DOWN WITH BORING.
ISSUE 58 · SEPTEMBER 2021 · READDORK.COM
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CHVRCHES Maisie Peters Sports Team Baby Queen Declan McKenna The Vaccines Sea Girls Shame Holly Humberstone Wet Leg + loads more!
Star Boy.
I THE DEBUT ALBUM “CHEW THE SCENERY” FEATURING “STUCK”, “21ST CENTURY HOBBY”, “WRITE ME A LETTER”, “YEAH!” & MORE OUT NOW
Index Issue 58 | September 2021 | readdork.com | Down With Boring
Editor’s Letter New music is the best. Honestly, grumpy borings might try and make tired, jaded statements about the shallow, here-one-minutegone-the-next nature of the new music cycle, but they’re wrong. So, so wrong. There’s no bigger hit than the excitement that comes alongside discovering something both currently great, and potentially even greater. It’s the reason why your beloved Dork (hi, yes, we’re great) always strives to steer towards those artists
who still have the potential to surprise, rather than simply deliver on solid expectation. It’s also why we’re so delighted to score Conan Gray for his first Dork cover this month. With a second album ‘on the way’, Conan’s breakthrough has already been secured. What’s exciting, though, is that doesn’t feel remotely close to the ceiling for an alt-popster who has that indefinable magic touch. There’s a lot of that going round this month, from the fizzy, infectious energy
of Maisie Peters to long established Dork fave Baby Queen and ‘quite possibly the most exciting new band in years’ Wet Leg. When the future looks so bright, why would you bother looking anywhere else?
Stephen ‘Editor’ @stephenackroyd
Ø4 Intro 28 Hype 36 Features 66 Incoming 22.
If you were to ask us who All Time Low were going to collaborate on a single with this summer, it would have taken an awfully long time before we guessed Pale Waves, but here we are.
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Conan Gray Debut album ‘Kid Krow’ made Conan Gray A Star. Now, with its follow up approaching, he’s determined to keep it real.
All Time Low
Glaive
With his new EP ‘all dogs go to heaven’ just landed and a heap more to come, Glaive has the potential to become one of hyperpop’s breakout stars.
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Priya Ragu
Priya Ragu is introducing a fresh take on R&B that’s entirely her own.
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Editor Stephen Ackroyd Deputy Editor Victoria Sinden
Associate Editor Ali Shutler Contributing Editors Jamie Muir, Martyn Young Scribblers Alex Brzezicka, Connor Fenton, Dan Harrison, Edie McQueen, Finlay Holden, Jake Hawkes, Jamie MacMillan, Josh Williams, Liam Konemann, Melissa Darragh, Neive McCarthy, Phoebe De Angelis, Sam Taylor, Steven Loftin Snappers Aidan Cullen, Clark Franklyn, Dillon Matthew, Frances Beach, Jamie MacMillan, Jordan Curtis Hughes, Kevin J Thomson, Lani Parrilla, Nolan Knight, Patrick Gunning, Rory Griffin, Sarah Louise Bennett, Sebastian Mlynarski, Sirus F Gahan
PUBLISHED FROM
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Wet Leg
Maisie Peters
They might just be the best new band to emerge in an age. Get to know Wet Leg before they take over.
With her debut album freshly inked with Ed Sheeran’s label, Maisie Peters is finally set to fulfil all that pop star potential.
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CHVRCHES
Baby Queen
Four albums in, and CHVRCHES have probably been through the toughest part of their story to date. They’re backing down for nobody.
Already making waves, Baby Queen’s brand new collection-slash-projectslash-what-do-we-callthem ‘The Yearbook’ is about to land with a splash.
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Orla Gartland
Dublin’s Orla Gartland charts the ups and downs of growing up and adjusting to adulthood (urgh) with a hefty dose of camaraderie and wit. Her debut album, ‘Woman On The Internet’ is really very special.
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Oscar Lang
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Chubby and the Gang
With his debut album, ‘Chew The Scenery’, Oscar Lang is proving just how far he’s come - but the journey is only just getting started.
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West London five-piece Chubby and the Gang are unabashed in addressing society’s ills.
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Intro THE BEATING HEART OF POP NEWS
Charlie from s Shame look glad to be ‘back’.
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THE BIG STORY
After nearly a year and a half without capacity crowds, packed venues and fields full of fans - live music is back! From old faves returning to the fray for the first time in literally years, to new acts suddenly finding themselves performing for packed audiences for the first time, your trusty pop scribblers and snappers have been down ‘the front’ to capture just some of the excitement.
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Features.
Conan Gray.
DEBUT ALBUM ‘KID KROW’ MADE CONAN GRAY A STAR.
NOW, WITH ITS FOLLOW UP APPROACHING, HE’S DETERMINED TO KEEP IT REAL. WORDS: ALI SHUTLER. PHOTOS: DILLON MATTHEW.
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Features.
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Maisie Peters.
SIGNED. SEALED. DELIVERED. The latest signing to Ed Sheeran’s own record label, it’s debut album time for singer-songwriter Maisie Peters. Words: Neive McCarthy. Photo: Patrick Gunning.
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Features.
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CHVRCHES.
Four albums in, and CHVRCHES have probably been through the toughest part of their story to date. Returning with their new fulllength ‘Screen Violence’, they’re backing down for nobody. Words: Ali Shutler. Photos: Sebastian Mlynarski & Kevin J Thomson.
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Features.
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Baby Queen.
Baby Queen was already making waves at the start of 2021, when she fronted our annual Hype List. Now, she’s dropping ‘The Yearbook’ - a new collection of pop perfection. Words: Finlay Holden. Photos: Clark Franklyn.
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f you have yet to stumble upon her kingdom, regal jester Baby Queen has dutifully arranged her own wondrous world of glossy anti-pop for your compulsive consumption. Bella Latham has had one hell of a rapid-fire year, dropping glazy anthem after another and easily cementing herself at the top of the league of promising popsters with more than enough potential to change the game. Baby Queen herself is known as much for her bubbling, addictive soundscapes as for the signature pessimistic
commentary buried within, and fusing these two opposing elements into such a compact package is bound to leave you exhausted. As she only half-jokingly laments through her phone, “if I could sleep for the rest of my life, I would.” This authenticity and openness is a staple of the project, with an array of songs jumping bravely into heavily personal topics that let fans see reflections of their own insecurities. It seems that the honesty is only becoming more and more unflinching with each offering, but on the
most sensitive topics to date, Bella divulges: “’These Drugs’ was very soul-bearing and kind of a touchy subject which I was scared to broach.’ Pretty Girl Lie’ is about body image, which was very close to home because of how much I’ve struggled with that growing up. Those two were pretty spiky, but I like being honest – those two were diving deep.” Revealing that she is now keeping a list of raw statements to encourage herself to open up even more (!), it becomes obvious that these intimate themes
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