bursting with confidence and dynamics. It's a huge step up. "I've learned that I'm just obsessed with making indie bangers," laughs Connie. "I had to be told to stop. I just wanted to do more, and they were like no, we need to cut deeper on that, and I was like ok, I'll open up my heart."

You see, that's where the magic of the album is. Connie's right, there are so many indie bangers here, but when they are set against some real heartbreakers that delve deep into her psyche in an affecting and piercingly resonant way, it hits hard and stops you in your tracks. "It was about saying the stuff that needed to be said and balancing that with the freedom that I feel and the energy I feel," explains Connie.

"I never wanted my writing or even just me as a human to feel preachy. I've always wanted to just be the things that I hope a younger me needs. Rather than, 'you need to be like this! This is what's wrong with the world!', I'd rather just try and actually be it. There are things that I needed to say. Before I wrote the album, I wanted to talk about the situation with my dad. I want to talk about what I've felt like as a female in this industry, but also I want to have fun because that's how I feel right now. I want to feel like I've got my hands in

the air with my friends. It's very synonymous with how I've been feeling and the stories I wanted to tell."

In practical terms, Connie centred the album around a typically idiosyncratic and fantastical story. "I wanted to tell a story of what a fairy might feel like if they woke up a million years later and were in our world today and what they would see and find out about," she illustrates. "I wanted to use my experiences to write about those situations. That was the overall concept and how we structured the album. It starts off with 'In The Beginning', where the fairies come here. I wanted the fairy to be non-binary, so anyone could put their head on and be that person, and the next song is like woahhh, this place is sick. Like when you first come to London.

I was like, oh my god, this food looks so good. Everything is so overstimulating and exciting.

Everything I want to do in my life, I can do here. Then it takes a deeper turn and gets darker when obviously it's not all glitz and glam, and then at the end, the finale is this arghhh this was so crazy, but I think it's going to be ok."

The record is a swirling mass of emotions and feelings.

A roller coaster in the best possible way. One of the many highlights is a raging feverish out-of-control rampage of a track called 'Kamikaze' that highlights Connie's anger at some of the treatment she has faced. "The only way I can express 'Kamikaze' is just punk," she says. "It's the only genre or energy that this could be in. I'm meant to be this perfect human, but I'm just not. No one is a perfect being. 'Kamikaze' is just pure 'fuck you' anger. It's the purest form of, I'm out. I'm done. I cannot do this anymore. I cannot be pulled this way or that way.

It's a reflection, sadly, of some of the recent things. I hate talking about people passing, but in the media, people drag females left, right and centre and expect them to just get on with their day like it's not going to affect their mental health and sadly, it does, and it can be catastrophic."

At times it was overwhelming as Connie explored some of the darker themes and personal traumas contained on the album.

"It can be hard unpicking a wound. You kind of think, no, I don't want to talk about that, but for me, I know that I have to.

I can have fun with the upbeat

indie festival tunes, then it's going to get to the point where I'm going to have to say ok, let's unpick. There were definite tears in the making of the album."

For all the heavy emotional moments on the album, the prevailing feeling is one of liberation and salvation. A feeling that is matched by the expansiveness of the sound.

"I wanted to have some big festival moments," says Connie.

"I wanted it to feel like it was outside. We did lots of field recording in the new forest to have all of that trickling through it. It was meant to be folky but indie but pop and just with this outside magical feeling going through the whole thing."

This is an album bursting with personality with dozens of hugely entertaining, witty and hilarious lyrical asides from an artist who goes deep with intense clarity but also does silly in a supremely engaging way. See, for example, on the instantly iconic 'Mood Hoover' or when she's dragging supermarket pasta meals on the stream-of-consciousness epic 'Yuck!'. "They need more salt and more cheese," she says about Sainsbury's and Tesco's lacklustre affairs. "They're just so dry. They used to be so banging.

That used to be my go-to meal, and now they're just not cutting it anymore."

Having created a careerdefining album tailor-made for captivating audiences on every level on the biggest stages, Connie is very much conscious of her position as an inspiring figure for people seeing a young black woman making indie music on their own terms, something Connie found in herself discovering Santigold ("She's my queen") and X-Ray Spex. "Every voice is important," says Connie passionately. "It's important that young people growing up making music can look up and think I can do whatever I want.

I can make free jazz if I want to.

Skin tone and my upbringing will not dictate the music that I make." Perhaps when she takes 'Miss Power' out on tour and brings it to life on stage both on her own shows next year and supporting Yard Act, there will be a whole new generation inspired to follow their own path.

"That's the dream, that's the goal. To take over the world with more Connie Constances," she laughs. ■ Connie Constance's album 'Miss Power' is out 4th November.

GET A HOBBY Here at Dork, we're obsessed with the minutiae of pop. The real nitty gritty of what pop stars get up to when they're not being all big and exciting and famous, so you can imagine we were thrilled to discover Connie Constance has a rather intriguing passion she's been exploring. "I've been getting so into folklore," she says. No, not the Taylor album - magical spiritual stuff. The sort of stuff you will see going on somewhere up a big hill at Glastonbury at two in the morning. "I've been learning about leylines," she continues before offering us an interesting and surprising fact. "The guy who discovered or invented ley lines [Alfred Watkins, to be precise] went to Eton. I don't know much about what goes on in Eton, but in my head, as a working-class girl, it's like that's where you go to become Prime Minister, so to have this spiritual dude in Eton talking about the spiritual lines of the earth is a bit weird." Yes, indeed, it is Connie, but spirits are found in unusual places...

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I'VE GAINED LOTS OF BUSINESS KNOWLEDGE; I ENJOY BEING A BOSS BITCH” CO NNI E CO NSTANCE

STICK AROUND INTRO

London’s enigmatic trio PVA ride a wave of turmoil through their debut LP, ‘Blush’.

Words: Finlay Holden. Photos: Tatiana Pozuelo.

→ Ella Harris, Josh Baxter and Louis Satchell have been seeking sonic thrills since they came together to form PVA just a few years ago.

In a short space of time, they have accumulated an audience of live music fanatics, released a bold EP and even had one of their remixes nominated for a Grammy. The trio's sights are now firmly on the horizon, though, as they look towards their imminent debut album, 'BLUSH'.

Although the record, and indeed much of their discography, boasts an intimidating darkness, the softlyspoken outfit don't always reside within such a storm. In fact, Ella and Josh's bond developed over a series of parties in London; singing karaoke to Mariah Carey sounds somewhat out of character, but this underlying pursuit of joy is subtly embodied within their musical output as well.

"We find catharsis in the darker moments, and we all really enjoy those textures and sounds in a way that's ultimately leading us towards a lightness," Ella shares. "We enjoy the moments of tension because that then builds up to a great release. If the record was all dark tones, it would be a very different project. We enjoy playing with textures at the appropriate time to signify moments of catharsis, joy, and complex emotions."

The liberation she speaks of comes easily with a palette of such monumental sounds; each soundscape on 'BUSH' is painted with multiple brushes, and each one leaves a thick and hefty trace for fans to follow. Drawing from the tones of more than one genre, PVA focus on the evocative feel within each song and push these to their limits to maximise the emotional response attainable through an art as elusive as music.

"Catharsis is a big part of both electronic music and the darker side of post-punk, and we play on both those textures in our music – I know Working Men's Club do that as well," Ella continues. "That's a really big part of our styles of music; it's not only moments of building up the songs, but moments of release, moments of cluttering build-up, and moments where it all crashes down again. These moments affect how people interact with their emotions when they experience them live, whether it be through a moshpit or just with their hands up on a dance floor. Both of those styles are incredibly emotive."

"They're both so connected to live performance," Josh adds. "Since their beginnings, electronic and dance has always been something that people gather en masse to listen to together. It's the same with post-punk, writhing around in small bars and clubs. Both of them

8. DORK

have such a strong connection with being amongst lots of other people and using the music to express both stresses and the joys of letting them go."

As such, the London-based group have established a reputable name for themselves across the local live circuit. Having recently gone from the sweaty pits of the big city to the bright sunshine of festival slots, it is on the road alongside peers like Shame and Dry Cleaning that the three musicians learnt what it takes to cater to your audience.

"We all found the Shame and Dry Cleaning tours really interesting.

They taught us a lot about how our music comes off in different environments and how we can refine the live show further, so it is more accessible," Ella reflects.

"Dry Cleaning are a really cool band. They're great at harnessing simplicity and putting on powerful performances just through drums, guitar, bass and Florence's vocals."

Josh admires the energy of Shame's Charlie Steen, a frontman who takes things in a more physical direction.

"Watching Shame every night, they just give it every time," he enthuses. "They're so energetic. It's interesting to see people perform in that way."

With a crowd that's as diverse as PVA's influences, it's not always easy to tell where or when people jump on board. That's something that Ella enjoys. "We did a show at Corsica in London this summer. We sold out a headline and played the album for the first time," she recalls.

"It was so fun and sweaty in such a small club space, and just looking around the crowd, it felt very diverse. There were lots of different ages and just very different people – I wonder how we managed to pick them up along the way. We're on a crazy joyride into chaos. Where did we find you?"

The band lean into electronic, punk, pop and everything in between, but the deep and rich weight of the harder tracks seems to be fuelling the most unsated appetites as of late. Still somewhat emerging from their lockdowninduced paralysis, this is something they are not too surprised by.

That period prevented some ambitions for delivering a big and bold experience around their 2020 EP 'Toner', specifically in the form of a shelved VR project, but the desire to shape up an integrated and expansive body of work has merely continued into the campaign surrounding 'BLUSH', much to its benefit.

"We really wanted to create a cohesive visual and sonic identity for the album, and it took us a good year of thinking about it and six

months of building it to get there," Ella describes. "We wanted it to sound like a true statement of intent for PVA; a holistic introduction that includes all our personalities. With the visuals, we wanted something futuristic, unique, bold and colourful to reflect how we wanted the music to come off. The cover image shows a person caught between two places – pulled in one direction, but drawn towards another.

That's where the record sits for us thematically as well, in the movement between two states."

That mentally torn sensibility was an obvious position to reach for following a period of anxiety for the band, and that feeling permeates through the entire tracklist. As Ella elaborates, "a lot of these songs are projections of feeling that are quite universal. We tried to create characters experiencing that and

allow them to live within a song. The process of making a debut album is anxiety-inducing in itself; it's an introduction for a lot of people. The first time they hear your music and get to know you, so we wanted it to feel honest. We wanted the stories and characters to be as close to our experiences as possible, and that turmoil carries across the album."

Twisting an excess of time into hard-laboured songwriting getaways, the trio discovered their own complementary niche skills and watched each other grow at a rapid pace with a concentrated block of weeks away from their relentless touring. "Louis is amazing at arrangements, and his musicality is really strong. Josh is this incredible producer with a real ear for textures and where particular sounds sit, and I really enjoy writing lyrics and stories," she continues.

"We all take turns to offer up our own skillsets. Sometimes you've

just got to give people space to work on what they're good at; let someone do their thing and watch in awe."

Even for Ella, Josh and Louis, 'BLUSH' is not the product they expected to form when they first discovered the intersection between live bands and latenight DJs, but the balance is mesmerising. This stable equilibrium between the light and dark, intimate and industrial, muscular and fragile, is what defines PVA's immersive statement of intent.

Unifying opposing forces within their sound, the album promises to be just "a small taster of what to come" – the challenge of shaping up a cohesive project is one that has become addictive. "This is the first time we've felt as a band," Ella concludes, "and it's a really special thing for us." ■ PVA's album 'BLUSH' is out now.

WE'RE ON A CRAZY JOYRIDE INTO CHAOS” E L L A HARRI S

D

INTRO

WITCH FEVER are quite possibly the hottest name in up-andcoming rock bands right now.

WITCH CRAFT Words: Ali Shutler.

Photos: Nic Bezzina.

→WITCH FEVER'S DEBUT EP IS A FEROCIOUS SLAB OF FIERY ANGST, PUMMELLING RIFFS AND TIGHTLYWOUND CHEMISTRY. Released last year, 'Reincarnate' sums up the Manchester four-piece's five-year journey to become one of the most exciting metal bands in the country. Twelve months later and their debut album 'Congregation' lays the foundations for what comes next.

The EP was the first time the band could afford to get into a studio and record five songs at once, thanks to a deal with Sony's Music For Nations. "That really helped us find ourselves," says guitarist Alisha Yarwood. "That's when we crossed the line between being an amateur band to becoming more of a professional band," adds bassist Alex Thompson. "Some of the songs are so old, though. It feels like it has very little relevance to us now."

"I play in standard tuning across the record. It's so vile," laughs Alisha. "After that EP, we could move on and start doing things that sounded different," she continues.

More progressive, more defiant, more colourful and more powerful in every way, the thirteen tracks of 'Congregation' see the band shake off the Doom Punk tag without abandoning their roots. "We went into the album with more confidence and with more of an idea of what we wanted to do, things we wanted to push. I don't think we were confident in exactly what was going to come out," says Alex. They knew they wanted to do something different, but, according to Alisha, "we just didn't know what that difference would be until it was done."

"It was the first time we've deliberately

10. DORK

written a body of work," says Alex, before describing their previous EP as "a bunch of singles just thrown together. Before we were always such a live band that writing kind of took a backseat." It's meant that everything up to this point has felt "very thrashy" as the band set about trying to whip the crowd into a frenzy. "With the album, we wanted to incorporate more space and allow more dynamics. We were able to explore what Witch Fever was."

"There are songs like 'Slow Burn' and the title track that I definitely couldn't have seen us doing a couple of years ago," says Alisha.

"We want to break the boundaries of genre and just do a mad mix of whatever the fuck we're feeling."

Despite the weight of a debut body of work, the band didn't have a whole lot of time to get the album together – the joys of fitting in music around full-time jobs. The timeline was reduced even more when producer Sam Grant's PigsPigsPigsPigsPigsPigsPigs got a last-minute, post-pandemic tour, meaning Witch Fever had to record a month earlier than originally planned. "There was definitely a time pressure on us," says Alex. "It was a really good test for us, though."

Witch Fever finished recording their album almost a year ago, and have been patiently sitting on it ever since. There have been moments where the band have wished they'd changed a tone here, a vocal line there, especially after playing the tracks live, but they remain unwavering in their confidence. "I know it's good," says Alex.

They're right, too. 'Reincarnate' touches on a variety of different tones and moods without ever feeling incomplete.

I REALLY APPRECIATE AN ARTIST WHO DOESN'T JUST DO ALBUM AFTER ALBUM OF THE SAME THING” AM Y WAL P O L E Each member of the group has their own specific influences. Vocalist Amy Walpole, for example, loves Pianos Become The Teeth ("at the start of their career, their vocals were so heavy, so painful and so emotional, and each album since has got less heavy but no less brilliant"). Alisha, on the other hand, has "literally never listened to them."

Across 'Reincarnate' there are nods to Black Sabbath, Warpaint, Talking Heads, Depeche Mode, Show Me The Body, Rage Against The Machine, Self-Esteem and Deftones, but Witch Fever always sound like themselves.

"We're all very intuitive with each other," Alex continues. Rather than taking specific influences from other bands, "we write music based on everyone else's reactions.

The more experimental stuff comes from

us bouncing off each other, trying to pump each other up. We influence each other a lot."

"I really appreciate an artist who doesn't just do album after album of the same thing," adds Amy before asking if those that do play it safe "are not bored of doing that, cos I'm definitely a bit bored of that. It's exciting that there are no rules."

According to various press releases, 'Congregation' largely explores Amy's experiences growing up in the Charismatic Church, a branch of Christianity that her parents joined when they were younger, and she was born into. She left when she was 16, the final straw being the lack of support for her mental health, while her parents followed suit two years later.

Across the record, themes of belief, abuse of power and control come up time and time again. "It's very obvious what the record's about," says Amy. "You're dumb to think I would choose this," she sings on the rumbling 'Blessed Be Thy' while frantic closing track '12' features the lines "Don't need to be touched for it to make an impression. I never got an apology. I carry it with me, the things that he said. Thought it was my fault, I was only a kid."

"Some of the songs were very much written all about me," Amy explains. "'Congregation' and '12', those are selfish ones. But then other songs like 'Sour' were more for other people. It's less personal and more an expression of anger and wanting to fight back against oppression. I found the whole thing very cathartic." Read the full interview in the November 2022 issue of Upset. Witch Fever's debut album 'Congregation' is out 21st October.

T

Yep, it’s that time again. We want to know everything you liked and everything you hated from the last year. Unless you hated us. In which case, keep it to yourself. We’re fragile. Fill in the form below, and send it to us to compile some IMPORTANT POP SCIENCE.

→ BEST GROUP

→ BEST AT ‘THE SOCIALS’

→ BEST SOLO ARTIST

→ BEST FESTIVAL

→ BEST ALBUM

→ BEST LIVE ACT

→ BEST TRACK

→ MOST ANTICIPATED ALBUM FOR 2023

→ BEST VIDEO

→ UNDISPUTED CHAMPION OF 2022

→ BEST NEW ACT

→ BIGGEST PLONKER ON THE PLANET

→ MOST PROMISING NEW ACT FOR 2023

→ BEST ACTOR WHO IS ALSO A MUSICIAN

→ BEST DRESSED PERSON

→ BEST TV PROGRAMME

→ BEST HAIRCUT

→ BEST FILM

→ NAME

→ IN 50 WORDS OR LESS, EXPLAIN TO US WHY YOUR ALBUM OF THE YEAR IS YOUR ALBUM OF THE YEAR, PLEASE. TA.

Fill in this page as quickly as you possibly can - NO, QUICKER THAN THAT, HURRY NOW! - and post it in an envelope to DORK READERS’ POLL 2022, PO BOX 420, Hastings, TN34 9LZ. We’ll reveal the winners in our end of year double issue, out in late November. If you’d rather enter online, head to readdork.com/readerspoll. Guess it’s easier - just significantly less fun. Please, try to vote for someone who *isn’t* Matty Healy.

Just for fun, yeah?

SO L D O U T

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF...

APRIL.

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. This month, APRIL lets us in on what she's up to.

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DORK → THE NIGHTS ARE DRAWING IN. A chill is in the air. All Hallow’s Eve approaches, and we’re getting ready for the next edition of Dork’s Night Out – featuring our very special headliners Black Honey.

Taking over Colours Hoxton on the 28th October – the Friday before the big night itself – we’re throwing a very special Halloween Party full of amazing music and spooky surprises.

Fresh off the back of their storming recent single ‘Charlie Bronson’, Dork faves Black Honey will lead the way, with special guests still to be announced. If you want to turn up in fancy dress, that would be cool – but we’re not going to force you. You do you, Dear Reader.

There's a catch though. It's already sold out - so if you're not already coming... um.... soz?

DORK DOES THE GREAT ESCAPE'S FIRST FIFTY

12:00PM → GOOD MORNING! It's midday, some of you may ask why I've just woken up, and I wish I had a better excuse, but the truth is - I'm just lazy. I live with my best friend, Dylan Fraser (he wakes up earlier than me), but pretty much every morning, we go to a little coffee shop down the street from us and get the same thing every time - an iced mocha with oat milk.

Loads of our artist friends always stay with us at our place, and we bring everyone to the coffee spot.

2:00PM → - It's not just me and Dylan who live in this apartment - there's another musical genius here, Matilda Mann, and today we're going shopping. She's going on tour (in America), so we're going to find some cute clothes.

We went to Shoreditch and explored some vintage shops etc.

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Our fave vintage shops right now are Atika and Brick Lane Vintage.

We also went to Goodhood (a super cool shop), then ate poke bowls and got frozen yoghurt.

3:00PM → Came home and worked on some music. We got a studio set up in our spare room, so I like to write in here and listen to demos and stuff. I'm releasing a mixtape, so I've been listening to that a lot and getting excited, thinking of video and TikTok ideas, lol.

6:00PM → We're going to an album release party tonight, so it's time to start planning an outfit and order some drinks in; we got friends over and had a little preparty. My drink of choice tonight is gin and tonic and black cherry White Claws. I settle on wearing

a knitted dress I got in one of the vintage shops, plus some pink eyeshadow and scattered gems across my face.

9:00PM → At this point, we are nicely… how do I put it… steaming?!

So now we stagger into the Uber obnoxiously to the album party.

Afterwards, we go to Fabric nightclub and end up queuing for an hour to get in. Anyone who's been to this club will know about the crazy long queue you gotta endure - it was fun but low-key. I'm in my granny era, and I just wanted to go home.

2:00AM → We leave, we order pizza, we smoke, we sleep.

Goodnight.

April's mixtape 'STARLANE' is out 21st October.

→ THE GREAT ESCAPE HAS ANNOUNCED DETAILS OF ITS ANNUAL FIRST FIFTY EVENTS, AND DORK IS COMING ALONG FOR THE RIDE. Introducing the first names for 2023’s Great Escape line-up via a series of East London shows on 15th November 2022, we’re set to take over The Shacklewell Arms.

There, you’ll be able to catch rising stars Joey Valence & Brae, NY electro-punks LIP CRITIC and Really Very Buzzy Londoner Deyaz, ahead of their appearance At the festival proper next May. Tickets, priced £10 adv, are available now.

It’s part of a wider series of shows that feature the likes of impossibly exciting Manchester gang Witch Fever, the brilliant Jessica Winter, New York alt-popster Sarah Kinsley, and loads more. You can find more details on all the shows at greatescapefestival.com.

The Great Escape itself will feature more than 450 up-andcoming audiences across 35+ walkable venues, plus a music industry-led conference, between 10th and 13th May in Brighton.

Tickets, starting from £70, are on sale now.

THE NEW ALBUM OUT NOW LP, CD, DIGITAL

BANGERS. THE BEST NEW TRACKS YOU NEED TO HEAR THIS MONTH.

is a bit darker. "It’s about being deeply hurt and wronged by someone but deciding to take the high road," Cat explains.

PINKPIRATE

CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE PAST INSTEAD?

→ The third single from their upcoming EP ‘i don’t want to grow up boring’, pinkpirate has shared ‘Can We Talk About The Past Instead?’. Inspired

by Charli XCX (yes mate), it's about struggling with anxiety, but at the same time they describe it as "the fun song on the EP", which frankly is something well worth getting behind.

DE'WAYNE SIMPLE

↓↓↓ THE BIG TRACK ↓↓↓

PARAMORE THIS IS WHY

MÅNESKIN

MAISIE PETERS

→ Did you see the utter mayhem surrounding Måneskin dropping their new single, ‘The Loneliest'? The band used it as an excuse to come play a one-off, super last-minute, utterly chaotic show in the UK, for which fans queued for tickets for hours and hours.

It was a bit of 'a thing'. A big emotional lighters-in-the-air epic, 'The Loneliest' arrives ahead of more new music due next year, and it's a personal one for frontman Damiano David, too. "This song means a lot to me, it’s a personal song but I hope you can all relate to it in your own way," he explains.

→ Maisie Peters is so much fun. Her new single, ‘Not Another Rockstar' is about her "very debatable track record with men" and it's a properly catchy had-enough-of-this bop. "I hope everyone comes out of this song realising the true rockstar was in fact me," she asserts. Completely fair, especially given she's already sold out London's Brixton Academy for next year. Maisie's making big moves.

THE LONELIEST

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NOT ANOTHER ROCKSTAR

GRACIE ABRAMS DIFFICULT

→ Another collab co-written with and

produced by The National’s Aaron Dessner, Gracie Abrams' new single 'Difficult' is a moody, introspective tune reflecting on bad decisions and tough times. It's pretty sad, tbh - but it arrives ahead of her debut album, which she's working on right now, so that's nice.

CAT BURNS

PEOPLE PLEASER / SLEEP AT NIGHT

→ Cat Burns has generously dropped not one, but two new singles – ‘people pleaser’ and ‘sleep at night’. Both tracks are incredibly personal; the first is a chilled, upbeat bop about wanting everyone to be happy, while the second

→ Over the space of their last couple of albums, Paramore became far more than just pop punk scene leaders – not that they ever truly fit in any identikit box of genre tropes and conformism, obviously. From their self-titled fourth album forwards, they’ve been something bigger. More inventive. A band leading from the front, switching to where their spirit and instincts drove them.

Previous album ‘After Laugher’ was a high point. An album full of smart influences and brilliant juxtaposition, it encapsulated pop culture and the modern condition better than any peers dared. So often a brave, smiling face on far deeper thoughts, it did it all with a cutting, day-glo tone that drew anxious energy away from the pity party and towards something brighter and more addictive.

‘This Is Why’, the first taster of Paramore’s sixth album of the same name, is another hard swerve left in the best possible way. Starting with a lyrical flow that recalls Hayley Williams’ recent solo material, it quickly descends into a tense, taut chorus that sounds both frustrated and fraught with ‘the state of things’. “If you have an opinion maybe you should shove it! Or maybe you should scream it! Might be best to keep it to yourself,” Williams challenges.

Those pre-stated influences for the full-length to follow are there – the stabbing shards of Bloc Party sit just as proud as promised, their trademark elastic post-punk riffs clear and present in the mix. There’s the intoxicating glamour of mid-00s indie sleaze at its finest, pushed through a more dynamic, vibrant filter.

Following their own compass in the way all the best bands do, Hayley, Taylor and Zac remain a band far more important to a dedicated, determined fanbase than words can do justice. This is a new Paramore, but a Paramore at the height of their powers.

→ De'Wayne is nothing if not incredibly likeable and very good at music. What more could you want, really? Following up his 5* debut album 'Stains', defiant new track ‘Simple (Feat. I Don't Know How But They Found Me)’ is an early teaser from ‘My Favourite Blue Jeans’, coming later this year.

BLACK HONEY OUT OF MY MIND

→ Their second track of the year (so far??), Black Honey's new 'un 'Out Of My Mind' feels right off a teen comingof-age film, where the main character has gone to a party and is feeling completely out of place and like a bit of an idiot. Like, you know, normal people do at every party? That's a thing, right?

It follows on from their 2021 album 'Written & Directed'.

JOEY VALENCE AND BRAE TANAKA

→ Beastie Boys-inspired newcomers Joey Valence and Brae have moved their fun dial up to max and dropped their dynamic new single 'Tanaka' ahead of their upcoming appearance at The Great Escape's First 50 – where they'll perform on Dork’s stage, no less.

A London new music showcase ahead of next year’s seaside event, they’ll play The Shacklewell Arms alongside NY electro-punks LIP CRITIC and buzzy Londoner Deyaz.

TATE MCRAE UH OH

→ Has there ever been a more ominous track title than 'uh oh'? Tate McRae's first new material since the release of this year’s debut album 'I Used To Think I Could Fly', it's actually a pretty upbeat and optimistic track about continually returning to a turbulent relationship, because it's fun in the moment.

MAC WETHA PLAY PRETEND

→ Two of our faves have done a teamup! 'Play Pretend' sees Mac Wetha collaborate with spill tab for a low-key, intimate-at-first-but-kicks-in-later track about accepting yourself. It's a ride.

THE DAHMERS

SE

SchizophreniaBE - Spangled UK Boys AND Ivy SE - Cloudsurfers NL SE SE

HOT BREATH - EF

Julie Chikane SE - Pigman SE Montesco ES - Nordmark SE Boy With Apple SE - The Boo Boo Bama OrchestraSE - KRISSY MARY NO

PINK MILKSE - The Exorcist GBGSE

Enilora NO/DK - Industrial Puke SE - 7ebra SE - Girl Scout SE - L Twills DE I Am Soyuz HU -Vargtimma SE - Spøgelse SE - AILSA TULLY UK - A.S. Fanning IE/DE

BAD NERVESUK

... MORE TO COME

YOUR ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO THE BEST NEW NAMES.

A

ALISSIC With Brazilian roots and a fearsome line in gigantic, modern alt-pop, Alissic is on a charge.

A

t The Great Escape festival back in May, Alissic played her first ever gig. Not that you'd know it from watching. A bolshie, electric and captivating performance, Alissic flickered between snarling rock star and flamboyant alt-pop master. A few months later, she headlined the BBC Introducing Stage at Reading & Leeds, playing to a packed crowd that already knew all the words to her brooding, angsty but playful songs.

"I thought I was going to be more nervous than I was," the Brazilian singer admits backstage a little while later. "As we got closer to stage time, though, I realised I felt fine, so I enjoyed the show a lot."

She admits that playing live, in general, is still a nerve-wracking experience, but she's really getting into it. "As soon as the first few songs are done, it's always such a vibe. I love it." It's meant that the music she's been writing recently has been crafted with festivals and chaotic gigs in mind.

Recently-released single 'Bugfood' is a morbid hyperpopinfused song. "It's a song about death," explains Alissic with a grin. "I just thought it would be a good thing to write about because, in our culture, we don't really talk about it. It's kind of this taboo, which is so strange. I feel like I'm always having these different spiritual awakenings," she continues. "I feel like death was the first thing I had to face in order to move towards where I wanted to be. It's a celebration of life, really."

Speaking about the hyperpop influences, Alissic says that glitching, hyperactive genre "is just matching my energy right now. At the moment, I'm really into making hyper music and weird pop music."

She's also reconnecting with her Brazilian roots, listening to a lot of artists she grew up with and indigenous musicians. "Because of this sort of spiritual awakening, I feel so grounded to my roots and my heritage. I'm just very proud to be Brazilian, and I want to tap into that more."

By contrast, previous single 'Everybody’s Dead Inside' is an irresistible but dark emo anthem.

"I was in a very dark place, and I felt like I had to write a song about it in order to say goodbye to this depressed version of myself," she says. "It helped me overcome and enabled me to continue with this divine connection with creativity.

It was basically a farewell song for

depression."

Elsewhere in Alissic's eclectic back catalogue is 'Piano', a bombastic pop anthem about control and 'Superstitious', which blends Brazilian swing with Britney Spears hooks.

"I don't think I will ever stick with one sound," she explains.

"However, those older songs all have such a different vibe because I was exploring what was possible, what felt right. I've got an idea of what I want to do now."

Alissic started making music a couple of years ago. "I always felt like a very creative person, and I always loved music, but I was also into fashion, creating worlds and illustrations. I'd been modelling since I was 15; I stopped because I didn't feel like it was serving me anymore." This sudden change seemed like the perfect opportunity for Alissic to bring together her world-building visions with her love of music."

Her background in modelling does help with her confidence on stage, though. "Obviously, singing is completely different, but I'm used to performing in front of people and not being scared about the way I look," she explains.

From there, she started learning to write, record and produce, with husband Oli Sykes and his Bring Me The Horizon bandmate Jordan Fish helping out. "It's been great; they're my best friends, so it was a no-brainer," explains Alissic. "They

understand me so well, so it feels like I have the opportunity to write about how I truly feel and share my message with people."

When she first started making music, Alissic had one goal. "If I could change one person's life with my music, that would be enough. I had no expectations beyond reaching a couple of people." Obviously, as her packedout set at Reading Festival proved, she's already exceeded that original goal. "I don't know how it's happened, but I'm just going to go with the flow," she laughs.

With hype and buzz building, she admits she does "have to keep reminding myself about my purpose. I want to help people, to make them feel like they can be free to be whoever they want to be."

"I just want to make as much music as possible," she continues of her new ambitions. "I want to be able to play festivals like this.

I don't really expect anything higher. There are things like social media numbers and streams and stuff like that, but all I really want is an audience I can share my thoughts with." It might be tempting to try and recreate past successes, but Alissic believes that "as long as I'm making my art for myself, it's going to be great."

She's currently working hard on the music that will make up her debut EP which is "definitely" coming next year, while she'll

Words: Ali Shutler. Photos: Frances Beach.

HYPE NEWS.↓

IF I COULD CHANGE ONE PERSON'S LIFE WITH MY MUSIC, THAT WOULD BE ENOUGH” AL I SSI C return to the stage supporting UPSAHL across the UK this November.

"I'm really feeling my songs at the moment, and that's the most important thing," she says. "I can get caught up in my head easily, worrying about what I should or shouldn't be doing, but I'm trying to be present. It doesn't matter about numbers or how many people are listening, as long as I'm enjoying myself, right?" ■

HOTEL LUX

Hotel Lux have announced their debut album. Titled ‘Hands Across The Creek’, their first fulllength will land on 27th January.

The news comes alongside a new single, ‘Common Sense’ taking lyrical inspiration from RMT strikers - and a string of UK/EU tour dates.

HUMOUR

Glaswegian five-piece Humour are gearing up to release their debut EP, ‘pure misery’, due 25th November. The band signed to tastemaker label So Young Records earlier this summer, and have since played shows in support of Do Nothing and Folly Group.

AMANDLA STENBERG Amandla Stenberg, who played Sophie in recent slasher film Bodies Bodies Bodies, has released an original song based on the movie, 'Alice'. The actress and social activist – who also starred as Rue in 2012’s The Hunger Games – dropped the single via A24 Music.

MEET ME @ THE ALTAR

Meet Me @ The Altar have shared a brand new track, ‘Say It (To My Face)’. With the trio currently working on their debut album, expected next year, the punk newcomers explain: "The song is essentially a diss track to all of our haters."

DEADLETTER

DEADLETTER have released a new single, ‘Weights’, and announced their debut EP, ‘Heat!’. The record is due 18th November and the track is the second single from the EP, following the Yorkshire sixpiece’s August release of ‘Binge’.

HONEY MOON

Honey Moon have shared that their debut album, ‘Same Old Paradise‘, will be arriving early next year – and a new single ‘Sweetheart’ is the latest taste.

It's the South London-based trio’s fourth track of 2022, following ‘Stop and Listen’, ‘VIP’, and ‘The Call’, all of which will also appear on the debut record.

The 11-track collection will be released on 31st January.

JOEY MAXWELL

Joey Maxwell has released a fresh track, ‘Fried’. The single follows his 2021 EP, ‘trying not to deep it’, and takes Joey Maxwell into a new era. The Londonbased singer explains: "I was going through a period where I felt slightly more unhinged than I usually would be, and I realised that it’s kind of more entertaining to be that way.

Being ‘Fried’ describes that emotion of wanting to come a bit loose and just see what happens."

READDORK.COM 19.

BONNIE KEMPLAY Words: Martyn Young.

Photo: Harvey Pearson.

Freshly inked with The 1975's Dirty Hit label, 2023 has big things in store for Bonnie Kemplay.

B

onnie Kemplay is more than a bit special. You only need to listen to about five seconds of her intimate and raw yet musical expansive songs to realise that we're dealing with a rare talent. With her forthcoming debut EP, 'Running Out Of Things To Say, Running Out Of Things To Do', the Scottish artist is making a significant statement of intent as a British contemporary of the wave of acclaimed and beloved US indie pop icons like Soccer Mommy and Clairo. What's even more exciting is there's even more to come. "I don't feel like I've fully discovered what my sound is," says Bonnie intriguingly.

From a very early age, Bonnie was destined to be a musician. With a deeply musical family, including her jazz guitar playing dad and songwriting brother, the Edinburgh singer-songwriter honed her craft by originally playing covers before she even reached the age of 10. "I feel like most people start by just covering stuff," she explains. "In a way, songwriting is subconsciously imitating people. Covers are just consciously initiating people by singing their songs." The first song

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Bonnie can remember covering is 'Fast Car' by Tracy Chapman, and it's fitting that she launched her pop career into the stratosphere with a spellbinding cover of The 1975's 'If You're Too Shy (Let Me Know)'. The goal, though, was always to develop and write her own songs despite a few bumps along the road. "For ages, I just played guitar because I found the idea of singing really humiliating," she admits. "I got over my fear. I found songwriting really difficult for a while, though. My brother was really into writing songs. He wrote tons of songs, so he encouraged me to start writing. I went to this community club called Totally Sound, and I had a guitar teacher there called Fraser, who was very encouraging. I started writing properly when I was 14. Very bad songs at first," she laughs.

Gradually Bonnie obtained experience performing whole busking in Edinburgh during the famous Fringe festival and began to realise that hold on, maybe I can actually do this. "It was something I've always wanted to do. For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be someone who wrote songs and sang them. As far as confidence

"FOR AGES, I JUST PLAYED GUITAR BECAUSE I FOUND THE IDEA OF SINGING REALLY HUMILIATING” B O NNI E K E M P L AY goes with it and feeling like I can do it, I think that came around 15 or 16. I liked my songs at least, so that was a start, and I guess it went from there."

All these formative experiences have been poured into her debut EP, which contains songs going right back to her early teenage years and chronicle her experiences studying at City of

Edinburgh Music School and then does something. Often it takes me the Royal Northern College of sometimes up to a year to finish Music in Manchester. Bonnie has a song. I'm not very structured. certainly been putting the work in.

Because I'm such a perfectionist, More exposure to a wider variety of I don't do the whole create and sounds and styles broadened her destroy thing. I just do something musical palate and encouraged her until it's right, and then that's going to experiment a bit with to be a song that I'm her songwriting which going to release. For FIVE you can hear in all the this EP, I didn't have FACTS little expansive nuances any choice. I had 15 ABOUT that adorn her delicate, songs and narrowed BONNIE introspective songs. Bonnie it down to the best KEMPLAY makes quiet music on a big six. Those were the scale. "I feel like I've only six songs I managed → She's from started consuming lots to finish because I like Edinburgh in Scotland. of different music since them." coming to college," she Across those six → Despite covering says. "Part of that is meeting The 1975 and songs, you can hear friends who are into artists the journey Bonnie has signing to their label Dirty Hit she that weren't really on my taken with her music. didn't actually know "Each song is about radar. If your friends really any of their songs like someone, then it's something different. beforehand. "I'm a interesting to check that 'Static' is at the far end big 1975 fan now out. I've been discovering and a bit experimental, but I didn't really listen to them more interesting music." and 'Was It Obvious?' before I signed Travelling at speed was the most stripped to the label. They on her journey of musical weren't really on my back. I'll always go back discovery, things really radar," she says. She to those two ends or began to ramp up for Bonnie subsequently met maybe stretch them a Matty and George this summer when she bit wider." but avoided being signed to this generation's The songs starstruck. "At the defining label Dirty Hit. themselves are vivid time I met Matty I liked his music but For someone who became vignettes of deeply wasn't a huge fan known covering The 1975 relatable feelings. "It's so I managed to be though, it's a different about friendships and relatively normal," Dirty Hit act that provided relationships ending," she laughs. an inspiring touchstone says Bonnie. "I've been → She's obsessed for Bonnie and maybe told that my songs are with playing games points the way forward. quite introspective, on her phone. "I "I've had a few revelations which makes sense had a Nokia for with certain artists where as I'm a massive self two years while all my friends had I become really obsessed analyser," she laughs. smartphones so I with them," she says. "I feel There's also trauma played snake all the a little bit embarrassed within the collection as time." that I'm obsessed with this she unpacks a period → Her favourite labelmate, but I started of uncertainty that record when she listening to The Japanese could have been fatal was 8 was the Alvin House last year. I thought for her career. "'Static' & The Chipmunks her music was so cool. I is about my injury," she album. hadn't heard anything like it reflects. "At the end → Her animal band before; it was so unique to of 2020, I developed would have some her. That made me think a this repetitive strain jumping frogs on bit differently about how I'd keyboards. "A hefty injury which persisted like to make music. I guess for ages. It was really animal" on bass, for example a Gorilla. going more in the less rubbish. I just couldn't A highland cow to bandy and more electronic play guitar without rep Scotland on sound or a mix of the two. feeling in pain. That drums and very My best friend Jed is super specifically a border was a prevalent thing in Collie dog on guitar into hyper pop and Charli my life, so it felt natural XCX. I got really into that as and vocals. to write about it. "A lot well. Not that my music is of exciting stuff has anything like hyperpop, but I think happened for me in the last year; if I've found more of an interest in I'm honest, it's all been a bit mixed production and electronic music." up with this injury. I was uncertain.

There's a lot of tender love and I need my arms to play guitar. It felt care that goes into Bonnie's music. like there was a big duality with it.

Everything blossoms organically at Now that I'm getting better, it feels its own pace." My writing process is like things are falling into place, and very slow and gradual," she explains. I can 100% be excited and happy "I rarely write a song knowing what and know that I've got a future in it's going to be about. My brain just music.” ■

PERSONAL TRAINER With a line-up that seems to have featured every musician in the Netherlands, and a debut album to cherish, maybe it's time to consider a Personal Trainer after all?

FIRST ON.↓

Words: Sam Taylor.

Photo: Marieke Hulzinga.

I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE INTERESTING TO WATCH A BAND PLAY FOR 24-HOURS STRAIGHT. IT SEEMED LIKE A VERY POWERFUL AND SAD THING TO DO”

LOVEJOY

→ If you know about Lovejoy, trust us, you know about Lovejoy. Yes, they're a band built from individuals with wildly successful 'other hustles', but find yourself at one of their shows and you'll get 'it' very quickly indeed.

Millions of followers, subscribers and likes in the online world doesn't always translate to wild, unfiltered mayhem in the live arena.

Here it does, though. Not only that - Lovejoy aren't some cynically put together cash in. If that was the case, you wouldn't find yourself applauding their Los Campesinos!-esque indie brilliance, would you? There's ones-to-watch, and then there's Lovejoy. Take your eyes off them at your peril.

HUMOUR

→ It's still relatively early days for Glasgow's Humour, but those early moves have proven them well worth the attention. Live, frontman Andreas Christodoulidis has commanded rooms in support of the likes of Folly Group and Do Nothing, while their six-track debut EP 'Pure Misery' - set for release on 25th November - only heightens their undoubted promise. Pretty soon, everyone's going to have a good sense of Humour (Sorry - Ed).

FAT DOG

→ Often, when writing about new talent, there's a slight sense of throwing names at the wall and seeing what sticks. Not with Fat Dog, though. Those that have seen them live - either in person or some fearsome clips posted to Youtube - will get there's something special going on here. With dates supporting world class talent spotters Sports Team ahead, expect to hear much more very soon.

W I L L E M S MIT

A

msterdam sevenpiece Personal Trainer have been building hype via an EP on buzzy label Holm Front (Walt Disco, Sports Team), and a reputation for mustsee live shows featuring an evershifting line-up of friends. Now, it's time for their debut album.

Frontman Willem Smit - who you may recognise from Canshaker Pi - tells us more.

Hi Willem, how's it going? What are you up to today?

I'm working on some band things today. Catching up on emails, making posters, stuff like that.

I'm alright.

I'm going to have dinner in a bit with my friends Pip, Abe and Ruben, with whom I organised this festival in Amsterdam called Curly Teeth. We had a lot of great Dutch bands, as well as PVA, Home Counties, Perspex, Bull, Getdown Services and Sports Team in this big new place in Amsterdam called Markt Centraal. We had a good time, and Abe suggested that he would make us a nice meal.

What first sparked your interest in music?

I think The Lion King soundtrack, the song 'The Company' by my dad's band Scram C Baby and the song 'Op Fietse' by Dutch band Skik. Those are early memories I have of enjoying music. I've been using things that I hung on the wall above the cupboard in my bedroom/living room as artwork for the singles we've been putting out.

I picked a huge photograph of a

big cruise ship by Joni Spaan that's hung on my dad's living room wall for the front cover of our record Big Love Blanket. I was looking for something that would make sense as artwork for our single 'The Lazer' and found this drawing of a band I made when I was five - hung on my dad's wall. I must've wanted to be in a band, or like him when I was that age.

How did you all meet, was it from being in other bands?

We've met during shows - I like to watch shows here in Amsterdam and invited most people to join the band at shows, I think!

I met our bassist Ruben in school; we've been playing in bands together since we were 14.

We probably first met our drummer Kick when we went to see his band, Stoer, around that time.

I probably first met our guitar player Franti when she was playing with Fuz around the same time.

Our percussion player Kilian, we met when he was interviewing Rubens and my former band Paulo, The Speed Monkey.

I must've met our keyboard player Abel when he started playing in this band Ruben, Kilian and I are in called Steve French.

Leon, who plays guitar with us, used to play drums in my last band Canshaker Pi. Can you remember the first song you wrote together? How has your music evolved since then?

I write the songs. Most parts are

pretty much fixed, but we mess around a bit in the rehearsal space to have things make a bit more sense, as I'm a pretty sloppy songwriter.

I did record an album in 2019 with a lot of people who were in Personal Trainer at the time (and a lot of other musicians from the Netherlands) called 'The Industry'. I wrote some very short and simple ideas for that, but the whole thing more collaborative and off-the-cuff than Personal Trainer material we work on as a band to play live.

I'm not 100% sure what the first song was I wrote for Personal Trainer, because I write in batches most of the time, and I had selected a couple of songs from my demo pile to work on with this new band. I do think 'The Lazer', which is on our album 'Big Love Blanket', was one of the first two or three.

shows and festivals with bands I like.

What do you most enjoy writing songs about?

I don't often set out to write a song about something in particular, and if I do try to, it's either very bad, and I lose interest, or I sort of lose track of what it was supposed to be about in the first place. Most of the time, the themes or subjects kind of slip in subconsciously. I enjoy writing words when I think something is funny or has a nice rhythmic flow. Music and words can work together nicely. I enjoy that too.

Tell us about your 24-hour gig where did the idea come from, and how was it to conduct? It sounds exhausting.

We were asked to do this residency at a Dutch venue called Patronaat in 2021. We could do what we wanted at this big venue.

We did a brainstorming session to come up with a cool livestream idea. We had all these complicated ideas to make things more interactive, but then I thought it would be interesting to watch a band play for 24-hours straight. It seemed like a very powerful and sad thing to do. I could imagine you'd want to check in to see if they were really still going, so it would be kind of interesting enough to return to. The original venue didn't want to go through with it, as they'd need to have people there non-stop, which would cost too much money or would be too hard to pull off or something. I was a bit obsessed with the idea, and I checked with the venue Paradiso in our hometown, Amsterdam. They wanted to do it, so we played non-stop to a huge legendary empty room for a very long time.

We had prepared by working in hours. We had enough songs to fill an hour at the time, so we did roughly 24 shows. It was probably the most exhausting thing I've ever done, but it was fun too.

Where would you like this album to take you?

I would love for us to play cool

Personal Trainer's album 'Big Love Blanket' is out 4th November.

READDORK.COM 21.

COVER FEATURE

C HAMPAGN E 22. DORK

ENNY

Over the last couple of years, ENNY has progressed to 'genuine star' status. Fronting magazines and building buzz, she's now heading into what she's referring to as 'Phase 2'. We're here to find out more.

WORDS: MARTYN YOUNG. PHOTOS: SARAH LOUISE BENNETT. MAKE UP: NANCE SYNTHIA KATENDE. HAIR: MAGALIE KATENDE. STYLING: ADEOLA JOHNSON & EL-SHADDAI NYAGODZI.

E PRO BLE MS. READDORK.COM 23.

COVER FEATURE

T ITS BEST, MUSIC IS ALL ABOUT PERSONALITIES. People who can take you on a journey and tell a story that can be illuminating, heartbreaking, inspiring or hilariously entertaining.

Sometimes all in the same song.

ENNY is one of those cherished artists, and over the last three years, the 27-year-old British rapper has established herself as one of our most exciting and inspiring creative voices.

ENNY is a special talent on the highest of levels, breaking boundaries and captivating audiences everywhere. One other thing she shares with that rarified group of exalted stars is a restless desire to improve and evolve. As she gets ready to return with new music, we're about to enter the next stage of ENNY's thrilling rise. "I'm calling this next chapter Phase 2," she says confidently.

It's fair to say Phase 1 for ENNY has gone quite well. From underground hype to overground breakthrough and global acclaim, ENNY is making good on years of promise and a gradual progression of honing her craft and following her own

path. From early musical experiments writing and creating freestyle videos on YouTube in 2018 to her massive breakout moment with the incendiary defining anthem 'Peng Black Girls' in 2020, ENNY's journey has been characterised by a desire to be the absolute best she can be. Nothing rushed. Nothing forced. Everything real.

She's cultivated a string of hot tracks, features and collabs that culminated in her 2021 debut EP 'Under Twenty Five'.

In late 2022 though, the vibes are slightly different as ENNY embarks on her new era, emboldened and invigorated by a year of relentless touring, performing and self-reflection. "It's been really interesting.

I've had a lot of self-growth," she explains.

"Experiencing a long run of tours for the first time as an artist has been really sick."

It's a challenge many new artists face.

How do you translate your music from the studio to live audiences? "Experiencing the intensity of it - I've always heard people describe it, but just being in it, it's a whole different world," she admits. "Going out and performing live is a lot, and you have to look after yourself." It's in those live experiences that it can hit you that the thing you've been dreaming of and working towards since you were a child is actually happening. "I did a festival in Germany, and it was a very crazy moment," she exclaims. "It was a sick experience; as an artist, it's something you always hope for.

To catch people where English isn't their

first language signing your songs is proper cool."

The drive to succeed and do it on her own terms has characterised ENNY's rise.

She's always conscious of the importance of shaking things up and never staying still. Getting noticed is one thing, but challenging yourself and pushing forward, that's the really exciting part. "It's been really interesting going after something and getting it," she reflects. "I always say that's the weird thing where it's something you've always hoped for, and you have tunnel vision for it, and it actually happens.

When it happens, you're kind of like 'oh'.

Then you've got to continue making it happen, and once it happens once, you don't just stop - you've got to continue and evolve as an artist and find new inspiration and meaning behind what you're doing it for. Initially, you're doing it to be known, so people hear you and now, once people know your music, what's next?"

We'll get to what's next, but it's important to take a step and look at what's gone before. For ENNY, her musical journey is one entwined with discovery and seeking out the transcendent feelings art can inspire. She's a creative person on lots of levels. She has a lifelong love of film and visual arts, and you can see that in her brilliantly creative music videos. "I've always liked the visual and creative side of film and stories. That's something that's always stuck with me as a dream to get

"THE VISION IS A COMBINATION OF WANTING TO BE THE BEST ARTIST IN THE WORLD AND ALSO JUST BEING TRUTHFUL" - ENNY

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ENNY

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COVER FEATURE

26. DORK

ENNY

into that industry as well," she says. In terms of music, though, her formative touchstones were rooted in soaking up the knowledge and passion of her family while growing up in London as the youngest of six kids. "I grew up with a lot of music in my house," she begins.

"My dad was the person that loved music growing up; that's where I got my love of music. Learning how to start writing songs really young with a keyboard and listening to what my siblings and my mum were into. Music was a really prominent essence as a child. I'm the youngest and the last one, and I was just taking in everything."

It wasn't all just instant adoration for her dad's passions, though. Like many kids, her initial instinct was to rebel.

"I remember jazz, but I hated it," she laughs. "I didn't get it. My dad would always be like, this is the stuff, man.

I'd be like, this is crap; I want to listen to some hip-hop or Spice Girls. Then I got older and understood that he had a point and that this was really the stuff.

I listened to people like Nat King Cole and Stevie Wonder and a lot of grime from my siblings and a lot of gospel from my mum."

There's nothing particularly specific she took from those early years as an influence; it was more a kind of elemental feeling of the power of music. "I just really liked the way that music could make you feel. It was an emotional experience," she explains. "You hear a sad song, and then you're like, oh my god, why am I staring out the window pretending like I'm crying? Or you hear a happy song, and then you want to dance and feel good, and it makes you feel a bit better. I was understanding the emotional levels that music has."

Those emotional depths are present in the amorphous and constantly evolving hip-hop of her music. Her tracks can be incredibly direct and fevered, while equally, they can be soft, gentle and heartstopping in their emotional resonance. The one thing that centres everything is ENNY's presence and scene-stealing ability as a rapper on a level that very few artists can match. The confidence to do that, though, wasn't always there. It was a work in progress that she's cultivated over the years. "My confidence has had to grow as naturally as possible," she says, reflecting on her development as an artist. "I was really shy and introverted, and I still am, but I feel like I'm a bit better. It happened naturally, from going from someone who was behind cameras and taking pictures of people to being in the front of pictures and being comfortable talking to people that you don't know. I'm used to being in safe environments with people I know in a very sheltered existence. It happened naturally, and I'm happy that it happened because I always thought that I wouldn't be able to be that person, and now I can when I need to, so that's really cool."

"One thing I've learned about myself is I don't know it all," she adds. "I don't have all the answers, so it's always good to hear what other people have to say and take advice."

ENNY takes immense pride in her art and pride in showing up every time.

Integrity, passion, and drive power her to always progress and reach higher. She's an artist who knows exactly what she

wants to do. "The vision is a combination of wanting to be the best rapper and the best artist in the world and also just being truthful and communicating the truth of the art as well as my truth," she says.

Her latest track, 'Champagne Problems' is an enticing scene setter for Phase 2. A whip-smart, assured, and concise piece of storytelling that encompasses social commentary, political outrage, and brilliantly clever and witty wordplay, it's a striking return that acts as a palate cleanser for a new era while paying homage to the freedom of her earliest days. 'Champagne Problems' is me reminding myself I love rapping," she says excitedly. "I like the art of rapping. I'm from that era of proper hip-hop, and it's me getting back to that.

I started off initially just doing freestyles anyway, so this is me trying to bring that competitive swag back."

In terms of the lyrics, it's a playful whirlwind rush through the new experiences ENNY has had in her first rush of fame. "'Champagne Problems' is where sometimes you're complaining about things, and you're in a different space in life. You've got issues, but these are issues you'd probably have wanted a couple of years ago," she explains. "I sometimes find myself getting caught up and overthinking things that weren't really that deep, and I'd have conversations with people, and at the end, we'll be like, what were we even talking about?! Yeah, it's a problem, but fam, this is a great problem to have. It was a play on that."

One of the many lyrical references in the new single is for her trademark hit 'Peng Black Girls'. It's indicative of the enduring legacy of the song and how it's become something bigger than just a song and something more akin to a state of mind for an immersive progressive universe of empowerment and solidarity.

"I don't want to just be like, oh you made that song 'Peng Black Girls', and we celebrated that one time," she says. "The feeling and the meaning behind it needs to carry on. If I keep it alive without blatantly saying it or even just giving a nod to it, then that's important. I realised how important that song is to a lot of people. When I'm doing shows and doing shows in different countries and hearing people, no matter the race, shout back, 'There's peng black girls in my area code' has been a really eye-opening thing.

That's the kind of context that I think I needed."

ENNY cites the inspiring ending of Stormzy's new video for 'Mel Made Me Do It' as an example of what that feeling of solidarity she instils in 'Peng Black Girls' looks like and endures. "If there was something to represent unity and the progression of the UK music scene and us as a people, then that imagery is something that has stuck with people."

The desire to make music that matters on a deep and emotional level and truly inspires and connects is at the heart of what ENNY does and is part of her growth as an artist. The early rush of success was exciting, but the possibilities are infinite for what comes next. "I just relistened to 'Under Twenty Five' after a long time, and it does feel like a different section of life," she reflects. "It feels like the younger version

"THIS IS ME TRYING TO BRING THAT COMPETITIVE SWAG BACK" - ENNY

READDORK.COM 27.

COVER FEATURE

"I DO WANT TO TRY AN INDIE ROCK RECORD; SOMETHING ARCTIC MONKEYS-ISH" - ENNY

of myself. It's nice to see the difference in the music I have now and the music I had then. It's the more present and mature ENNY. The essence that I'm in right now is that I don't know what that sounds like. I don't know what it is or what the intention is. I have all the songs, but it's not like one room of songs. That's where I'm at with what's coming next. It's an evolution, and I'm figuring it out. I like documenting that journey through music as well."

One of the common themes of her new music is the desire to experiment and not be bound to one sound or style. There's nothing that can be considered too out of the box. "I do want to try an indie rock record," she says intriguingly. "Something Arctic Monkeys-ish from that sort of era.

When I was growing up, there were a lot of indie bands that I'd hear around, and I feel like I don't get to hear that enough anymore."

The ability to be musically dynamic is

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something that ENNY values. "Versatility is the main thing," she says. "I think everyone gets caught up in one sound and just wants to do that one sound and exhausts every bit of creativity before moving on to the next. You need to be able to expand your palate and try a bunch of different stuff, so when the wave is over, your wave's not over."

As someone with a deep love of hip-hop's golden past, ENNY's music is in the lineage of socially conscious and progressive rap legends like Lauryn Hill and Nas. She's unafraid to tackle any theme and dextrously manages to blend the political and the personal in all its heaviness and silliness. "I love that stuff," she says of the funny and endearing playful lines she drops into her tracks. "It's a balance I always try to find. We can get caught up being so political, and it can be quite heavy for people, so it can be nice to have an easier listen so you don't feel like

you're being shouted at, but just having a conversation with people." There are times, though, when some more serious themes are unavoidable.

"I just have to be honest," she states.

"I don't want to force it that I'm trying to push a political agenda or something like that, but I think the reality of where we are in life, sometimes you have to do that.

I always go back to Nina Simone saying, 'we have to reflect the times that you're in'.

If the government are acting up, then I'm going to make reference to it. I just write about it, and I like to put nuances in my music videos. The video for 'Champagne Problems' has a little nod to how I feel about the government right now." ENNY's music videos are always appointment viewing. "I like to drop little Easter eggs in music videos. They are super important, and music and the music videos are the things that I'm hyper-critical over. It has to portray what I'm trying to say and the

emotions I want people to feel. Even when I'm working with directors, and it's their visions, I'm like hey, throw this it so it can match this lyric."

The spiritual home of ENNY's music is based in her local community in Thamesmead in London. "I live in southeast London, but I live on the edge of southeast London, so part of it is Kent and part of it is London," she explains. "It's weird how it's like yeah, there's flats, but there's also a bunch of horses. I like the essence that there's a whole bunch going on, but there's a lot of greenery. I feel like I've been here so long that it's become a part of who I am and what raised me." Despite the familiarity, ENNY is eager not to romanticise contemporary London. "London isn't the same great vibes that it used to be," she continues. "The prices of apartments are horrible. It's just really expensive and is clearly becoming more expensive to live here. At this moment in time, I'm not like, ahhh, It's more like I'm caught in a memory of how London felt like when I was growing up than how London feels like right now.

To be completely honest, I don't feel happy in London right now."

Does she ever see herself moving away from London completely? "Yes, 100%," she replies instantly. "I just kind of want to float around. I don't really want to lay down roots anymore. I've been spending a lot of time going to places outside London, places that are so green. Cornwall was so beautiful. That was the most beautiful place I've experienced this year. I was only there for 24 hours for a festival, but there was a beach, and it was like I'd entered a really cool Instagram picture. The sky was pink, and the energy was really different.

It was something I'd never experienced and something I couldn't believe I was experiencing in the UK. When you get out of London, that's when you realise that the world is very big, and sometimes you shouldn't get so caught up in being from London and the hustle and bustle, and you need to take a second out of it."

That desire to escape is reflected in the global ambitions of ENNY's music.

"It's world domination," she declared on the iconic earlier single 'I Want'. No matter where she is, though, or how big her music gets, the principles remain the same.

"I'm just my music, so wherever I go and perform, it's just going to be that little Nigerian girl from London performing and telling her story no matter what space I'm in," she says. The reality always is no matter where anyone else is from, they're going to relate in one shape or another.

We're all living the same experience but with different vibes."

As Phase 2 of ENNY's evolution develops, there's bound to be lots of surprises and maybe a few intriguing collabs from an artist everyone wants a piece of. She's eager to continue on the path of releasing EPs and a string of connected singles before getting to the point of an album. "I feel like an album is a very big deal, and I still feel like I have a lot of music to make," she says. One thing is for sure, though even if there are so many ideas floating around that ENNY isn't quite sure yet what it all might sound like, she certainly knows what it's going to feel like. "The next vibe is, I don't even know. It's a more outspoken me. I'm coming for people," she laughs. "No one's safe; everyone is open game." ■ ENNY's single 'Champagne Problems' is out now.

ENNY

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FEATURE

At the start of 2020, with a new album in tow, The Big Moon were ready to move up a gear.

Then everything stopped. One pandemic later, they're back - their lives changed, but better, and closer together, than ever before.

WORDS: JESSICA GOODMAN. PHOTOS: PATRICK GUNNING.

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THE BIG MOON

READDORK.COM 31.

FEATURE

E'RE TALKING ABOUT THE REALITY OF HAVING A PERIOD ON A TOUR BUS," JULES STARTS. It's Friday morning, and The Big Moon are in Glasgow, mid-way through a tour that's been two years in the making.

When we find them, Jules, Celia, Soph, and Fern are curled up around the sofa, discussing the cuteness of synced-up cycles and lamenting the difficulties that come with spending extended amounts of time on a vehicle that doesn't have toilet-paper-flushing capabilities.

"Just one of the ways in which it's not built for women, this touring life," Celia sighs. It's not been an easy return to life on the road (the group recently got back from performing at a Spanish festival to find that some of their equipment was stranded along the way), but as they relax a few hours before playing a headline show, there's every sense that, obstacles be damned, this is where the band are meant to be.

Originally announced to promote and celebrate the release of their second album in

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2020, this tour is long overdue. When The Big Moon released 'Walking Like We Do' at the start of the decade, it was met with excitement and acclaim. But, as every story of that year goes, it wasn't long before any plans they had were cancelled in the face of the global pandemic.

Any disappointment they might have felt at missed opportunities is evenly tempered.

"There were other things to think about," Celia states, "things that weren't how our album was being received or what was happening with that."

Instead, the way they look back on that era of their existence as a band is through the stories they've heard from family, friends, and fans. Fern remembers hearing from a friend of a friend working as a doctor in Melbourne during lockdown. "She was saying that she just kept repeating 'Barcelona' and her and her doctor friends just danced to it," she recalls, prompting a chorus of heartfelt 'aww's from her bandmates. "You hear about those stories and you're just like, 'oh fuck, it is actually out there, and it is being heard and seen.'"

"Music always finds a way," Celia enthuses.

Not just a paraphrased quote from Jurassic Park, this is something these four women earnestly believe in. Jules questions what it might've been like, trying to get through these past few years without music – or movies or TV shows or any culture – and her sisters-in-sound are quick to echo her sentiment. "Art is such an important part of getting through life," Celia expresses, "and making things feel bearable and exciting or magical."

Something they have missed over the past two years is the ability to connect in person, to perform and play and sing, while being in the moment with a room full of people all enthusiastic to share in the same. This is what they're revelling in being able to rediscover now they're back on the road. More than what was initially intended – a chance to give their second record a new life on stage – these shows have now become an opportunity to air new material from their new album 'Here Is Everything'.

When The Big Moon announced their third record, the news came alongside the release of lead single, 'Wide Eyes'. An anthemic ode to love, to friendship, family, and support, the song was accompanied by a video showing the band enthusiastically partaking in The World's Most Heartfelt Friendship Handshake (we admit we don't know the stats behind this, but we feel valid in giving the group this accolade – Ed).

The video's release was met with an outpouring of emotion.

Mentioning it in conversation with the band does much the same. It only takes it being brought up for Celia to admit she's nearly crying. "We thought it was going to be funny," she states, "silly and funny," while Soph is quick to agree, saying "we didn't get how emotional it is as well."

"To spend two or three weeks together just slapping each other's hands..." Jules describes

of the rehearsals that went into making the video. "It was the best fun?" she concludes, her surprise at finding so much happiness in something so simple turning her statement into a question. "I feel like I have never enjoyed anything so much in my life."

A portrayal of the joy that's found in friendship and connection, a celebration of trust and touch, the video shows who The Big Moon are at their very core: it's fun, it's playful, it's poignant, and when all four of the band are together it works in a way that's unlike anything else. Watching each other rehearse the group describe as being like witnessing a secret language. Rehearsing together all four of them and discovering that language to be innate to them all was an experience they found to be as mystifying as it was magical.

It doesn't take long in their presence to realise that the emotion we see in the 'Wide Eyes' video isn't just for show: this is just who The Big Moon are. In conversation, if one of them starts to overthink what they're saying, the others are quick to chime in with support and affirmation. If another starts to lag, lost in thought or feeling tired, the others are quick to offer cheers, hugs, or to share their tea.

They have an innate sense of each other – where they're at, what they need – that only the closest friends can have, and using that to boost each other up comes as naturally to them as moving.

"This is a weird job," Celia comments of being in a band. "It's hard to quantify the importance of it." Whatever it is you do, it can be hard to recognise what you're bringing to the table. In music, success is largely dependent on an audience connecting with what you create. For The Big Moon, they're just trying to do each other justice and do each other proud. "We just do it," Celia continues.

"We just are us and we just love each other and take care of each other. Unless someone tells you, you don't know that's what other people are feeling too."

The innate connection they've come to share is what enabled them to bring their new album to life. Written over the course of the past two years – during which not only did the band experience lockdowns and isolation like the rest of us, but Jules grew, gave birth to, and began to raise another human being – 'Here Is Everything' is a testament to, well, everything.

"It documents this whole insane journey," Jules describes, "lockdown, freedom, pregnancy, birth, motherhood, coming back together again... All of those things are trapped inside this album." Here, she takes a moment to think over the things she just listed, then laughs. "It's been a crazy couple of years."

An album of two halves, 'Here Is Everything' encompasses all the fear and questioning and excitement of pregnancy, as well as the exhaustion and elation and adoration of motherhood. Jules jokes that she started writing during lockdown with the mindset of "'what the hell else am I going to do right now?'" but it's always been in this band's nature to write songs that are true to them.

"It's my way of processing things and my way of trying to be normal, or trying to have my normal life," Jules describes of songwriting. "I feel like I will always just write songs about my experience and try to describe what I'm seeing and feeling. I don't think I could have written songs about anything else because it was all I was thinking about."

Seeking out other people's stories of their experiences with pregnancy and motherhood through podcasts and books and YouTube videos, it seemed natural to Jules to write her own experience of what she was going through and turn it into music. "Being pregnant is just

THE BIG MOON

extraordinary," she describes. "I know it's also really normal and billions of people have done it throughout history, but if you talk to the person it's happening to, it never stops being extraordinary."

"I feel like not enough parents get the chance or the time to tell their story because they're so fucking busy," she continues, laughing. "As soon as you have a child, you have 1% of the amount of energy that you used to have." Written from her experience of pregnancy, birth, and motherhood, it's the connection this group have, and the support they give each other, that enabled them to bring these songs to life and make the record what it is.

After getting together to record in early 2021, doing virus tests every day to enable them to do so (with the – in hindsight, "sort of insane" – determination to put out a record before Jules had her baby), the band eventually paused with the promise to regroup when they were ready. When they did regroup, several months and the birth of a child later, in a recording studio that Fern built in her house, their creativity found a new lease of life.

"We opened Pandora's Box, which was a mess," Jules states, prompting empathetic groans from her band mates.

"The four of us together, with the baby, at Fern's house, drank shitloads of cups of tea and coffee, and just fixed it." It was a process that the band describe as being "a bit like renewing our vows."

"We were like these satellites that were so far apart," Jules portrays. "Then we came back together and recommitted and worked together on these songs and made them what we wanted."

The result is an album the band couldn't imagine being more proud of.

Jules describes it as half "questioningwhile-pregnant songs," and half "mad, hyper-emotional, hormonal love songs, where I'm just exhausted but more in love than I've ever been." All four of the band members say they've been listening to it a lot. They state that they do so with variations of "I know it's embarrassing," but their enthusiasm for what they've created is a testament to how much they put into it and how proud they are of what they've made.

"The point of music is to make you feel like less of a weirdo, to make you feel not alone," Jules conveys. "So when other people are saying 'I hear you and I have this experience too', it makes me feel better to know that I'm not by myself. That is the point of all of this, for me."

It's something their fans have been quick to connect to, and something the rest of the band are quick to affirm, too.

"People saying things like 'I'm going through this right now, and I just listened to your song...' I found that so moving to read," Soph states, "and I'm not in your position or their position," she says to Jules. Of the songs themselves, she says that "even though it's about a specific thing, I feel like you can relate it to so much."

"I find it inspiring to be able to listen to that," she continues, "but I can also take some of the lyrics, and they make sense to me in lots of different ways."

Finding affirmation and connection in each other's voices, working together in The Big Moon is – as it's always been

– a labour of love, a way to create while furthering their understanding of the world, not just through each other, but through anyone who connects to what they do. "That's the beauty of music," Soph states.

They've come a long way since they started out. It's been nearly a decade since they came together through a shared desire to make music (spend any time with them, and it seems illogical that they're not life-long friends, but the four women actually first met after Jules put a shout-out on Facebook for likeminded musicians). In that time, they've found success on their own terms.

"When we first started out, just the fact that we were women in a band was the conversation," Celia groans. "That's only about eight years ago." Now, to spend a conversation focused on that seems like a parody when there's so much more to say. Of course, they're not the only ones to have encountered this: earlier this year Self Esteem took aim at the topic, performing at South By Southwest with her whole band decked out in t-shirts bearing the statement.

'WHAT'S IT LIKE BEING A WOMAN IN MUSIC?' "When we were nominated for the Mercury Prize [in 2017], only, like, two other all-female bands had ever been nominated for it," Celia continues, "and one of them was the Spice Girls."

Talking about it now, the group are all enthusiasm over how much has changed. On a personal level, it's meant they can make the music they want to make on their own terms, and talk about it in the way they want to talk about it, too. "It was really great to just be able to do it the way that we want to do it, to take Jules' lead in the way that she wants to do things and support it and just be really open about what we're going through," Celia expresses.

"It's so nice to be open," Jules agrees.

In being able to give voice to her experiences, with the love and support of her bandmates, she's been able to not only find, but share the catharsis that making this album has given her.

"The whole world around fertility and birth, everyone's going through huge, emotional things in this weird, silent space," she describes. "It's just shrouded in darkness and mystery. It is really dividing, and that's sad and weird. So it just feels really amazing to have a space where we can be really loud about it and open it up."

Asked what they hope people might hear in or take from their new record, there's a moment of silence where the band all look at each other, before Celia abruptly bursts into song. "YOU ARE NOT ALONE!" she vocalises, to the laughter of her bandmates. The message she's trying to convey is one they all agree on.

"I think once you release a song, it's not yours anymore," Jules expresses.

"It's out there. I want people to take it and hear their own stories in it." Because that's what it's always been about for this band: connection. "It's just a soundtrack to life, isn't it, music?" she questions.

"You always just catch whatever you want." So find it, play it, make it your own.

As the album's title suggests, 'Here Is Everything', and now it's yours for the taking. ■ The Big Moon's album 'Here Is Everything' is out now.

"THE POINT OF MUSIC IS TO MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE LESS OF A WEIRDO, TO MAKE YOU FEEL NOT ALONE" - JULES JACKSON READDORK.COM 33.

Robin Skinner is an artist who means more to his fans than most. Already a bedroom pop sensation, new album 'worm food' sees Cavetown pushing out towards new horizons.

WORDS: NEIVE MCCARTHY. PHOTOS: EMILY MARCOVECCHIO. PHOTO ASSISTANTS: SOPHIE SCOTT, VENDY PALKOVIČOVÁ.

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CAVETOWN

READDORK.COM 35.

FEATURE

ANY OF US WILL REMEMBER HEARING THE BELOVED STORY OF THE LITTLE PRINCE AS CHILDREN. If you need to jog your memory, it's the dreamy-eyed account of a narrator who meets the little prince of a small planet and learns about loneliness, friendship, sadness and love. It's an embrace of that openmindedness you have as a child and how we inevitably lose sight of that as we grow older.

The video for Cavetown's '1994' sees Robin Skinner assume that princely role. Flying through the cosmos, that narrative is flipped on its head; instead, the story acts as a means of coming to terms with leaving childhood behind. It's the kind of contemplative, incisive creativity that only he could be capable of. On his latest album, 'worm food', that role of loving, thoughtful navigator through an uncertain time seems to come naturally to Robin. As he delves into his own coming-of-age, he extends a much-needed reassurance to his listeners that everything is going to be okay.

In part, that healthy output seems to stem from the equally restorative environment in which the album came to life in. Returning to the home studio where each Cavetown project thus far has been born, a change in mentality proved crucial. "Both me and my management team have learnt a lot about me and the way that I work, or the way that's best for me to work," reflects Robin. "When I wrote the last

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album I released, I was also on tour, so it was a stressful experience. It was good to go through because I learnt what my threshold is for busyness and responsibilities. On this album, I've been given a lot of space and a lot of time and a lot of trust. It's been a much better experience mentally for me."

That proved fundamental for 'worm food' – at one's own pace, with as little pressure as possible, creativity blooms. The result can only be something more productive and assured, something which rang true for Robin. "If I'm feeling good, I'm able to attach this album to feeling good, and I'm able to feel more proud of it because it has formed in a more comfortable way. I'm definitely feeling better about this album now than I did about 'Sleepyhead' at the same time when I was working on that. I'm still very proud of that album, but I feel more in control of this one."

Gaining control often stems from understanding, something Cavetown has been working on consistently and often chronicles on 'worm food'. It's an empathetic, caring body of work that acknowledges that things take time and that a great deal of growing up is a learning curve. "Every time I release something, I definitely put pressure on myself to make the next thing better than anything I've ever made," Robin admits. "At a certain point, it gets unrealistic. That can make it difficult to keep myself focused and not get frustrated if I'm putting pressure on myself. I don't think I feel pressure externally. It's all myself. That's something I've learnt to get better at, being compassionate."

Though being more tender towards yourself is a vital lesson at play on 'worm food', it's not always sustainable. For that learning and growth to occur, there has to be some awareness of the less than savoury parts.

It's a journey, after all. 'Kill U', for example, is an infuriated examination of the aspects of yourself you dislike so fiercely you want to kill them. A particular line in the chorus, "I can't fall asleep / because this is adulthood," seems to epitomise a key part of the album's struggle. Even in the face of things you don't want to admit, you have to continually show up and fight your battles. By accompanying these realisations with effortless vocals and a steadfast current of lowly growling guitars and stomping beats, Robin makes them less barbed.

"I definitely think on this album there's a good balance," Robin affirms. "It picks you up and down as you listen through. There are a lot of songs where I've consciously tried not to add too much if the song is good on its own. I can get carried away adding more and more instruments, but it's good to pull it back and keep something more gentle. Some of them barely even have any percussion and stuff. I do try to bring the levels up and down quite a lot within songs. I like having little sections where it's a lot more gentle – that can make the bigger moments more exciting within the same song.

I think that comes quite naturally. I go through phases even within an album cycle of wanting to scream and shout on stage and then also wanting to whisper the words – it kind of works in my favour in that way."

An innate affinity for reflecting the rollercoaster-like state of emotions allows the album to offer an opportunity to unleash the full weight of its feelings, whether that's bouncing around to tracks like 'Heart Attack', or curling up into a ball and allowing the heart to be soothed by the string quartet employed on 'Laundry Day'. Robin's penchant for storytelling-like lyricism acts as a hand to hold through each wave of hurt, joy, bitterness and glee. It feels at times like he will always

have the most comforting thing to say at each moment on hand – across 'worm food', he somehow provides a track for every mood and mixed feeling.

"A lot of the time, I can't tell you where certain lyrics come from and sometimes, I don't really understand them until afterwards. They just feel like the right words to say," says Robin.

"I like to think that I have the words in my head to understand things that I'm struggling to process or things that I'm going through, but I just haven't linked them together. Writing a song about it really helps me to make those links and turn something confusing and maybe upsetting into a tangible thing that I am in control of and that I can feel proud of."

As music lovers, we turn to songs to reassure us in all periods of life, but those songs need to come from somewhere. Artists like Cavetown provide those moments of solace through the nature of their lyrical style.

When your innermost feelings subconsciously pour out onto the page, it bridges that gap between artist and listener and turns that relationship into something akin to a confidante. For a lot of Cavetown fans, this seems to be the case. With TikTok comment sections rife with confessions like "he doesn't know how many young people he has helped, his songs got me through everything going on in life", it's safe to say that in processing his own emotions through his songs, he, in turn, helps his fans process theirs too.

"It's an interesting thing that I hadn't deconstructed," Robin contemplates. "I find it hard to talk about what certain songs mean because they might be difficult things, or things that I am ashamed of or have been finding it hard to process. Yet at the same time, I'm sharing it with whoever in the world wants to listen to it. It's a private thing, but I'm sharing it with the world for some reason. By being shared, they can be heard and understood.

Even if I don't want to directly talk about it with specific people in my life, it's good to be heard in whatever form that happens to take."

Once out in the world, Robin's songs often take on new meanings and resonate differently for different people. It's an act of letting go in a way – as if having encapsulated those experiences into a song, the hard feelings can now be released. Ultimately, it is up to the individual listener to decide what to do with those going forwards. "It's really special. When I'm in the zone writing, I forget that that can be a result of putting music out. I do it for me and to help me with what I'm going through. When I'm reminded that happens because I do my own silly processing on my own, it's very cool, and I'm lucky to be able to give that to people."

It will come as a welcome comfort for many as Robin continues to lead the way through this journey so many of his fans will be experiencing too. It returns to that need for compassion and growth. While on 'Sleepyhead', the Chloe Moriondo feature track 'Snail' saw Robin declare, "I just wanna be a kid again!", this time around, there's a newfound acceptance for what might come next. '1994' focuses instead on treating yourself in the present as tenderly as you would your younger self; it's less a need to revert to when things were easier and more an attempt to make peace with the fact things are not. When you look in the mirror, somewhere inside of you is the carefree six-year-old you once were – they don't just disappear. It's a realisation that favours kindness, sensitivity and progression over avoidance.

"I find it hard to connect myself now to past versions of myself," Robin explains. "They feel very separate. But if a child was stood in front of you, there are some things people say to

CAVETOWN

themselves that you would never say to a child. Why is it different when it's you?

I think that's important to remember.

It's such a simple concept, but it's taken me a long time to internalise. It's still a process, but I think it's an important thing to learn to do."

That softness pads out the sharper edges of 'worm food'. From the tranquil guitars of 'Juno' to the airiness of the album's title track, it feels as though with each hard truth is the chance to exhale and deal with the hit. It's a tumble through time and space with each gutting acknowledgement, but with a padded fortress of blankets and pillows to break your fall in the end.

To curate such a sonic boost of love and affection, Robin called upon his own loved ones for some assistance. 'Wasabi' is a particularly special cut – Robin's voice takes on a searing quality in an attempt to come to terms with feelings around a crush. It's an open wound, an aching, sore moment nestled in the album. Yet, once again, Robin finds a sonic plaster to seal the wound. In this case, it's Robin's mum, a baroque flute player who had long since been prodding him to get her involved with his music.

"She would have been so upset if I got some random flautist," laughs Robin.

"Since I produce whilst I write, I can hear in my head what will come next. I was hearing a fluttery, distant flute just flying around. I wrote a little thing in Logic, and I asked if she wanted to play. She plays for serious orchestras, so it's a very different experience for her. When she does recordings or plays live with them, you have to get it right in one go.

I don't think I communicated to her that we can stop and start, you can chop it up and make it sound like a full take. Bless her, she got up in the morning, went to my studio and tried to learn it. It's very fast, and there's not really anywhere to breathe. It's a very complex melody. She came back inside really emotional, and she was like, 'Robin, I'm sorry I can't do it! I can't play this! It's too fast. I don't think you're going to get a good take!'. I asked her to play me one bar, and it was perfect; we could do it piece by piece.

She was stressed because she wanted to do it perfectly first time, but we did it bit by bit. It's something I know she could play if she had the time, but I sprung it on her a day before, so it was difficult, but when I played her the full edit of it, she had tears in her eyes."

The flute wraps around you when you listen to 'Wasabi', making the raw pain of Robin's lyricism easier to bare. It's a beautiful moment, one that captures the poignancy of the album completely – bittersweet and breathless, it proves that everything will be manageable eventually. Sometimes all it takes is a soul-stirring flute solo to make things feel better.

It's not the first time a Cavetown track has included a more rogue instrument than you might expect. However, those more surprising moments are something Robin was more conscious of including this time around. "I definitely pushed myself with having more exciting builds and drops and stuff and imagining what I would be doing at those times.

You have to consider, is this a moment I can be jumping around or do I have to focus on singing? I've given myself the

space to jump around more to help with the energy in my builds. I've definitely pictured in my head what the live set can look like, and with the production, with the lights and stuff we're able to do more and more every time. I'm excited to see what we can design for those exciting drops – I think it's going to be really cool."

'Frog' features a bouncy, cartoon-ish synth moment that undoubtedly will have audiences enamoured and just as buoyant, whilst the expansive 'Grey Space' is bound to be disconcertingly immersive in a live setting. In considering these factors, the tracks become bigger than their predecessors, in fact. Having that live conception in mind transforms them into their own larger-than-life entities, far beyond the album.

It's fitting, too, that there's such an intense level of thought towards how an audience might respond to certain aspects of songs and settings.

Cavetown's fanbase is incredibly closeknit, and there's no doubt that this stems from the care Robin has for them. It's evident that even in making such deeply personal music and going through this journey for his own sake, the Cavetown listeners are always in the back of his mind.

"They have always been so sweet and lovely. They really deserve to be cared for. Especially in something I'm organising, like a show, it matters a lot to me that they feel safe, welcome, and comfortable. It's what it's all for, touring, for them. I want to make sure everyone has as good of an experience as they possibly can. Even outside of a show, I want them to feel like I know they exist, and I care about them, whether we do that through some kind of charity thing – someone who is going through something related to that charity could be like, oh, that's cool, he recognises people like me. I think it's important that people feel heard in that way."

It becomes resoundingly clear that care is at the core of 'worm food', in many different iterations. Care for fans, those who have had Robin's back every step of the way. Care for himself and the child he once was. Care for the small details that make the record so rich. It's an album born from the very core of Cavetown – involved in every step of the way, it feels like an album that could only have been made by someone as sensitive and thoughtful an artist as he. As Robin and others embark on this journey into adulthood good and proper, they have the sonic antidote at hand to soothe any worries about what comes next.

The Little Prince famously said, "all grown-ups were once children." 'worm food' hones in on that message completely. It instructs you to take care, to treat yourself with kindness and to never lose sight of how far you've come.

To keep that inner child of yours, and the light they had, in your mind always.

"Each song was a time capsule of that feeling," Robin concludes. "Maybe in the future, I'll look back on it and think, I don't relate to this anymore. I worked through it. It's easy to forget the progress you can make, and it can be nice to look back and acknowledge that you've improved and worked through that." ■ Cavetown's album 'worm food' is out 4th November.

"I FIND IT HARD TO CONNECT MYSELF NOW TO PAST VERSIONS OF MYSELF" - CAVETOWN READDORK.COM 37.

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They've just dropped a new track, 'Love Will Get You There', and announced their second album, 'Cuts and Bruises', to come early next year. But after a chart topping debut, are Inhaler ready to do it all over again?

WORDS: JAMIE MACMILLAN. PHOTOS: LEWIS EVANS.

ALLING THEMSELVES 'LOSERS' WITHIN MINUTES OF THE INTERVIEW BEGINNING ISN'T THE KIND OF GRANDIOSE FIGHTING TALK YOU'D EXPECT TO HEAR FROM A CHART-TOPPING, GLOBE-TROTTING AND HYSTERIAINDUCING BAND LIKE INHALER. After the highlydeserved, and frankly massive, success that the four Dublin lads achieved with 'It Won't Always Be Like This', you'd expect them to be breezing easily through life. But then, these aren't normal times, and Inhaler aren't your normal kind of band either.

A relentless tour schedule has followed ever since, with this particular bunch of long-time mates facing the same challenges and pitfalls that have caught up with a number of our favourite artists this year. And yet, somehow, they have still managed to squeeze in the recording of a follow-up, titled 'Cuts And Bruises', an album that the band promise us is even better than their debut (which was not too shabby itself, thank you very much).

After a few weeks of trying to track them down to find out more, Dork caught up with them over Zoom just a few hours after the band arrived in the States on yet another transatlantic hop for Ohana Festival.

With the band fresh out of their studio, it's no surprise that the mere promise of Californian sunshine is making Elijah hunt for a sunny spot as he joins the call. Josh and Rob, meanwhile, have settled for sitting in the dark, while Ryan is missing in action (the drummer was stuck in a social security office, but the rest of the band promise us he's ok and did actually made it into the country). The jet lag hasn't hit yet ("Give us another day, and I'd say it'll fuck us up," promises Rob), and the band are grinning like they haven't played about 500 shows in a year. Exaggerate, us?

Not that the band feel like they've cracked touring life and dealing with jet lag just yet. "We don't feel like pros at this yet," laughs Elijah. "I think that probably takes a couple of albums."

They must be getting to that point soon, though. 'It Won't Always Be Like This' has taken the band around the world and back again, with tour schedules bouncing into festivals and continuing out the other side. Chances are, if you've been in a festival field this summer, you've seen them. "It's been wild," nods Elijah, while stating that it's something the band are fairly comfortable with. "I think we can deal with touring because it's just physical exhaustion rather than mental," he says. "We try not to party too hard.

I mean, we don't really need to try because we just don't

do it. It's in the studio that the wheels come off a little bit, but we're quite well-behaved individuals. If you'd believe it."

With the summer season bringing a Glasto debut amongst other treats, as well as a support slot for Arctic Monkeys' return, it's been quite the trip. "It all just feels like a haze," says Rob. "It's mad to think that Glasto happened recently. But it was great, man. Just getting to go around the world and get to do decent slots in places we've been to before is always very humbling, and a pretty special thing that we get to enjoy."

Slipping back into life on the road as a touring band came easily enough, though Elijah describes their first festival back, at Boardmasters, as being "nerve-wracking".

"It was strange," he remembers. "We spent every day of our late-teens together, and then after the pandemic, we met up and were like, 'hey mate, haven't seen you for a while'. It felt like, had that all even happened? But we all just settled into it quickly - it felt normal, and it felt right."

Like many others in the music world, the frontman admits to having had doubts about whether the band would survive an extended lockdown and admits to "jumping up and down with relief" when the foursome could finally hit the road again. That festival slot in Newquay brought it all back home. "We had done a few festivals before the pandemic," remembers Elijah. "But we didn't feel that good at them, or that we'd mastered it. But it just kind of fell into place and felt normal. So I think this READDORK.COM 39.

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"WE'RE TRYING TO DECODE OURSELVES A LITTLE BIT ON THIS ONE, AND FIGURE OUT WHAT MAKES US TICK" - ELIJAH HEWSON 40. DORK

summer, we've really had an opportunity to at least try and master them a bit more. But after all this touring, we definitely feel older. I feel at least ten years older now." Rob chips in to say that it feels more like twenty years for him since the start of the summer, Josh nodding along and half-wincing.

Of course, this relentless pace of touring has seen several of their peers take to social media recently to announce the cancellation or postponement of some shows due to mental health reasons and because of a general sense of self-preservation artists such as Sam Fender, Wet Leg, Arlo Parks and Yard Act who, like Inhaler, seem to be on a similar neverending tour cycle since lockdown opened up. So, how have Inhaler dealt with this? "We have discussions amongst ourselves about just being exhausted and not wanting to get to that place where you're not enjoying what you're doing," states Elijah. "I don't really know how we managed to survive it, but we just… did. I think because we've been together since we were 16, we can kind of finish the gig and just go back and watch a bit of television and get some food, try to feel like normal people as much as we can. But that's hard to do when you're on a bus going from Salt Lake City…"

Avoiding the typical post-gig temptations is key for the band here, they say. "The highs from a gig can be quite intense," the frontman says. "And if you really drink a lot, then that can definitely make the low even lower.

Being on stage can inflate your head a little bit, so it's healthy to do things that can deflate it and not feel like the person that you were on stage."

"I think we have to thank the fact that we are music losers in a way," Rob chips in with a laugh. "I mean, we do have friends! But we mostly stick to ourselves, slightly on purpose but also slightly because we're just nerds. We finish a show and socialise, but a lot of the time, we just go back to the bus and do shit together, because it calms us down more naturally than sinking ten pints and doing all the stuff that we do do on occasion, with occasion being the important word."

Not for this band, the wild temptations of life on the road, the four turning instead to Larry David, Curb Your Enthusiasm coming to the rescue of their sanity on a regular basis. "Honestly, if we could find a way of incorporating that into the band somehow, I think we would…" laughs Rob. Amongst all the sexy Glasto slots, one undeniable highlight for the band was supporting Arctic Monkeys on those long-awaited return performances. The guys still shake their heads at the memory. "We just didn't feel worthy of it. We still don't," says Elijah with a grin. "They were so gracious and so welcoming, and their fans were too, which was the main thing.

Beforehand, we felt a bit like, 'maybe this isn't our place'. But they really warmed to us."

Like most bands of the day, Inhaler see the Sheffield gang as leagues above the rest. "As a band, they defined a generation really - and they definitely

defined our generation of bands," the frontman states, describing Alex Turner as one of the best lyricists of the last 20 years. "We were always just bowing and trying to keep out of their way or step on their toes too much - because they are the masters. Just being able to watch them live every night was like going to college in a weird way."

Next summer, of course, their college course continues as they will also support Sam Fender on one of his ridiculously big hometown celebrations at St James' Park. It's starting to look pretty clear that Inhaler are beginning to move in the same sweet spot where fans of indie, rock and pop collide as those two icons. So could they see themselves doing a Sam and playing their own version at Dublin's Croke Park? Rob blows his cheeks out.

"That's one of those were you can't conceptualise yourself doing that at any stage of your career until it just happens. I doubt Sam was ever like, 'I'm gonna do that'," he says before reconsidering quickly, "Actually, I'm sure he was because he's a bit of a lunatic in that way. But for us, we're only ever thinking about the next venue and the next fifty tickets. But yeah, for sure, Croke Park would be pretty special.

Every person in Ireland loves that place."

Rob might be playing it cool, but it definitely looks like the thought has at least crossed Elijah's mind. "I think all the bands that we look up to are the ones that aim for that," he says. "Maximum connection with the maximum amount of people, while doing what you love. Maybe it seemed more realistic in our brains when we were 14, but we're still dreaming and still aiming high. And I think if you do that, that's kind of where I'm going with it."

Ambitions should be, and can afford to be, high, of course. 'It Won't Always Be Like This' raced to Number 1 in the UK, and scenes of frenzy and excitement at their live shows emerge from whichever part of the world that Inhaler perform in. Stating an eternal gratitude to their fans for helping them get that Number 1, at a time when they were genuinely worried about whether anyone would care enough to get them there, the band talk often about making that connection with their fans in order to feel like they are all in this together.

So have they seen the crowds around the world react in the same way? "Yeah, especially in the States," nods Elijah. "In America, we seem to have our scene going on, and there would just be a sea of kids already there who knew all the words, and that feeling never gets old.

I think before, we were used to a lot of older folks coming down to our shows because of the elephant in the room."

Ah yeah, that elephant in the room.

You know, the one over there wearing massive sunglasses. We didn't mention it last time we chatted, but then we don't often tend to ask many questions about peoples' parents unless they happen to be in the band, tbh. But yeah, having the man who was once probably the biggest rock star in the world as the singer's dad is kind of a big deal. But nicely for Inhaler, things are changing rapidly, and this is now a band with a huge percentage of fans who, in all

INHALER

"WE'VE NEVER STAYED IN ONE PLACE, AND I DON'T THINK WE EVER WILL" - ELIJAH HEWSON likelihood, weren't even alive when U2 were at their peak. Does the fact that their fanbase has shifted largely into a world of people who might not have even heard more than a couple U2 songs please Elijah and the band?

"Yeah," admits the frontman with a laugh. "I think it's something that we never want to shy away from too much because we can't change it, and I'm sure it has brought us advantages as well as disadvantages. I think to know that these people are liking us for our music and nothing else is so gratifying, though, and it was something that felt at the beginning like it could never happen. But we love music and weren't gonna become architects, you know?"

Rightfully proud of the hard graft the band put in during their early days, the lads all feel that it is paying off now. "The pressure of that really pushed us to work harder than a lot of people would have assumed us to have worked just to prove ourselves," states Elijah. "Playing the small clubs and taking the necessary steps was important, and also some of the best times, by the way."

So, attention is turning to 'Cuts And Bruises', the second Inhaler album due for release in early 2023. It looks set to be the record that turns the hype and early celebration into something more tangible, an album that cements their place at the top table. Not that they're having it when told they're becoming a 'big deal'

in their own right with this. "We don't see ourselves as a big band, and I don't know if ever can," grins Rob. "Maybe we can't go down and play in the Workmen's [iconic Dublin venue] now without causing a ruckus. But it's important for us to never walk around going 'we're a big band, blah blah blah'."

In fact, they're hoping it helps them to take care of some much more basic needs. "At the moment, we're all still living at home," the bassist sighs. "We're not making enough money to buy or even rent our own place in Dublin yet. So that's still very much the goal for us. But the next album has been the big weight on our shoulders for that, as we all knew that if we didn't smash it, then people could just forget about us. Second albums can make or break bands, so that's what we put our attention on."

The early signs are promising. The latest cut from it, 'Love Will Get You There', has an urgency and groove behind it that manages to be your classic Inhaler banger while proving lighter on its feet than the songs that precede it. It wouldn't feel out of place on 'Seventeen Going Under' and could well herald a similar stratospheric upwards curve as big as Sam found on that. Surely that is a sign that the well-used music cliche about Difficult Second Albums isn't relevant here, right guys. Guys?

"Erm." "Erm." "It was difficult." Those three answers come from three pained faces on the video screen. It's left to guitarist Josh, a man who has few words in interviews but always makes the best point when he does speak, to explain more. "It hasn't been easy," he admits.

"But for different reasons than you'd think. The songs came quite quickly, but just everything else around it…" Elijah's comment earlier that the wheels come off in the studios sounds more relevant now.

"Living in that studio environment and being a functioning human at the same time while also putting all your effort in doing that as well?" continues Josh before he finishes to cackles from the others. "It's been a great experience, but I definitely wouldn't do a second album again."

Rob jumps in to add his own perspective. "There was pressure, but it wasn't the kind of pressure that I think we should have had on us," he says. "We never really looked at each other and said, 'what if we fail?' Instead, it was a physical pressure of 'right, after 84 shows this year, you've got two weeks to finish the album or else we can't do it for a whole other year because of the vinyl problems. And that's it. Like… brilliant!"

Happily, though, the band feel that that sense of chaos and frenzy have bled into the finished record. "I think it may have helped the music in some kind of crazy way," explains Rob. "We brought the manic summer that we had, and all that with the Monkeys, into the studio and just used it as inspiration. And now I think we're actually gonna finish in time which is exciting, and something that we weren't sure about."

Elijah promises "new territories" are explored musically, the promise of 'Love Will Get You There' carried forward throughout the record. "We've never stayed in one place, and I don't think we ever will," he states simply. "And I don't think we ever should."

Taking inspiration from their lives

this year, influences and ideas poured in from all angles. "Seeing other bands, seeing Arctic Monkeys and having these experiences at Glastonbury really rubbed off on us," Elijah explains. "It inspired us, and I think we all felt that it was a bit easier to write music than it was during the pandemic. Because then, there was nothing going on. We just feel a bit more alive now… even if we are a bit dead inside."

Asked half-jokingly whether being alive but dead inside is an accurate reflection of the record's themes, the band laugh, but it seems pretty spot on. "It wasn't a conscious thing, but I think a lot of the songs are just about the experience of being in a band," states Elijah. "It's a lot more introspective and based on smaller ideas, rather than the kind of grandiose 'it won't always be like this' stuff. I think we're trying to decode ourselves a little bit on this one, and figure out what makes us tick."

Don't panic, though, because the band promise that 'Cuts And Bruises' won't be a gloomfest. "It's just a little bit darker," explains the frontman. "But not in a sad way. It's just like we were saying earlier; it's all about trying to stay normal and stay friends. And not get our heads inflated too quickly. That's the theme that inspired the beginnings of the record, but we do go to other places with it."

Those other places contain "curveballs and risks", but the band resist any of our gentle probing to reveal any more. These surprises will just have to wait. "There's no rapping or anything" is about as far as Rob will go, with Elijah confirming that there are no Nicki Minaj collabs on the horizon just yet. "I think we've matured a lot, and I think we all feel that it's a lot better than our first album," says Elijah happily. "It's just really satisfying that we have come to the end of an album and feel like 'yeah, I'd stick every song on there on my playlist'."

It looks set to keep Inhaler living out of suitcases and travelling the world for the foreseeable time yet, though the band's hearts still remain in Dublin. "It feels like a holiday when we go home," admits Elijah, before Rob continues on that theme.

"It's weird to go home and always get celebrated just for going home," he says.

"I'm constantly treated like I'm about to leave, so it's a weird vibe."

Describing their current life as "nomadic", Elijah laughs sadly about jumping back into group chats to find out that some mates have left town in the meantime. "You rely so heavily on the people around you when you're working," he points out. "And then when you get home, everybody's else life has moved on in its own way. It's a strange thing that I think we'll never get used to until we can have our say in our schedule." "I think we maybe get a proper break in three years?" smiles Rob. But for now, Dublin will always be the home they yearn to go home to. "There's something about it that is so magnetic," explains Elijah. "I don't think I could ever raise kids in another country. It definitely feels that no matter how far you travel from it, it'll always be where you want to be eventually."

Despite all their travelling, Dublin is still the perfect place for these music losers to heal those touring cuts and bruises then. ■ Inhaler's album 'Cuts And Bruises' is out 17th February 2023.

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KIM PETRAS

KIM Topping charts all over the planet with Sam Smith, and with a whole new era ready to kick off, Kim Petras' main pop girl era has arrived.

WORDS: ALI SHUTLER. PHOTOS: SARAH LOUISE BENNETT. STYLIST: DAVEY SUTTON. MAKE UP ARTIST: FRANCESCA BRAZZO. HAIR STYLIST: MARTIN CULLEN.

READDORK.COM 43.

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Jacket and trousers: Jordan Luca.

Vest: Chrome Hearts.

Bra: Miu Miu.

being an "apolitical pop star", with her actions not aligning with her identity as an out trans musician.

"I think if your childhood is very traumatic and intense, and there's not much happiness in it, you just want to find fun in life and not think about it," says Kim. According to her parents, she knew she was trans since the age of 2 and spent her teen years appearing on talk shows and petitioning the German government to change the law to allow her to undergo sex reassignment surgery at the age of 16 instead of 18.

She was successful, and a documentary followed, with the intention of educating and supporting other kids struggling with their identities. It also put Kim in the international spotlight, though. "All I was to people was transgender," says Kim. "But I saw music as this beautiful thing where that didn't matter."

She'd wanted to be a pop star since she was a child and worked hard on her craft, "but the record label meetings I had in the beginning were crazy. People would ask me the most ridiculous shit about being transgender, and everything would come down to how they would market that. People really didn't believe in me as an artist," dismissing her music as "too gay".

"It was extremely hard to get anything released," says Kim. Now those same people approach her, wanting to know how to get new artists in with the LGTBQ+ community.

"Fuck off," is the only answer they get.

"It's just so offensive," says Kim. Still, Kim

44. DORK

believes that as a trans artist, she is held to a different standard than other musicians.

"It does hurt when it feels like even your own community sometimes doesn't support you."

"People assume I'm a spoiled brat because that's the fantasy I wanted to create, but my journey to becoming who I am today has not been an easy ride. I'm not perfect," she adds. "Everyone says some shit that they don't necessarily stand behind after. I think if you really listen to my music, and look carefully at my interviews, you can hopefully tell I'm not a shitty person."

For ages, Kim saw her teenage years as a "painful and dark" chapter and tried to avoid it as much as possible. "'Slut Pop' is me turning that around, making it fun to talk about sexuality, and especially transsexuality. It's not a thing I need to run away from now."

She explains how a lot has changed over the past five years and for her. "SOPHIE was always such a ray of hope. I learnt a lot from her and feel the need to continue what SOPHIE was doing, which is to keep normalising being transgender. I just want to make music that touches people. I do it for all the people like me, who don't really fit in, who feel like they're aliens in a world that hates them."

On this new album, Kim is "really trying to talk about genuine feelings. There are moments that are very uptempo and very fun, but there's no elaborate character. It's basically my diary. Every song is its own

little world, with its own story, and there's no overall concept."

This isn't Kim's first attempt at a major label debut, though. Back in 2021, she released two singles ('Coconuts' and 'Future Starts Now') from a European pop-inspired record called 'Problématique'. Others songs like 'Hit It From The Back' and 'Revelations' were performed live. Taking influence from Britney Spears' 'Blackout', Lana Del Rey's 'Born To Die' and Marina's 'Electra Heart', the concept record would see Kim playing the "most fun" version of herself. However, earlier this year, that entire record was leaked alongside other songs from the vault.

"It was intrusive. That's the way that leaks are. It felt not great," she says before once again encouraging fans to listen to the leaked songs. She doesn't know when, or if, the tracks will ever be released. "I still love that album, though. It's full of bangers."

Thankfully, Kim was already working on the record that's due to come out, with 'Problématique' intended to act as the quick follow-up. "The leaks didn't turn my world upside down. It just made it shitty for a few days," she explains.

Her upcoming album has "changed so much" over the past couple of years. "I was really pushed by the label to beat the shit out of every song. The end result is something I really believe in. I'm doing the absolute most I can on this album."

Playing host to a lot of "really weird influences", Kim listened to a lot of The

Prodigy, The 1975, Becky G and German heavy metallers Rammstein while she was making her album, alongside the likes of Madonna's 'Ray Of Light', Cher's cover of 'Walking In Memphis' and M.I.A., who soundtracked Kim's "teenage rage phase".

"I went through a breakup recently, and after that, music was the only thing that made me feel ok," so every waking second of Kim's life at home was accompanied by music turned up way too loud. "I just rediscovered what I've always loved about music."

Kim has also been inspired by Queen's Freddie Mercury ("a really theatrical artist who did whatever he wanted and didn't give a fuck what anybody thought") as well as Madonna and Charli XCX. "They're both constantly looking at what's out there and thinking about what's next. Unique people like that are hard to come by. That's the sort of artist that inspires me, and that's the sort of artist I want to be."

Despite several breakout songs to her name, Kim's desire to change genres, eras and characters has meant she's never had one fixed identity as an artist. "I don't know what, if anything, has held me back," she explains. "I just know that the entirety of my discography over the last few years is more important to me than a single hit song. I'm extremely proud, because every project introduces something new. There's so much joy in experimenting with different voices and styles."

"MAYBE I'M JUST A LITTLE SHITHEAD WHO DOESN'T LIKE GIVING PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT" - KIM PETRAS

KIM PETRAS

Dress and bodice: Harris Reed.

Jacket: Mithridate. Dress. Diesel. Rings: Kim's own.

"This era isn't about chart success.

For me, it's about what I'm about as an artist."

Sure, she says that now, but maybe she'll change her mind as the glitzy, celebratory run she's on with Sam Smith as 'Unholy' tops charts around the world.

"I'm so thankful Sam gave me this platform just because they think I'm a dope person, but I built my career performing in gay clubs. I have a cult following that sells out my shows, and that's what's most important to me and why I feel successful," says Kim. "Being in a room full of people who understand you and your music is the most incredible feeling in the world. They're the reason why I feel so confident in my own skin. I was such a different person before I had that community."

"This is the first time I can confidently be myself and not get shoved in different directions or do things to impress people," she adds.

So, just how confident is Kim Petras about this new era? "It's hard because there's definitely part of me that's

always self-doubting, and I hate to hype myself up. I just make the music I want to make. I want you to decide if it's any good," she explains. "But if I had to judge this album, I would say it's pretty fucking good. I've grown as a storyteller, a songwriter and a singer.

I sound better than ever, and I've been more involved in everything." If you couldn't already tell, she's very excited.

Kim describes her new album as crazy but isn't going full metal or art-pop like Bjork. "I wish," she laughs.

"What an icon. But my album is still pop. That's the one thing that connects everything I do, no matter what I'm writing about. If I'm inspired by being a killer or a slut, my music always manages to be pop."

"I hate being put in a box, though," she continues. "So whenever I feel like people think they know what's coming next, that's when I want to introduce them to something new." She laughs.

"Maybe I'm just a little shithead who doesn't like giving people what they want." ■ Kim Petras's single 'If Jesus Was A Rockstar' is out soon.

READDORK.COM 45.

FEMM 46. DORK

ME FATAL TOVE LO

Opening up a new phase, Tove Lo's fifth album sees her deconstructing and rebuilding her identity like never before.

WORDS: ABIGAIL FIRTH. PHOTOS: KENNY LAUBBACHER.

T

ove Lo never wanted a normal life. Her 2014 breakout single 'Habits' detailed partying hard and frequenting sex clubs to get over a breakup, flashing the audience is a mainstay at her shows, and she lives in a 'collective' with five friends in Los Angeles; it's a far cry from the traditional upbringing she had in Sweden.

Yet something changed over the pandemic. For the first time since her career began, Tove Lo was able to slow down and think about what the future held. She took a break from being an artist, got married, finished up her major label record deal and entered a new phase of her career.

"I'm not saying there's anything wrong with wanting that sort of traditional life; I just never felt comfortable in that world," says Tove. Ironically, she's in Bali for a wedding at the time of our chat and has just been to another in Italy. Of course, these are stopoffs amidst her returning festival season, perfectly depicting the contrasting sides of her life today. On fifth album 'Dirt Femme', she delves into her multifaceted nature, picking herself apart in ways she hasn't before.

"I was writing from a place where I wasn't like, being an artist," she says of the process.

"I was in stillness in my home most of the

"I THINK EVERY FUCKING SONG HAS DEATH IN IT" - TOV E LO

time, I wasn't putting out music, I wasn't touring, I wasn't performing in any way, my record deal was up. It felt like I was kind of starting from the beginning. I think that affected the sort of vulnerability level."

Tove's never been afraid of being honest in her lyrics, and if 'Habits' (which is currently enjoying a resurgence thanks to TikTok) is anything to go by, that was clear from the start. She's just as frank when penning tracks about getting high and copping off with a stranger in the dark as she is when it's about a crushing heartbreak.

On 'Dirt Femme', she's treading new waters, but the strokes are familiar.

Tove Lo followed up her time off with single 'How Long', the scathing breakup song that was part of already-iconic TV show Euphoria's soundtrack, a show very in line with Tove's early aesthetic, with plot lines that mimic her lyrics. But the change of pace was marked when 'No One Dies From Love' arrived. A synth-driven robotic 80s pop sadbanger that introduced the record's themes of everlasting love and confronting death.

"I think every fucking song has death in it. I'm like, this is not how I planned," she laughs. "I guess it's the combination of actually being around a lot of death during that time, sadly, but also this feeling of loss in terms of like, 'will I lose my life? Am I even an artist anymore? Am I gonna get my life back', basically. There was this fear of loss and then feeling the presence of death that just made its way into the album, even though those aren't the real subjects of the song."

It crops up in the other two singles, 'True Romance', a striking cinematic ballad unlike anything else in her catalogue that pays homage to the film of the same name, and '2 Die 4', the 'Popcorn' sampling club banger that reminds us she's still got a party in her.

She didn't always dwell on death, though.

For almost a decade, she's been living in the moment, if only by accident, packing her schedule so tightly she's barely able to think past the next thing on her calendar.

"I've been the kind of person who's like, 'if the plane goes down, I'm fine because I've had a great life', and I'd just be like, okay, I guess this is my time. When I would say that, my mom would freak, which is understandable. I kind of still feel that way, but not really. I think it's changed a little bit in how I view it. I don't know why, if it's age, or if it's just being in a place in my life where I feel very good and have a lot of people I care about and don't want to lose. I think if you're too careful in life, you're going to miss out on a lot, but for some reason, there's more

at stake now."

With her mind and schedule cleared, Tove started to consider what the future actually did hold for her. She started asking questions that didn't have answers yet, which all play out on 'Suburbia' – "What if I don't want the things I'm supposed to want? But what if I do in the end?" she sings in the bridge – a track centred around her new marriage to producer and director (namely of Tove's own music videos) Charlie Twaddle and what would come next.

"It was a very different vibe than what our parents would have wanted," she says of the ceremony, where the pair eloped to Las Vegas in July 2020. "It was just like, relief from people around us being like, 'Okay, so now when are you going to move out of your collective? When are you going to have kids? Now are you going to do all these traditional things?' And then there are other people being like, 'Are you still you?' And I'm like, I'm still me. That's where all those songs like 'Suburbia' came up in my head, like, fuck, wait, what are we? Is that what we're headed to? No, we can make whatever life we want.

That's the good feeling about being married to someone who's like you."

It was during this period that Tove found herself looking back too. A casting in Swedish film The Emigrants reopened some old wounds when the role required her to drop some weight in a very short amount of time. She'd recovered from an eating disorder ten years ago, and found the request triggered some old memories, which she ended up exorcising on 'Grapefruit'.

It's probably her most personal track to date, and one that she's been trying to write for a long time. Recounting how she felt back then, she explains, "I just remember feeling like I wanted to crawl out of my own skin. And I remember being so mean to myself.

"I also remember when I was feeling that shitty, I didn't want to listen to songs that were singing about how great I should feel about myself when I just felt like a failure. I wanted to hear songs that felt like I felt, so I think that's why I wrote it from that angle.

It's from the perspective of how I used to be and the kind of behaviour that you put to work; it's like the only thing you think about. It's very exhausting and draining, and looking back, it's really sad."

Even when tackling these heavier topics, Tove Lo isn't one to compromise the banger value. 'Grapefruit' is a nostalgic pop hit that literally counts us through her thought process ("three, four, lose more," chants the chorus), and it stops the more intense subjects from feeling out of place when

positioned around party anthems.

In 'Dirt Femme''s second half, a pair of collaborations with SG Lewis take us back to dancefloor Tove Lo, the retro booty call bop 'Call On Me', and the unapologetically horny 'Pineapple Slice', sandwiched around the sultry 'Attention Whore'. Elsewhere, she plays with what a Tove Lo record could sound like, as she explores plucky, dreamy acoustic on First Aid Kit collaboration 'Cute & Cruel', and pushes herself vocally on ballad 'I'm To Blame', exploration allowed in part by the creative freedom she found in leaving the major label she'd released her first four records with and going independent.

"I felt very in charge of the curation of it, how I wanted to sound and be. I felt undisturbed. Sometimes I want to do things creatively that maybe aren't the most viable thing, you know, because sometimes I have a creative goal that overrides the commercial goal. I was just exploring. I felt very free to play around with different styles, and what ties it together is me. I knew that there were other parts of me I wanted to show that I haven't really shown before."

It's hard to deny Tove Lo's influence and involvement in shaping pop's current landscape. She's written multiple monster hits, namely Ellie Goulding's Grammynominated 'Love Me Like You Do', and has been around long enough to see the attitudes towards her shift from bad role model to feminist hero. Yet Tove Lo seems to sit in limbo – never quite matching the success of her breakout single, nor garnering the same underground cult status as the Charlis, Marinas and Carlys of the pop world.

Still, when she's asked how she feels about her legacy as she opens a new chapter, she's clear that there's nothing she'd change.

"I'm very proud of what I've made, for better or for worse. Maybe sometimes I haven't always made, in the moment, the smartest move, but that's also made it so that I am proud of every piece of music and art that's out there. I work hard to make sure everything honestly feels like me and one body of work, but challenging myself because I want to make sure when I look back, I feel proud of it. I fucking love that at any moment, your song can take off and have a full journey again. Songs are forever, and I feel that the way we listen to music now, everything is so disposable. We're just scrolling through it. But you know, songs will always be there, and I think they'll find a moment again if they made an impact." ■ Tove Lo's album 'Dirt Femme' is out now.

READDORK.COM 47.

INCOMIN ALL THE NEW RELEASES YOU NEED TO KNOW

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

THE 1975

BEING FUNNY IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE ★★★★★ Out now.

→ At their very best. That's what it says on the poster for The 1975's upcoming tour dates. No shy, retiring modesty - not that they ever had much of that. No hiding behind concepts and ideas too big or bombastic for their less storied peers. Just one simple, bold statement scrawled with dismissive surety. The 1975, at their very best. And it's true, too.

While The 1975's self-titled debut might have polarised on release, approaching a decade later, its acolytes are more vociferous than ever. 2016's 'i like it when you sleep…' doesn't even split opinions. An era-defining record - Dork's first Album of the Year - it forged the identities of a generation of neon-hued disciples. If you want a high bar to measure every record since against, you'd struggle to choose better. And yet, arguably, even that may not be their zenith.

2018's 'A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships' was transformative - like the camera zooming out at speed, sucking in a world of influences, concepts, big statements and bigger imagery.

With the standout 'Love It If We Made It', The 1975 set, reflected and became the narrative. For a while, it was hard to imagine how any band could ever match them. And, sure, while 2020's pandemic-effected 'Notes On A

48. DORK

Conditional Form' may not have entirely kept the momentum flowing in full force, it remains an album of brave, brilliant ambition - two intertwined pop culture playlists, swinging across the dial, plucking gold and silver sparkles like pop magpies lining their treasure-encrusted nest. An album that perfectly captures the wild insecurity, juxtapositions and mood swings of the period it was released, it remains the Covid-era record most deserving of a more considered re-evaluation.

And yet 'Being Funny In A Foreign Language' may just beat the lot. To paint those first four albums as training wheels would be ludicrous, yet from one specific perspective, their fifth might merit it. In their most considered and concentrated form to date, it's a record that sees The 1975 embrace, process, understand and define exactly who and what they are. Not only that, but blessed with a confidence and freedom most bands lack, it goes on to find the raw chutzpah to level up, dragging the whole thing into a freer, breezier round. Like the attractiveness of someone who truly knows and owns who they are, The 1975's latest evolution is irresistible.

Their traditional self-titled opener throws all rules to the wind, blossoming from an atmospheric starting gun to a chain of consciousness that becomes a song in its own right.

From the duelling pianos and lyrical lift that calls back to LCD Soundsystem's 'All My Friends' - a record that has influenced the band before - it's fitting to kick off an album lending so much to The 1975's concentrated identity with a call back to pre-written lore.

Self-reference only goes so far, though. While, on the surface, 'Happiness' might seem like The 1975's template inked to perfection, it's far more than that. Like a band jamming in the round, a freedom runs through 'Being Funny In A Foreign Language' that elevates, opening up new doors as it goes.

'Oh Caroline' sits proud amongst their greatest moments, the spirit of Lionel

Richie's 'All Night Long' twisted and turned into a track that draws together all strands and blends them together in perfect harmony.

'Wintering' is a not-quiteChristmas song that feels far closer to the real-life chaos of the festive period than any of the sleigh bell-laden classics though Matty Healy won't be getting many thanks from mum for a line that's sure to become the new 'selling petrol', hollered back by the masses whenever aired live. It's one of the last tracks on the record, 'About You', that really weaves the magic, though. Featuring guitarist Adam Hann's wife, Carly Holt, on co-vocal duties, it's a mirrorball finale to the homecoming ball.

Icy crystalline shimmers playoff against warm emotional embers, still crackling from the fire.

Timeless stuff, it's a product of the stylistic flexibility shown over their last two records, allowing Healy and drummer-slashproducer George Daniel to create in a way that sits outside of the noise and chaos of 2022's musical circus.

While a lot may be said about the presence of superstar producer Jack Antonoff on the squad list for 'Being Funny In A Foreign Language', any accusations he simply imprints his own sound upon artists stand no ground here. If anything, his influence has only inspired The 1975 to embrace their own internal mechanisms more trusting instinct and tinkering less. The outside presence of BJ Burton for 'Part of the Band' seems far more apparent. A stunning turn to the left that anchors the album around it, it's proof that The 1975 can still surprise while losing one of their innate brilliance. That it sits alongside more conventionally immediate songs and never feels like a potential skip proves its mettle beyond doubt.

A band who have always seemed to both attract and crave adoration, this more refined take - eleven tracks makes this their shortest album to date by far - seems best defined by just how secure it sounds within its own presence. Be it the slowburning 'All I Need To Hear' and 'Human Too' or the hyperactive shuffle of 'Looking For Somebody To Love', each vignette remains uniquely theirs. The 1975 writing their name in big, bold type, it's a brilliant edit of everything that came before, cast in the self-realisation and not-so-quiet confidence of just how good they can be. That tour poster tells no lies. 'Being Funny In A Foreign Language' is The 1975 at their very best. STEPHEN ACKROYD

NG.

ARTIST’S GUIDE

CRAWLERS LOUD WITHOUT NOISE Holly Minto runs us through Crawlers' new mixtape, 'Loud Without Noise’.

The 'Loud Without Noise' mixtape covers strenuous modern issues that continuously are thought and hurt our minds, the anxious thoughts, the thoughts you want to distract yourself from - heartbreak, mental health, trauma, politics.

I CAN'T DRIVE

PIP MILLETT

WHEN EVERYTHING IS BETTER, I’LL LET YOU KNOW ★★★★ Released 21st October.

→ A brief introductory track sees Pip Millett mockingly ask her listeners, "so, you think you know me?". It's repeated throughout, the kind of taunt that indicates that actually, you don't know a thing yet.

Don't worry, though, you'll learn a lot through the course of 'When Everything Is Better, I'll Let You Know'. The 24-yearold's debut album has been in demand for some time – yet, here she proves it was worth every second of the wait. A rich exploration of self and society, Pip Millett is at once ethereal and formidable. Across the album, Pip repeatedly shuns fear and embraces independence, ownership and boundaries – she sits on the throne here, and no one else could overthrow her.

NEIVE MCCARTHY

'I Can't Drive' encompasses a messy breakup alongside reflections of parents' divorce when suffering from problems with mental health. It was the song first written when I moved in with Liv [Kettle] to our first flat. It tries to go through, metaphorically, how living in your head in these situations is… kinda like how I always pretend I can scream and drive on a freeway in a bad situation when in reality I can't drive, and I just want to romanticise my shitty feelings rather than deal with them.

F*CK ME (I DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO SAY)

This song is the most explicit and raw we have felt lyrically upon its release, discussing implications of sexual assault, lack of self-worth, and comparing being wanted for sex as being wanted to love. Hard to write, but really discusses how much I just want to be loved for me, not through sex, even though I still see it as that through some of my trauma. It was great watching how, when giving what was originally a sad ballad over to Amy how we could turn it into all the pent-up aggression and turmoil that it contained.

FEMINIST, RADICAL, HYPOCRITICAL, DELUSIONAL

THE BIG MOON

HERE IS EVERYTHING ★★★★ Out now.

→ If the pandemic saw The Big Moon’s momentum judder to a stop just as they released their second album, this follow-up sees life beginning all over again, the experiences that Juliette went through with the birth of her child breathing new existence into the band on this triumphant third effort. ‘Here Is Everything’ does exactly what it promises as Jules reveals the excitement, the fear and the worries of impending parenthood in a world that was still hunkering down under lockdown. It hits that sweet spot of personal and universal, and it hits that mark hard and true.

The result is another string of indie bangers from the heart that you’re going to want to yell gleefully into someone’s face at the next possible opportunity.

And that is everything you need.

JAMIE MACMILLAN

Definitely the punkiest song on the mixtape, which really embodies what this song is about, which is how tragic life can be as a working-class person in society. The first writing was before we were signed by a label, and came from the perspective of being jealous of my childhood self, who has no idea how shit the world was and how much my parents struggled to bring me up and how being a working-class northerner has definitely been commodified.

The chorus comes from my current perspective, how hypocritical I am as I now I am not as much in that position, and that if you had the chance to leave it, would you?

We were all a bit obsessed with the post-punk moment happening in the UK at this point, really wanted to play with this sound.

TOO SOON

The heaviest song off the mixtape, inspired by our first loves of music like The

INCOMING

PERSONAL TRAINER

BIG LOVE BLANKET ★★★★

THE GREATEST THING I’LL NEVER LEARN EP ★★★★

→.“Write a line a day. Keep smiling.” Those lyrics, straight from the earliest moments of the Amsterdam-based collective’s debut record, sum up frontman Willem Smit’s obsession with making music and the warm fuzzy glow that results from listening to this. Just as you’d expect from a band with a long history of variable line-ups, there is a freewheeling sense of freedom and excitable volatility on show here. Equally loose and tight in all the right places, flicking through musical genres as if it's all one big pick and mix, ‘Big Love Blanket’ sees Personal Trainer arrive in perfect health.

JAMIE MACMILLAN

→ Dylan has been reaching for star status, and 'The Greatest Thing I'll Never Learn' proves that it's now well within her grasp. As if accruing thousands of new fans through main stage festival slots and momentous support tours wasn't enough, this eight-track mixtape takes the pure ferocity of her onstage attitude and dissects it with a surprising range of sonic textures. Self-aware, satirical and snappy tunes twist trauma into catharsis as she successfully packs a punch into every track, Dylan is getting closer and closer to the rock star she's always been in her head. FINLAY HOLDEN

PIRI & TOMMY

TOVE LO

Released 4th November.

I DON'T WANT IT

A pop song in drop C, only Crawlers, hey? This song really goes through what I thought was a comment society and our generation has and have normalised over time… till I realised it was what I had problems with. How magazines shift my perception of my image, the normalisation of substance abuse to solve issues, and also how we become selfaware for jokes and humour, but we never actually do anything… or I didn't… for a while… (make sure you go to therapy kiddos).

HANG ME LIKE JESUS

Grieving a relationship while struggling with your mental health is hard. The song actually began during the

CRAWLERS

LOUD WITHOUT NOISE MIXTAPE ★★★★ Released 28th October.

→ At first glance, Crawlers didn't really seem like a sensation in waiting. Not because they're not brilliant, but because we're told the common logic dictates indie bands don't get that tag anymore. That can fuck right off. Connecting with a growing fanbase by dealing with big emotions, raw feelings and honest expressions, 'Loud Without Noise' is the calling card for a 2023 that should see Crawlers ride the buzz train right into the big time. Turns out they do make bands like that anymore. DAN HARRISON

relationship it's about and was originally written about feeling like a burden to your partner when being ill. After the relationship, I realised that I wasn't being a burden; I was just trying to recover.

I explored the grief in the relationship and then ended up beginning to feel better and being around people who give me what I deserve.

I really gave my whole safe and expected nothing back because I thought I was in love. Hurts, man. But hey, fell in love again, didn't I? ■

Released 28h October.

FROGE.MP3 ★★★★★

DIRT FEMME ★★★★

→ A university bedroom project exploded onto the big stages, the freeing nature of piri & tommy's creative pursuit explains why experimentation and fluidity rule supreme. They throw Gen-Z eyes on a muchcelebration genre, splicing and dicing it into the ears of eager new listeners. At its core, though, 'froge.mp3' digests the ups and downs, smooth sailing and tight corners of piri & tommy's own relationship - this internal inspiration, as well as their effortless chemistry, makes it a release that only they could have come together to curate. Praise be to Instagram DMs. FINLAY HOLDEN

→ Tove Lo has never been a pop slouch, that's for sure. So, when new album 'Dirt Femme' can be legitimately referred to as a new career high, it's obvious things are going 'Rather Well'. Why? Because, for an artist with a strong sense of self identity, unafraid to push against the borings, it's the most Tove Lo of the lot.

Entering a new phase, from the iconic cover art to 'True Romance' - undoubtedly one of Tove's best to date - it's an addictive gem that sees all that shiny potential finally fully realised. DAN HARRISON

FIRST AID KIT

PVA

Released 7th October.

Prodigy and Muse. When I was first going through my hardest breakup, I couldn't even be angry; I was too busy being sad and upset and trying to understand what was going wrong. You can try to fix someone, but unless you're a therapist, it ain't gonna happen… leave that to the professionals; you may end up breaking yourself instead lolz. This song was also the longest to make, it entered the studio with a completely different vibe than it started with, and we couldn't be happier with the transition. OG Crawlers fans may know this from our firstever headline shows called 'Magazines'; I hope you all liked its evolution.

DYLAN

Out now.

PALOMINO ★★★★

BLUSH ★★★★★

→ Klara and Johanna Soderberg dazzle on their first record in nearly five years.

Rather than retreating to a comfort zone, 'Palomino' offers some fun experiments with their classic sounds. Earworm opener ‘Out of My Head’ is perhaps the closest they’ve come in homage to national heroes ABBA, while ‘Turning Onto You’ is a timeless country song, and ‘Fallen Snow’ rides a delightful bassline straight out of the early-00s indie rock explosion. This is a considered evolution that gives them space to try new things alongside the vintage sounds they made their name modernising. DILLON EASTOE

→ London-based trio PVA had a significant challenge upping the ante with a reintroduction to their world on their first proper album. With an almost inevitably anxiety-ridden 11-tracker, they’ve somehow managed an exemplary job.

Vocalist Ella Harris describes the record as a series of “characters in moments of tension, turmoil and internal hardship”, and that’s exactly what you get - the juxtaposition of absorbing build-ups and their eventual release, escapist bliss and sudden catharsis, rough textures and slick transitions.

It makes for an accessible but rich invigoration of the group’s style. FINLAY HOLDEN

Released 4th November.

Out now.

READDORK.COM 49.

INCOMING

RAINN BYRNS

NEW IN TOWN ★★★★ Out now.

→ With a charming drawl, Rainn Byrns' debut album 'New In Town' isn't one for following the crowd. That's in his credit, too.

Switching between wry humour and warm reminiscence, it's lo-fi bedroom pop with a crackling, timeless edge. 'Big' muses on the realities of trying to make it in the big city, watching others look to accelerate ahead, while ''Never Ending Story' oscillates between hopes and fears, trying to find the positive in the daily grind. Recorded using analogue techniques, entirely by himself in his Peckham bedroom, there's little high tech or fancy about Rainn Byrns, but that's the point. DAN HARRISON

L.S. DUNES

PAST LIVES ★★★★

Released 4th November. → Few so-called supergroups have the same pedigree as L.S Dunes. Featuring Frank Iero (My Chemical Romance), Anthony Green (Circa Survive, Saosin) Travis Stever (Coheed and Cambria) and Tim Payne and Tucker Rule (both Thursday), they've all paid their dues in some of the biggest names in the scene. To that end, 'Past Lives' is every bit as polished as you'd expect, all anchored by a typically powerful performance

by Green. Supported by a top-notch production job by Will Yip, they've delivered an alt-rocking masterclass which borrows from their posthardcore backgrounds but isn't indebted to it. ROB MAIR

CONNIE CONSTANCE

MISS POWER ★★★★

Released 4th November. → Connie Constance’s second album ‘Miss Power’ is a revelation in multiple ways. Not only is it the ultimate artistic expression from someone we’ve always known is a bit special, but it’s also a rebirth after a period of uncertainty and trauma. It’s angry. It’s heartbreaking. It’s clever and illuminating and it’s also properly laugh out loud funny at times. From the primal punk rock howl of ‘Kamikaze’ to the stream of consciousness epic ‘Yuck’ and the tender and inspiring ‘Red Flag’ it’s a whirlwind journey through everything that makes Connie great. MARTYN YOUNG

50. DORK

LOYLE CARNER

HUGO ★★★★★

Released 21st October.

→ Even at his most incendiary, Loyle Carner is a beam of light. A tightly coiled spring introduces his third album, 'hugo'; he embarks upon album opener 'Hate' with an unfiltered outpouring of distress, anger and frustration. The track sees him ablaze with emotion and fury, but the thing about a blazing fire is that it is illuminating. From the ashes of that anger comes a startling, hopeful light.

"Is the world moving fast for you as well?" Loyle asks on 'Speed of Plight'. Caught in a relentless onslaught of bad news, the quest to examine who you truly are and a country that seems to illicit pain for its people above all else, Loyle reflects on a neverending rush of things to do, to think, to come to terms with.

These questions act as kindling to the flames bursting from him.

2019's 'Not Waving, But Drowning' took an insular approach, deftly professing love and adoration for those in his life. Some moments saw him just beginning to scratch the surface of exploring his own identity. This time around, he widens his lens. Sometimes he reaches inwardly, reflecting upon his own experiences as a mixed-race man, other times glancing at society as a whole.

'Georgetown' is a crucial act of reconciliation – he calls upon Guyanese poet John Agard to bookmark the Madlib-produced track with snippets of his seminal poem 'Half-caste'. It simmers with quiet power.

'Homerton' questions ideas of legacy and how inherently tied up with fatherhood that can be, something he beautifully returns to later with 'Pollyfilla'. It's moments like these where the fire continues to burn peacefully – subdued saxophones, piano-heavy beats, and warm production push the command of language that has always been the jewel in his arsenal to the front.

That fire cannot burn quietly forever, though. Soon, the flames rise higher and higher.

'Blood On My Nikes' crackles and sparks with indignation as it condemns the continued letting down of young Black men by a corrupt, uncaring government.

'Plastic' is similarly righteous, its distorted production giving way into a criticism of racial injustice and the vacuous, covetous side of society.

On 'hugo', Loyle Carner takes a closer look at pain. He tears it open, and shares it, sparking conversation and shedding light on the need for change.

It's a call to arms – a means of setting that anger and hurt alight and basking in the glow of letting it burn. 'hugo' sees Loyle Carner standing in the shadows of those flames and glimpsing a flicker of hope in their light.

NEIVE MCCARTHY

INCOMING

DRY CLEANING

STUMPWORK ★★★★

Released 21st October. → Packed with the same strangely comforting weirdness and entrancing rhythms of their first album, 'Stumpwork' sees Dry Cleaning stretch into more experimental musicality.

With subject matter ranging from family tortoises, trips to see something called Water Caterpillars and being overly protective toward a gaming mouse, every track on this record plays like a smattering of anecdotes that mingle and blend. ‘Stumpwork’ acts perfectly as a snapshot of continuing Dry Cleaning’s depth and complexity when many would reduce them to the title of a post-punk outfit. CONNOR FENTON

CHARLIE PUTH

CHARLIE ★★★★ Out now.

→ Charlie’s Puth’s fizzy and fun eponymous third album is a masterclass in pop songwriting for the TikTok age. Laser focused with glorious fluffy pop hooks, 'Charlie' is the sound of Mr Puth playfully leaning into all the ridiculousness of perfect pop while providing just the right amount of depth to complement the frivolity. 'That’s Hilarious' and viral fave 'Light Switch' are obvious highlights but gently stirring mini two-min epics like ‘Smells Like Me’ offer the best example of Charlie’s idiosyncratic pop talents.

Capturing deep emotions in a super accessible and riotously fun way is hard, but Charlie has nailed it. MARTYN YOUNG

BONNIE KEMPLAY

RUNNING OUT OF THINGS TO SAY, RUNNING OUT OF THINGS TO DO EP ★★★★

Released 14th November. → Arriving just in time to soundtrack the changing of the seasons, Bonnie Kemplay’s debut EP has the requisite autumn glow that gives her intimate and confessional songs such a warm feeling. The EP perfectly introduces Bonnie’s blend of immaculately crafted songwriting and her ability to capture a distinct mood. It also points the way towards an intriguing future with the electronic textures and almost post-rock climax of ‘Static’. A stunning opening statement.

MARTYN YOUNG

ARCTIC MONKEYS

THE CAR ★★★★

Released 21st October. → With the release of 'The Car', Arctic Monkeys are seven albums in and selling out stadium shows without even trying. At a point in their career when most bands are playing greatest hits sets and flogging anniversary vinyl, there's not much left for them to prove.

If anyone was wondering whether they were aware of this, Alex Turner crooning the phrase "freaky keypaaad" over a ludicrously funky instrumental on 'I Ain't Quite Where I Think I Am' should banish any doubts.

That's right, Arctic Monkeys have gone funk. Well, sort of. Where last album 'Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino' drew on 60s futurism, all space travel and martinis on the moon, 'The Car' instead looks to the early 70s for inspiration. It's more a filter pasted over the top than a wholesale tribute, but on songs like 'Jet Skis on the Moat' and title-track 'The Car' you can almost taste the cigarette smoke.

Intertwined with the new influences are plenty of old. The album as a whole takes most obviously from 'Tranquility Base', foregrounding pianos and gentle, meandering songs instead of the guitar-driven bangers which first propelled the band to fame. Traces of the old do remain though, with 'Sculptures of Anything Goes' feeling like a nod to 'AM' in sound, if not pace.

The major addition to 'The Car' compared to Arctic Monkeys' other albums is the ever-present string section. The whole record is driven and deepened by an orchestra which wouldn't be out of place on a Bond theme. First single 'There'd Better Be a Mirrorball' remains the best example of this, but there's barely a song on the album which doesn't lean into it in a major way.

The flipside of this is that fans of classic Arctic Monkeys bangers in the vein of 'Arabella' are going to be sorely disappointed. The closest 'The Car' gets is 'Hello You', a pacey late-album track which boosts the energy substantially. It's also the closest the album comes to a traditional chorus and has an earworm of a synth line that destined to be stuck in everyone's head forevermore.

Arctic Monkeys haven't been the band who wrote 'Brianstorm' for years. If they were, it's unlikely they'd have maintained their position in the top tier of UK music across seven albums and over 15 years. 'The Car' is yet another example of how much the band evolve between each release, without jettisoning everything that came before.

It's unlikely to win over anyone who wasn't a fan of the left turn the band took on the last record, but if you meet 'The Car' on its own big-collared, sepia-sunglassed terms, you'll have a great time. Still, there'd be no harm in throwing in just a couple more choruses on the next album, would there lads?

JAKE HAWKES

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GET OUT. Photo: Patrick Gunning.

LIVE MUSIC, FROM THE FRONT.

→ ON THE EVE OF ‘5SOS5’’S RELEASE, 5 Seconds of Summer are out to give probably the most special performance of their career.

Announced specifically as ‘one night only’, teasing tracks from an album that would drop mere hours later, backed by an orchestra for the first (and maybe last) time, 5SOS make a venue as huge as the Royal Albert Hall feel like an undersell.

Crammed onto the iconic venue’s stage are all four boys in a row, a 12-piece orchestra, and a choir in the back. In the seats are the few (“few” being some 5000) lucky fans who’d battled it out for tickets, and for the ones who couldn’t get in, it’s also being live streamed too.

When 5SOS officially debuted in 2014, it would’ve been very hard to imagine what they’d sound like backed by an orchestra, but here we are, watching them play an acoustic version of ‘She Looks So Perfect’ that slowly blossoms into a string-led singalong. It’s not the only nod to the fans who’ve been there from the start either. A reimagined version of early tearjerker ‘Amnesia’ makes an appearance, plus ‘Jet Black Heart’ the way it was initially intended, and unexpected additions of ‘Outer Space’ and ‘Carry On’ for the first time since 2016.

It almost seems a shame that the tracks from ‘5SOS5’ won’t always be performed like this. ‘Take My Hand’ shines so brightly – and that’s not a pun considering the way the fans light up the venue, floor to ceiling, with iPhone torches – with the full orchestra. The live debuts of the unreleased (if only for the next few hours) ‘Carousel’ and ‘Caramel’ set the bar high for any future performances, while ‘Me, Myself & I’ gets a live moment that it didn’t on the London tour stop earlier this year.

When latest single ‘Older’ arrives, the group are joined

by Sierra Deaton (that’s frontman Luke’s other half and featured vocalist on the ballad), who’s met with roaring screams on a par with the boys. It’s a really touching and intimate moment as they sit together at the piano, one that likely won’t be replicated much outside of their living room.

It’s a very different show to the enormous arena one they’d spent the first half of this year touring, but when it comes to their speeches, the sentiments remain the same. Guitarist Michael takes to the mic and stands in disbelief, admitting he’s forgotten everything he wanted to say but whips up a speech showing his endless gratitude. Bassist Calum later notes that none of this would be possible without the fans, while drummer Ashton recalls busking on the street opposite the Royal Albert Hall ten years ago, bringing home just how far the group have come.

As the show comes to an end, they announce ‘Bad Omens’ as the new single, and give it the most grand first outing possible. With the night drawing to a close, Ashton explains that although they’re from Sydney, London has always been special to them, and it’s easy to see why. The connection between the fans and the band makes a show this huge actually feel intimate.

Simultaneously the ultimate teaser and the most bittersweet bow out to an album cycle that’s barely begun, this Royal Albert Hall concert shows off the band 5SOS could be, and the one they always knew they would be. ABIGAIL FIRTH

5 SECONDS OF SUMMER ROYAL ALBERT HALL, LONDON Thursday 22nd September 2022

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WITH...

PIXEY 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 Pixey thinks Tuesdays are cursed and can make a good lemon drizzle cake. Big slice, please!

WHEN'S YOUR BIRTHDAY? 12th March.

WHAT'S THE WEIRDEST THING YOU'VE EVER EATEN? A square slab of swordfish.

WHAT DID YOU LAST DREAM ABOUT? Ozzy Osbourne took me to the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall to watch a magic show.

WHAT STRENGTH NANDOS SAUCE DO YOU ORDER? Extra hot!

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE SUBJECT AT SCHOOL? I.T. because we got to sit off on computers.

YOU'RE PICKING A 5-ITEM BREAKFAST. WHAT'S IN IT? Coffee, eggs, veg sausage, beans, hash browns.

WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU BROKE? I busted my ear drum.

WHAT'S YOUR BIGGEST FEAR? Losing my hearing.

WHAT'S THE MOST IMPRESSIVE THING YOU CAN COOK? Probably a lemon drizzle cake.

For some reason, I'm really good at that.

HAVE YOU EVER WON ANYTHING? I won a pizza oven in a Tesco competition once.

WHAT IS YOUR EARLIEST MEMORY? Crawling around on the carpet in my Nan's house.

ARE ANY OF YOUR LYRICS SECRETLY RUDE? There's one on the new mini-LP that says, "baby won't you come

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inside". I'd say that's a bit rude.

WHAT IS YOUR MOST TREASURED POSSESSION? My guitar.

IF YOU HAD TO HAVE ONE WORD TATTOOED ON YOUR FACE, WHAT WORD WOULD YOU HAVE? 'Shrimp'.

WHAT IS THE MOST IRRATIONAL SUPERSTITION YOU HAVE? It's not a superstition, but sometimes I have a thing where I'm convinced certain days are cursed - like Tuesdays.

WHAT'S THE BEST WAY TO COOK A POTATO? Skinny chips.

IF YOU COULD BRING SOMETHING EXTINCT BACK TO LIFE, WHAT WOULD YOU CHOOSE? Velociraptors so I could live out my Jurassic park dream.

WHAT'S THE SCARIEST THING YOU'VE EVER DONE? I nearly died once.

WHICH SUPERMARKET DO YOU SHOP AT? The Tezzy.

WHO'S YOUR FAVOURITE POP STAR? Kate Bush.

DO YOU BELIEVE IN ALIENS? Aliens are real!!

WHAT'S THE STUPIDEST LIE YOU'VE EVER TOLD? That I'm 5'3.

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN THROWN OUT OF SOMEWHERE? Almost at my Great Escape set for running over time.

WHAT'S YOUR WORST HABIT? Leaving wet towels on the bed.

WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE SANDWICH FILLING? Prawn mayo.

HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A GHOST? Never.

IF WE GAVE YOU £10, WHAT WOULD YOU SPEND IT ON? Bevvy.

HOW PUNK ARE YOU OUT OF TEN? Ask my M&S loyalty card.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE TIME OF DAY? Bedtime.

IF YOU COULD HAVE A SUPERPOWER OF YOUR CHOOSING, WHAT WOULD IT BE? IBS immunity.

WHAT'S THE MOST EMBARRASSING THING THAT'S EVER HAPPENED TO YOU? I met one of my favourite producers, and my flies were down

the whole time.

WHAT DO YOU ALWAYS HAVE IN YOUR REFRIGERATOR? Oat Milk.

HAVE YOU EVER HAD A CRUSH ON A FICTIONAL CHARACTER? Gromit.

WHAT'S YOUR POISON? I love Manhattans!

Pixey's debut mini-album 'Dreams, Pains & Paper Planes' is out now.