DIY, July 2020 (2 of 2) by DIY Magazine

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THE NEW ALBUM ‘A HERO’S DEATH’ OUT 31st JULY 3

the new album out august 7

welcome Listening Post

What’s been worming its way around DIY’s collective ear-holes this month?

U L WILLIE J HEALEY - TWIN HEAVY

Oxford boy Willie returns with his second slice of the LP pie, this time doubling down on some classic ‘70s songwriter vibes and, in turn, racking up some serious musical supporters.

HAIKU HANDS HAIKU HANDS

A solid couple of years since winning our hearts at The Great Escape, Aussie trio Haiku Hands have finally wrangled together a record that comes good on their cheeky Charli XCX-gone-rap charm. Play loud (with a drink in hand).

Question!

You might not have noticed it but it’s actually mid-way through summer. What are Team DIY’s ultimate summer jams, to give you that should-havebeen-at-a-festival feeling?

SARAH JAMIESON • Managing Editor

A true classic from the indie disco archives, is there a track out there that incites more giddy glee than Vampire Weekend’s ‘A-Punk’? Not likely!

EMMA SWANN • Founding Editor For ultimate pints-in-the-sky, wild (read: terrible) dancing and shoutaloud action, it’s still got to be Franz Ferdinand’s ‘Take Me Out’. LISA WRIGHT • Features Editor From the second the seagulls start squawking at the beginning of Metronomy’s ‘The English Riviera’, you can’t help but feel like you’re supping a sunshine pint in a mid-level coastal town. Extra shout out to ‘The Look’ for being a solid gold festie banger, too.

LOUISE MASON • Art Director I just want to go and see Crack Clould a few times, that is all. ELLY WATSON • Digital Editor Should’ve been at Primavera breaking all my bones in the 100 gecs mosh pit, so right now I’m just dancing round my living room to ‘money machine’ at full volume thinking of what could’ve been (sorry neighbours).

BIFFY CLYRO - A CELEBRATION OF ENDINGS

It’s been a long wait for our April cover stars, but after a series of push-backs due to bladdy ol’ ‘rona, Biffy are FINALLY about to unleash appropriately existential new LP ‘A Celebration of Endings’. Cheers to that!

, Letter Editors

While this summer, things are admittedly looking pretty different for Team DIY - we’re slowly getting used to swapping festivals and gigs for activities a little closer to home - what’s great is that this July is set to feature an absolute boat-load of brilliant new music. And that’s exactly why we’ve decided to celebrate with not one, but two covers this month - featuring the incredible Glass Animals and Fontaines DC. Elsewhere this month, we speak to 2020’s rising star Celeste about how she’s embracing the unexpected turn her year’s taken, we chat Album 2 with Dream Wife and dive into the curse that surrounds Creeper’s forthcoming ambitious record. There are also chats with Denai Moore, Crack Cloud, Lianne La Havas and loads more - all in the name of assuring you that this summer’s still set to have a stellar soundtrack. Sarah Jamieson, Managing Editor

Y 5

Shout out to: Instax for helping us make our wonderful covers, massive thanks to Glass Animals and Fontaines DC for doing their own photos, Will Creeper for being our first socially-distanced shoot of the season, BBC iPlayer’s Glastonbury Experience for making us cry happy and sad tears simultaneously, London’s parks for letting Team DIY occasionally see each other IRL, and the record shops of the UK who are finally being allowed to open again - wahey!

NEWS 8 CELESTE 1 4 L I A N N E L A H AVA S 1 8 H A L L O F FA M E 2 0 F E S T I VA L S AT H O M E NEU 2 2 B R E E R U N WAY 26 BUZZARD BUZZARD BUZZARD 28 MXMTOON 2 9 S I LV E R B A C K S FEATURES 3 0 F O N TA I N E S D C 36 GLASS ANIMALS 42 DREAM WIFE 4 6 DENAI MOORE 48 CRACK CLOUD 52 CREEPER REVIEWS 56 ALBUMS Founding Editor Emma Swann Managing Editor Sarah Jamieson Features Editor Lisa Wright Digital Editor Elly Watson Art Direction & Design Louise Mason Contributors Ben Tipple, Chris Taylor, Jack Doherty, Jack Johnstone Orr, James Balmont, Jenessa Williams, Joe Goggins, Louisa Dixon, Nicolas Tyrell, Oliver-James Campbell, Richard Kelly, Sean Kerwick. Cover photos: Fontaines DC, Glass Animals, Louise Mason. For DIY editorial: info@diymag.com For DIY sales: advertise@diymag. com For DIY stockist enquiries: stockists@diymag.com DIY HQ, Unit K309, The Biscuit Factory, 100 Drummond Road, London SE16 4DG

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 DIY. 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 DIY holds no responsibility. The opinions of the contributors do not necessarily bear a relation to those of DIY or its staff and we disclaim liability for those impressions. Distributed nationally.

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Rakel’s late run for the Presidency was going surprisingly well.

STAR 8

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NE WS BEGINNING THE YEAR BY NABBING EVERY HYPE ACCOLADE OUT THERE, 2020’S BEEN AN EVEN STRANGER RIDE FOR CELESTE THAN MOST. HEADING INTO HER MUCHANTICIPATED DEBUT, SHE’S COMMITTED TO THE PURSUIT OF AUTHENTICITY MORE THAN EVER. Words: Lisa Wright. Photos: Mia Clark.

dele. Ellie Goulding. Sam Smith. Rag’n’Bone Man. When you join the ranks of the BRITs Rising Star award winners, you’re pretty much guaranteed - like the global hitmakers that came before you - to be thrust into the big time. In February of this year, Brighton’s Celeste became the latest to be anointed with the crown, picking up the top spot placing in the BBC’s Sound Of 2020 poll along the way and immediately becoming the newest name on every hype-maker’s lips. It’s a tale as old as the Radio One A-List, and yet you rapidly get the sense that the 26-year-old, who peppers her excitable chat with memories of being a teenager at parties where everyone was “dressing in vintage and listening to the Shangri-Las with loads of eyeliner on,” isn’t cut from quite the same cloth as your typical major label type. She’s candid about the struggles of balancing her natural musical and artistic inclinations with the fact that, as a big commercial concern on Polydor, she’ll likely have to make some compromises. Far from putting the stoppers on what should have been ‘her year’, lockdown seems actually to have gifted Celeste with some all-important time. “The album was meant to be coming out in September, I guess there was an idea that we needed to have it by then to keep the

momentum that had been building up, but even at that point my instinct was that it didn’t feel right,” she explains. “I think it’s just about making sure that there’s integrity in every part of it, and working out the measure of that. There’ll be pop moments, but the album tracks are very much me being expressive in a way that isn’t polluted by the idea of them having to measure up to anything in terms of commercial success. I’m figuring it out as I go along, but I’m hoping that by the end of the year I have an album that’s what I wanted it to be.” Growing up listening to Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone and the pop stars of the ‘60s, the singer’s listening habits were out of step with the bulk of her peers from a young age. She recalls learning her craft by putting those artists on repeat, “singing over the top, rewinding until I knew the words”. “I’m learning some covers at the moment, and I’m doing it the exact same way. My manager will come to the studio and be like ‘Do you want an instrumental?’ And it’s like, no. This is how I do it. Just doing karaoke to someone else’s voice...” she laughs. When it comes to her own music, it’s the deep-seated sense of truth that floods her most-beloved records that’s at the forefront of Celeste’s ambitions, too. “You listen to Billie Holiday and everything she’s saying comes from the bones of her body - there’s nothing

POWER 9

that’s faked, and that’s first and foremost what I look for,” she explains. “It’s not this staged appeal, they just go and bare all. I like an extreme, nothing that’s sitting in the middle, trying not to offend anybody and be liked by everyone; the artists I like sit in their own lane.” And, while Celeste might currently be on a learning curve of how to stay true to that (“I find it easy to be authentic in my everyday life as a human being, but being authentic as a musician that also has to be commodified is not that easy all the time,” she admits), so far she’s been catching people’s attention thoroughly on her own terms.

hen Celeste performed breakthrough hit ‘Strange’ - a sparse, arresting ballad that undeniably comes from “the bones” - at the BRITs ceremony this year, you wouldn’t have imagined that only 12 months before, the singer was debuting the track “at this BBC Introducing show at The Lexington to about 16 people”. Though she’s been writing and performing for half a decade, it’s only really been in the last year that the singer’s name has become public property. And, as such, her newly spotlit platform is something she’s equally had to adjust to. When the Black Lives Matter protests around the death of George Floyd began, Celeste opted to post a poem by Maya Angelou on Instagram in place of her own comment. As both a person of mixed race heritage, and someone not naturally prone to personal social media sharing, the topic, she explains, felt too huge to try and distil into a caption. “This is a big conversation - it’s hundreds of years of history up until this point, and there are nuances to every single person of colour’s experience within this. To express myself in that way doesn’t feel like enough,” she explains. “Even if you’re not experiencing outright racism, you might be experiencing a slightly different treatment when you walk in a place, and [your skin colour] is the reason why. And when it’s not something so literal or physical for you to be able to explain, people don’t necessarily understand how that can make you feel.

it isn’t necessarily something you can explain to other people,” she continues. “That this made me feel uncomfortable, because you don’t really have proof.

NE WS

“But I went to the [first] protest, and I enjoyed seeing the nuances to everyone’s experience - understanding how people are feeling just by being around all these different people. Statistically, [that march] harks back to the size of a march during the civil rights movement; statistically it’s a similar period. So I think people are in fear that this will be a moment and then people will forget about it when it’s not as loud, but the fact that it has been this loud for this period of time has brought a new awareness.” Undeniably, 2020 is shaping up to be a very different year than it was first meant to be for Celeste. But she’s spent her time in lockdown writing and trying to bring the album she truly wants to life; she’s fallen in love, as she tells us with an audible giddiness, and she seems content that everything is falling into place if not how tradition would dictate, then in a way that’s perhaps closer to how she’d like it anyway. “I think when you’re putting in a certain amount of work, it’s silly to sell yourself short. It’s an ambition within myself to play big shows and do things like that, but to do it in my own way,” she nods. “So as long as I put in the work and I’m proud of it, then that’s the only way I can do it. If I’m fully invested in it, then I see no bounds.” DIY

“I performed at a place in London where I arrived and the person was like, ‘Are you sure you’re in the right place?’. And I wondered why that was and why this person was quite standoffish with me. I never jump to the conclusion that that’s why - I think, what else could it be? Have I walked in with an attitude? Do I look a bit tired? - but sometimes when you’re left with no other explanation,

“I LIKE AN E X T R E M E NOTHING THAT’S SITTING IN THE MIDDLE, TRYING NOT TO OFFEND ANYBODY AND BE LIKED BY EVERYONE.” 10

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THE NEW ALBUM

INCLUDES THE SINGLES “SPORTS!” AND “SO WHEN YOU GONNA...”

OUT JULY 3RD 11

NE WS

On the

‘Gram

S HOW ME THE

These days, even yer gran is posting selfies on Instagram. Instagran, more like. Everyone has it now, including all our fave bands. Here’s a brief catch-up on music’s finest photo-taking action as of late.

DOGGY We love dogs. You love dogs. Here are some popstars’ dogs.

THIS MONTH:

Marika Hackman.

Metronomy have a BYOB (Bring Your Own Bed) policy at all times. (@metronomy)

What do music’s great and good rustle up for their supper? Let us peek inside the recipe book… bon appetit! NAME: Jack Bevan, Foals DISH: Orecchiette with Sausage Ragu Ingredients:

500g dried orecchiette pasta 6 decent quality pork sausages 1 tbsp fennel seeds 500ml drinkable white wine 100g grated Parmesan 2 tbsp freshly ground black pepper 1 onion finely sliced 2 garlic cloves finely sliced

Method: In a large pan, gently fry onion in olive oil until translucent. Add garlic and fry for another minute. Squeeze sausage meat out of casings and into the pan. Fry until meat is cooked and slightly coloured. Add white wine and fennel seeds and turn up the heat. Leave this stewing and cook the pasta al dente, retaining the pasta water. Add pasta to the sausage mixture and stir, adding pasta water 1 tbsp at a time, until it gets saucy. Stir in parmesan to thicken. Serve with more grated parmesan and black pepper on top. Clean. Follow @beakersdeli for more of Jack’s recipe tips! 12

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Name of pup: Margot Age: 8 Breed: Deerhound Favourite things: A football called John, coconuts and ignoring people. Please tell us a cute anecdote about your dog: She once ate my retainers in what I assume was a bid to get straighter teeth.

Coronavirus, but make it fashion. (@lizzobeeating)

Kristian had managed to keep up the mannequin challenge for four solid years now. (@themagicgang)

ROYAL Seal of

APPROVAL With her new self-titled release marking her first album in five years, LIANNE LA HAVAS opens up about the lessons from Prince that inspired her to take a more DIY approach. Words: Sean Kerwick. Having been through love, loss angovers and heartbreak in the intervening unravel in years, the tracks are submerged by unpredictable ways. the light and dark we all face in life as it Some knock you out cold trails the arc of a relationship. While the while others summon a lush, bass-driven ‘Read My Mind’ is a strange spell of productivity. Straight doe-eyed, lovelorn gawp across a room after Glastonbury 2019, Lianne La Havas (“What you waiting for?”), the stirring and her band got to work, favouring ‘Please Don’t Make Me Cry’ simmers a trip to the studio over their comfy in a sticky pool of hopelessness (“You warm beds. “We were all proud of our won’t find another dream if you don’t get hangovers last year,” she says with a no sleep”). chuckle over the phone from her South London home. The latest LP marks the first selfproduced effort of her discography. The resulting impromptu session not “On the last album, I wrote with a lot of only birthed the ethereal cover of people and found a lot of things I liked Radiohead’s ‘Weird Fishes’ that graces and didn’t like during the process,” she her self-titled third album, but also explains candidly. “I didn’t know how I helped solidify the LP’s sound - a rawer, wanted to do it but I knew that it had to stripped-back and live approach. It was be nobody else’s ideas but mine. It was an answer Lianne had been searching the first time I had people looking to me for in the five year gap that now stands for what to do, instead of me looking between ‘LLH’ and previous album to them.” ‘Blood’. Having found something of a mentor “Because of the story - the tracklisting in Prince from working with him before and the timeline - it makes sense that it his death in 2016, did he inspire the comes from all these different years and DIY approach at all? “He taught me to moments to be this one thing,” she says. believe more in myself and to not let

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“Your vision can’t be wrong if it’s coming from you!” somebody tell you that your vision is wrong. It can’t be wrong if it’s coming from you!” she says. “I started out making my own stuff on my computer, so this was a chance to take everything I’ve learnt - all the good bits and all the bad bits - and do it myself. Prince was definitely instrumental in inspiring that.” The resulting sound finds a pleasing sweet spot between La Havas’ rich arrangements and the warm, crunchy live instrumentation that underpins them. It’s an intriguing homegrown new chapter that oozes with confidence. ‘Lianne la Havas’ is out 17th July via Warner / Nonesuch. DIY

HAVE YOU HEARD?

ANOTHER SKY I FELL IN LOVE WITH THE CITY

So good it bears repeating, it’s fairly impossible to discuss any of Another Sky’s wares without highlighting the inimitable, extraordinary vocals of singer Catrin Vincent. Blessed with pipes that stretch from full-bodied, deep boom to clear, pure top notes, her voice always remains the most notable instrument in any given track. ‘Fell In Love With The City’ is no different. A dusky affair that pulses along on cyclical drums, it might not be their most immediately striking offering – in truth, it feels more of an album track than a single - but with Catrin at the helm, there’s still enough to intrigue. (Lisa Wright)

ASHNIKKO FT. GRIMES - CRY

With a brand new girl power collab, Ashnikko has teamed up with Grimes for ‘Cry’. A lovelorn anthem pinned round the screaming chorus of “bitch, are you trying to make me cry?”, it’s a bona fide girl power slammer. The blue-haired rapper’s bubblegum vocals are backed by rock-driven riffs and club ready beats, while Grimes adds an ethereal hook in the middle of the track - then juxtaposed by Ashnikko going hard AF. With the forever-motto of “fuck a fucking fuck boy” ringing clear, ‘Cry’ is yet another example of her balls-to-the-wall attitude, and a new empowerment anthem to blare out during quarantine. Thanks Ash. (Elly Watson) 16

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HAVE YOU HEARD?

DOMINIC FIKE - CHICKEN TENDERS

Returning with his first piece of new music in over a year, ‘Chicken Tenders’ was worth the wait. Not exactly an ode to the titular food, Dominic Fike’s latest R&B-infused pop bop instead is all about ordering some well-deserved post-coital snacks. “I ordered chicken fingers to my room, girl / But we got some things to do first” he delivers with signature laid-back vocals over some woozy building backing. Marking the first taste of his highly-anticipated debut album, the song was originally meant to come out earlier this month before he pushed it back, explaining in a powerful Instagram message to fans that it didn’t “feel right” to be releasing music at that time. Now delivering the sun-bleached track with the fitting weather to match, it’s time to start getting even more excited for his first full-length. (Elly Watson)

NONAME - SONG 33

“He really ‘bout to write about me when the world is in smokes?’” On one hand, ‘Song 33’ is a retort to J Cole’s ‘Snow on the Bluff’, released last month, in which he appeared to call out the Chicago rapper’s predilection for, y’know, reading and suggesting others read too. On the other, it’s a pin-sharp reflection of the here and now, of Black injustice - and more specifically, that of Black women. Lasting just over a minute, there’s no second wasted, no redundant word over a Madlibproduced beat that pushes along, but never deflects from, Noname’s message. Essential listening. (Emma Swann)

IDLES - GROUNDS On ‘Mr Motivator’, the first taste of their forthcoming record, IDLES dug deep into the cacophony of chaos that they’ve explored so well over their previous two records. It’s on their newest ‘Ultra Mono’ cut, however, that they make an even more refined statement. A thunderous track driven predominantly by deadly percussion, ‘Grounds’ sees the group transformed into a powerful marching band, with Joe Talbot becoming their potent band leader. “Do you hear that thunder?” he bellows, in among electronic stabs and frenetic guitars, before his defiant reply: “It’s the sound of strength in numbers.” An outraged and astute call to arms has never sounded so good. (Sarah Jamieson)

A HEROâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S DEATH

OUT JULY 31

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Fame

The Fiery Furnaces - Gallowsbird’s Bark They may have come to fame through the same fertile, early-‘00s NYC scene as The Strokes, Interpol et al, but on their debut, Eleanor and Matthew Friedberger were barking up a whole different tree. Words: Joe Goggins.

efore coronavirus intervened, 2020 should have been the year that live audiences were reintroduced to The Fiery Furnaces. A comeback show at Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago was in the books for July but, like the rest of the summer schedule, the pandemic’s long since nixed it. Still, the NYC brother-sister duo have pressed ahead with their other plans, announcing their signing to Jack White’s Third Man Records last month and, in the shape of new single ‘Down at the So and So on Somewhere’, releasing their first new music since 2009 LP ‘Take Me Round Again’. Their story began, however, with gloriously ramshackle debut ‘Gallowsbird’s Bark’. Released in 2003, the sprawling 16-track effort remains the purest distillation of The Fiery Furnaces blueprint - giddily uninhibited and riddled with quirks and idiosyncrasies. It’s an unrefined run through myriad genres; blues and early R&B are at its core, but it finds room along the way to squeeze in noisy, piano-driven rockabilly (opener ‘South Is Only a Home and ‘Inca Rag/Name Game’), experiments in groove (‘Crystal Clear’), and glimpses of the keenly melodic pop they’d go on to pursue on later records. Some tracks, like ‘Don’t Dance Her Down’, cram all of the above into the same three minutes.

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THE

FACTS

Released: 23rd September 2003 Standout tracks: ‘Inca Rag/ Name Game’, ‘I’m Gonna Run’, ‘Don’t Dance Her Down’ Tell your mates: The album’s closing track ‘We Got Back the Plague’ is centred around the idea that a brief bout of bubonic plague in New York was divine retaliation for George Bush’s electoral success.

At the time, critics and fans alike held onto some skepticism over Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger’s claims to be siblings - not least because The White Stripes, who successfully pulled off that ruse themselves, were in the ascendancy with ‘Elephant’ around the same time. ‘Gallowsbird’s Bark’’s diffuse thematic approach will have done something to fuel that too, though; just as the sound of the record is scattershot, so too are the stories Eleanor spins here, less character studies than they are esoteric vignettes. All are delivered in a sort of undulating, half-spoken drawl - languid one minute and fierce the next. It made for the kind of overall package that, when taken to its logical conclusion on 2004 follow-up ‘Blueberry Boat’, led to sharply polarised views: one notable review labelled the release “toe-curlingly unlistenable”. On reflection, however, ‘Gallowsbird’s Bark’ fired the starting pistol on one of the most singular runs of records of the noughties - a daring debut with little regard for genre boundaries. The Friedbergers make for an endearingly odd couple, in more ways than one; the promise of a first album in 11 years is one of the few positives we can salvage from 2020.

As we type this, DIY should be on a bus merrily making our way to Worthy Farm. As you read this, you might be missing out on a jaunt to Latitude or Truck. Maybe you were gonna hop on a plane for a Euro festie holiday; perhaps you were preparing to jump on the Tube to Wireless. Whatever your summer 2020 musical plans may have been, Covid has well and truly pissed on their parade. But rather than wallowing on what might have been, why not take a couple of hours to remind yourself of exactly how great a truly legendary festival set can be â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and why, come 2021, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll all be having the time of our bladdy lives, re-embracing them back into our arms. Here are six of the best you can stream right now (bonus: the toilet and fridge are 10 seconds around the corner).

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BILLIE EILISH GLASTONBURY, 2019 Watch on: BBC iPlayer

When Billie Eilish was first announced for Glastonbury last year, she was set to play on the tented John Peel stage. By the time it hit spring, she’d already been upgraded to the Other Stage. Come June, the insane turn out for her Sunday afternoon slot could have easily filled the Pyramid’s field. Bringing together basically the whole of Worthy Farm to toast the success of ‘When We All Fall Asleep Where Do We Go?’, Billie - adorned in an excellent Beatles Blue Meanies-print outfit - had Worthy Farm in the palm of her hand. As far as first time appearances go, there are few who can ever lay claim to such a complete and total smash hit. /

BEYONCE COACHELLA, 2018 Watch on: Netflix

ARCTIC MONKEYS GLASTONBURY, 2013 Watch on: BBC iPlayer

Come 2013, Arctic Monkeys were old hands at this headlining business, having topped the bill at pretty much every festival going including a turn on Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage back in 2007. But entering into the dawn of ‘AM’, their 2013 appearance felt like a band stepping into the peak of their powers. Slick, suited and sporting an… interesting new accent, Alex Turner was a man changed; opening the set with the justreleased prowl of ‘Do I Wanna Know?’, the following two hours were akin to watching four kings step up to receive the crown.

NIRVANA READING, 1992 Watch on: YouTube

Was Beychella - as this double weekender of already-legendary headline performances was dubbed - the greatest modern festival set of our time? Very possibly. Less a ‘gig’ and more a fully-realised, emotional production, it saw Queen Bey train for months alongside a huge cast of POC singers and dancers to create a show that carried all the weight of ‘Lemonade’ onto the stage. Yeah, there were sparkling hits at every turn because duh, it’s Beyoncé. But her Coachella set also felt like way more than that - a chance to bring Black history onto a massive stage in front of the world’s eyes and let it shine.

Picture the scene: it’s summer 1992 and, following the insane success of ‘Nevermind’, rumours are circulating that all is not well in Nirvana HQ. Kurt is sick. Tours are getting cancelled. But they’re still headlining Reading. And so, in an IRL bout of iconic trolling, the singer takes to the stage in a wheelchair and medical gown, hamming up the rumours in the gossip columns with some comedy acting before launching into a set that buried any fears in the ground. Yes, we all know how the story ends, but right then, Nirvana were the best band in the world.

OASIS KNEBWORTH, 1996

Watch on: BBC iPlayer

Watch on: YouTube

OK, so yes: Oasis’ two mammoth turns at Knebworth weren’t TECHNICALLY a festival. But they were outdoor gigs, in the summer, with a supporting bill so… deal with it. And really, no list of victorious field-based events would be complete without a nod to the Gallaghers’ epic moment. It might be hard now to fully grasp just how huge the band were following ‘Definitely Maybe’ and ‘What’s the Story…’, but the numbers don’t lie: playing to a quarter of a million people (!) over two nights, these sets were some of the most celebratory of all time.

NEWS IN BRIEF

STORMZY GLASTONBURY, 2019 Few Black artists have ever headlined Glastonbury. Even fewer people have topped the bill after only one album. Literally zero grime stars have ever achieved the feat. Until Stormzy came along last year and changed the game with a Pyramid performance that used its platform to make important social and political statements, whilst finally giving British rap the headline status it deserves. It won’t just go down in Glastonbury history, but as ol’ Corbyn noted - “it’ll go down in our country’s cultural history”.

BLOOM

Bright Eyes have announced details of their new album. ‘Down In The Weeds, Where The World Once Was’, the group’s 10th record and first in almost a decade, will be out on 21st August

AT THE DRIVE-IN

The Streets, Dizzee Rascal and Ash are among artists set to play drive-in concerts across the UK from this month as part of Live Nation’s Utilita Live From The Drive-In, in venues including Cheltenham Racecourse, Liverpool Central Docks, Edinburgh’s Royal Highland Centre and Milton Keynes Bowl. .

SWEET

CHARITY

Peace, whenyoung, Gengahr and Connie Constance are among artists contributing to compilation ‘What’s Going On?’, released to raise funds for the Music Venue Trust and L!FE, who will split their share between Black and minority ethnic mental health outfits.

BEDROOM POP

Another Sky have revealed they’ll be releasing debut album ‘I Slept On The Floor’ on 7th August. The twelve-track record features new single ‘Fell In Love With The City’.

S P A N I S H S A H A R A

Madrid festival Mad Cool has confirmed they’ll be returning next summer, with the event taking place between 7th and 10th July.

We take your crappy homemade face covering, and we raise you...

neu 22

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Bree Runway Hackney’s newest star, drawing influence from her London home, Ghanaian roots and, er… Shania Twain? Words: Nicolas Tyrell.

“I was made to always dim my light, ‘No one cares that you can sing, shut your mouth’, but this version of Bree is THAT girl, and she knows it,” begins Brenda Mensah, more widely known as Bree Runway, defiantly over Zoom.

Born and raised in Hackney, in an area that she refers to as ‘Murder Mile’, Bree is quick to note that, in order to survive in such an area, she needed to harden her skin. “Before I wasn’t strong enough, but as I grew, it was inevitable. [Hackney] has taught me to have a voice and stand by it,” she explains. Though she experienced bullying in her younger life, she credits those moments as shaping her both as a person and as an artist. “I stand for something so much stronger now,” she nods. “You can’t call me crazy for wanting to express myself a certain way.” Embodying this mantra quickly, Bree has seized opportunities since then, not least the chance to perform in front of Michelle Obama, who told the then-teenager to “never stop singing”. Evidently, she took the advice and ran with it. Gaining recognition as a self-made DIY artist over the years, she hasn’t stopped building the career of her dreams from scratch. From the self-directed video for inaugural single ‘Butterfly’ (which also featured model best friend Leomie Anderson), to her more recent update of Paul McCartney’s ‘Wonderful Christmastime’, Bree is a renegade without restraint, consistently orchestrating her own productions. However, her most impressive visual project yet began as a cancelled video shoot during the current pandemic for recent single ‘Damn Daniel’.

“You don't give up, so don't give up.” “‘Damn Daniel’ was originally going to involve me and [Yung Baby Tate] throwing a guy over a building. Bree loves a killing,” she laughs. “But then COVID became super real. I started crying. But I wanted to continue the strong visual presence.” After racking her brain, Bree leapt into action, ordering green screens and FaceTiming Yung Baby Tate, who resides in Atlanta, kicking things into overdrive. “I started looking at ‘80s visuals, grabbing inspiration from Shania Twain with the leopard print and Cyndi Lauper’s ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’

with the tights and legwarmers. You don’t give up, so don’t give up,” she shrugs. Released back in April, ‘Damn Daniel’ stands as a potent example of Bree’s experimental musicianship. Although rooted in contemporary pop, her sound bends from the depths of trap to flirtations with rock, the latter of which is set to return in a more pronounced way on her next project, expected later this year. The singer refuses to pigeonhole her sonic offerings, regardless of how lonely it can sometimes feel for her. “A lot of the girls here that rap or sing, or do the experimental pop thing have found a home. I don’t really have that,” she explains. She’s always been candid about being one of the only contemporary dark-skinned Black women in the British pop arena. “I feel like there’s more alternative Black girls in America,” she continues. “Don’t get me wrong I have friendships with all of the girls doing their thing over here, but I am one of the only ones over here with my sound.” Part of Bree’s inspiration stems from her deep-rooted love of her Ghanaian roots. Spending the start of the new decade in Accra, Ghana’s capital city, she documented most of her trip, including time with her family and friends across the region. To Bree, Ghana as a whole is integral to her experience as a person and musician. “The Ghanaian DNA gives me the highest form of creativity; it inspires my flow, everything,” she says. “Africans can find gold so naturally in anything. A kid can click his fingers and make a whole song in ten minutes.” The singer’s lyrics have already reached into equally far corners, tackling everything from colourism to self-love. The cover of 2019 EP ‘Be Runway’, meanwhile, is an ode to the experiences of self-hate that plagued her adolescence. With her face daubed half in white, you could easily think that it finds Bree digging as deep as she can go, sharing her most intimate thoughts and fears. But on her next EP, she’s set to unlock even more of herself; “I’m afraid of love,” she reflects, “I’ve had to face myself head-on during lockdown. A lot of those sad times and moments I’m scared of will pop up here.” Before that however, Bree has ‘Gucci’ on her mind. The next single set for release, it features Maliibu Miitch and puts women firmly at the forefront. “We’re always taught to be so humble,” she notes, “But it’s okay to say ‘Yeah, I’m it. I am’. Guys do it all the time, slinging their dicks in our faces. So I’m doing that too on this song.” DIY

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neu BINKI

Sunshine indie-funk from the buzzy Brooklyn dweller If we had a pound for every time we’d been inclined to describe a new artist as genre-fluid recently, we’d be… well, substantially richer; these days, kids don’t give a fuck about traditional musical barriers, and 22-year-old Brooklyner binki is no exception. Smashing together hazy summer funk, rap, indie and bedroom-style production smarts, he’s all your faves rolled into one - with some earworms already in his arsenal to boot. LISTEN: ‘Heybb!’ is what you’d get if slowthai went funk. SIMILAR TO: A one-man, NYC-centric Easy Life.

FOLLY GROUP Twitchy, tetchy sounds - for the back room pub gig and the club.

London’s Folly Group understand that a wise band in 2020 has their fingers in many pies - why limit yourself to one niche when you can have two? And so, following both of their taught, antsy post-punk releases so far (‘Butt No Rifle’ and ‘Fewer Closer Friends’), they’ve offered up ‘FG’s Club Flip Remix’ - gnarly, electronic reworkings of the tracks that take them to a totally different, yet equally intriguing, place. Get yourself a band who can do both. LISTEN: ‘Fewer Closer Friends’ comes on like early These New Puritans on their angriest day. SIMILAR TO: Your day-tonight playlist in one band.

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FILM NOIR

Can Parisians get any cooler than this? Probs not tbh. With a name like Film Noir, it comes as little surprise that this Parisian quintet also double as purveyors of dark and smoky garage-rock. Fronted by actress and film director Joséphine de la Baume, alongside her brother Alexandré, the band ooze a sense of effortless cool in exactly the way you’d hope: recent single ‘My Love’ is a woozy, bittersweet effort, while new EP ‘Tendrément,’ sees them venture into softer, more sentimental territory. LISTEN: Recent singles ‘‘Château d’eau’ and ‘My Love’. SIMILAR TO: A more melancholic Tarantino soundtrack.

BALMING TIGER

The musical collective reinventing K-Pop. Self-described as a “multinational alternative K-pop band”, Balming Tiger are a hip hop collective crafting instantly-infectious beats paired with captivating visuals. The Seoul-based band - who currently have nine members - are gearing up to release a new compilation album towards the end of the year. Taking their name from the beloved Tiger Balm, they’re aiming on becoming just as much of a worldwide craze, and we’re here for it. LISTEN: In their own words, ‘Armadillo’ is a certified “scene steala”. SIMILAR TO: The cool new collective coming for BROCKHAMPTON’s crown.

BLACKABY

The London-based indie outfit soundtracking sadness in fun AF bops. Spearheaded by songwriter and multi-instrumentalist William Blackaby, Blackaby have already been making their name in the London live scene and now they’re getting ready to try and infiltrate ears off stage too. With their debut EP set to land later this month, the group soundtrack sadness in glistening bops, perfect for when you wanna have a lil cry and dance simultaneously. LISTEN: Title track of debut EP ‘What’s On The TV?’ may be short but it’s hella sweet. SIMILAR TO: Sad undercurrents surrounded by sweet sounds à la Matt Maltese and Jerkcurb.

BUZZ FEED All the buzziest new music happenings, in one place.

BLACK COUNTRY, ON THE ROAD Is there any better, more hopeful feeling than seeing a brand, sparkling new tour announced these days? Almost certainly no especially when said tour is helmed by one of 2020’s most exciting new prospects. Jazz-loving Londoners Black Country, New Road will be hitting the, er, road starting next January for a massive, two-month UK and European jaunt. Beginning in Belgium, it’ll see them arrive back on home shores mid-Feb, winding up at London’s Electric Ballroom on 3rd March.

TASMANIAN ANGELS Tasmanian punks A. Swayze and the Ghosts have revealed plans for debut album ‘Paid Salvation’. Set to land 18th September via Ivy League Records, it’ll see them follow up urgent, exciting early singles ‘Suddenly’ and ‘Connect to Consume’ with a full-length that aims to hit even harder. “It really shits me off when bands have this pedestal and they have the ability to influence so much around them and they waste it by singing about stupid shit. If you’re given this audience, I think you have to have something to say. And I definitely intend on abusing that right,” says Andrew Swayze of the release. Be prepared.

FULL SPEED AHEAD Speedy Wunderground have been responsible for early releases from some of the last few years’ best new artists (Squid, black midi and Sinead O’Brien to name but a few), so it’s with no small degree of delight that news of their first album release has finally arrived. That honour goes to London’s pinkloving, psych-tinged eccentrics Tiña, who’ll be releasing ‘Positive Mental Health Music’ on 6th November following their suitably excellent, Brian Jonestown Massacreesque single ‘I Feel Fine’ on the label last year.

PLAY LIST Every week on Spotify, we update DIY’s Neu Discoveries playlist with the buzziest, freshest faces. Here’s our pick of the best new tracks:

DRUG STORE ROMEOS ‘Quotations for Locations’ Pairing vocalist Sarah Downie’s light, airy vocal over nimble, plinking synth rhythms, ‘Quotations for Locations’ sounds like it should have a colourful bouncing ball dancing across its lyric video. Which is to say it’s a bright, airy thing with one foot in the sounds of the ‘80s. POZI ‘The Nightmare’ A disorientating post-punkinfused newie that aims to evoke the same feeling as its title might suggest, London trio Pozi’s latest employs a call and response delivery to create the perfect, slightly chaotic, ode to the daily stresses of These Weird and Unprecedented Times. SPRINTS ‘The Cheek’ A wry eyeball-roll to the prowlers and predators that roam any given All Bar One on a Wednesday night, ‘The Cheek’ takes four minutes of scuzzy, Amyl and the Sniffers-style riffs, pummelling basslines and singer Karla Chubb’s throaty, sarcastic vocal and turns it into a mic-drop anthem to live by. OSCAR WELSH ‘Sixteen’ Suffolk-based Oscar Welsh makes sun-bleached pop bops reminiscent of the likes of Tom Misch, Yellow Days or Alfie Templeman. Check out latest track ‘Sixteen’ for proof: an effortlessly chill, groove-filled slice of bedroompop, blending elements of soul and soaring synths.

BuzzardBuzzardBuzzard

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Approved by legends like Iggy Pop and Michael Sheen, this Cardiff quartet are going with their gut, and revelling in a bit of good, old fashioned glam-rock fun. Words: Sarah Jamieson. Photo: Pooneh Ghana.

“I had this epiphany when I was living with my mother after university,” offers up Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard frontman Tom Rees, launching into the story of how his band really found its feet. Having realised he was lost, at odds with the world around him, he had been forced to return home in search of a bit of stability - “You know, that classic faux bohemian, middle class nightmare!” - when he heard a song come on the radio that would change everything. “‘Spirit In the Sky’ by Norman Greenbaum came on and I was like, ‘I’ve been denying myself, for all these years, the luxury of listening to the music that I really love!’” And just like that, Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard flew into life. Formerly a member of Cardiff band Tibet, Tom quickly found himself turning to the glam-rock of the ‘70s for inspiration. “For years I was trying to convince myself that I loved Oasis, but I just don’t like them!” he admits, laughing. “In its first incarnation [Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard] was more of a project to try and recreate a ‘70s-sounding record just to please myself, and because it was loads of fun. That, in a way, informed how we operate as a band now. It’s on a level of honesty; if we really enjoy it, and we have loads of fun doing it,

then we’re gonna do it.” Currently in the middle of doing up the band’s studio (“Over the [last] three years, there’s been this increasing amount of damp rising from the floor…”), the quartet are also gearing up to release their first official body of work, ‘The Non-Stop’, this month. A ten-track release which perfectly reflects their sense of glammed-up fun, it calls on influences from Thin Lizzy, T.Rex and the aforementioned Greenbaum, all with a cheeky knowing wink. “I think there’s a certain understanding about what you can allow to be pastiche and what works,” he explains, referencing both the band’s general attitude and their forthcoming EP artwork, which plays with an infamous image of Yves Saint Laurent taken in 1971. “If we all had my haircut and were all wearing make-up, and massive fluorescent suits, and had all of these Spinal Tap-ian references, it would be too much. But a little nod here and there is good! I think if you just let yourself go and ease into it, it works. I love watching movies like School of Rock and Spinal Tap; how could you deny all of those influences? How could you deny that humour, especially if you’re trying to be in a rock band? That’s like Rock 101!” DIY

“I love watching movies like School of Rock and Spinal Tap; how could you deny all of those influences?” - Tom Rees

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mxmtoon’s accessory choices were a nightmare when it came to doing the weekly big shop.

With her signature ukulele in hand, mxmtoon is soundtracking teenage life from dusk ’til dawn. Words: Elly Watson.

Normally whipping out a ukulele might bring a shudder of fear, like a twee “anyway, here’s ‘Wonderwall’…”, but Oakland, CA’s mxmtoon - aka Maia - is keen to prove that conclusion wrong.

After years of being made to learn cello and violin by her mum, Maia always thought of music as a kind of “obligation”, until discovering the ukulele in her middle school music class. “It was the first instrument I picked up that didn’t have any rules,” she smiles. “I grew up with classical training, and with the ukulele it’s anything you want it to be at any given time.” Beginning to pen her own songs in 2013, she uploaded her first track - the soothing, lovelorn ‘1-800-DATEME’ - onto SoundCloud around four years later. “That song was my first original song that I shared with anybody, which was joking about being single on Valentine’s Day,” she recalls. “Then I started posting more online on YouTube and SoundCloud, and eventually when I graduated high school it kind of came to this point where I had to make the decision whether I wanted to go do music and see if that would take me anywhere… Now, I don’t even know when I’m going to go to college!”

mxmtoon She clearly made the right decision as, since then, she’s played her first headline shows, released debut LP ‘the masquerade’ and several EPs, and racked up a cool 15 million (and counting) views on her viral 2019 track ‘prom dress’. “When it started blowing up because of TikTok and these viral trends it blew my mind!’ she laughs. “As someone so involved in internet culture, I think in the back of my mind it’s always going to be something that I think is cool to have a song embedded into meme culture and to put my foot in [that] landscape. I would love that to happen with another song in the future, but I’m just going to focus on making songs the same way as I’ve always done it, and if it blows up, it blows up.” Hooking into online culture with her diary-like lyricism, Maia crafts twinkling gems characterised by her signature uke; next up, she’ll unveil new EP ‘dusk’ - the counterpart to April’s ‘dawn’ EP - which is set to land later this year. “It’s a lot more introspective and has more sombre moments,” she details. “It opens with the song ‘bon iver’ which is written about, obviously, Bon Iver. It’s the most positive on the record and it’s the transition from dawn to dusk.” And does Justin know about his new song? “Nooope!” she laughs. “He has no idea who I am!” If mxmtoon carries on like this, that could all be about to change very soon. DIY

"'I think it’s cool to have a song embedded into meme culture and to put my foot in [that] landscape.” 28

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"The five people in the band are all quite headstrong, but it works." - Gary Wickham

Silverbacks

The Dublin five-piece destined to be way more than just a ‘Fad’. Words: Elly Watson.

Ireland is known for banging out some of the biggest and best post-punk bands of the last few years (Fontaines DC, The Murder Capital, Girl Band, to name a few), and Dublin newbies Silverbacks are ready to add their name to that list. Originally taking life as the project of brothers Daniel and Killian O’Kelly, the pair met bassist / vocalist Emma Hanlon and guitarist Peadar Kearney in college, deciding to form a band before plans were put on hold as Paedar moved away to France. “He came back four years ago and we were like ‘OK, let’s get the band back together!’” Daniel reminisces. “But we needed a drummer and then I bumped into Gary [Wickham]. He saw me at a Wilco concert and came up and was like, ‘Oh, I’m your new drummer now apparently.’ The whole [band] thing was very convenient because we were all friends first - well, except Gary. We pretend to be his friend. It’s just hard to find a drummer, y’know?” Since completing their number, the quintet have spent the last two years whetting whistles via a series of singles that blend razor-sharp post-punk, wonky vocals and unexpected turns.

They’re a mish-mash of styles, but that’s the way Silverbacks like it. “The five people in the band are all quite headstrong people and have their own way of playing, but it just kind of happens that it works,” Gary smiles. “If it didn’t work it would be a complete disaster, but our styles seem to mesh quite well.” Now getting ready to release debut album ‘Fad’ this month, the group are excited to show the off-kilter universe they’ve got up their sleeves. “Daniel writes all the lyrics and he has these ideas of characters in his head and they become the subject of the song,” Killian says of their process. “The album is structured so it’s got three instrumental tracks to bridge some of the songs together nicely. A lot of the songs that haven’t been heard yet are different from what we previously released so there’s a wide range of influences behind it.” Blending elements of post-punk, indie, art rock and more, from hypnotic opener ‘Dunkirk’ to the Blondie-recalling ‘Up The Nurses’ and the climactic ‘Drink It Down’ (with its frankly brilliant lyrics of “That wasn’t Jesus, that was just some fucker in a dressing gown”), ‘Fad’ is ready to show just why Silverbacks should outlive the longevity its title may suggest. DIY

DEATH or GLORY IN-FIGHTING. SELF-DOUBT. AN ENTIRE SCRAPPED ALBUM RECORDING. AFTER THE RUNAWAY SUCCESS OF ‘DOGREL’, FONTAINES DC SHOULD HAVE BEEN RIDING HIGH BUT, INSIDE THE BUBBLE, THINGS WERE RAPIDLY DISINTEGRATING. THIS IS THE STORY OF ‘A HERO’S DEATH’, AND HOW IT HELPED PIECE THEM BACK TOGETHER AGAIN. Words: Lisa Wright. Photos: Fontaines DC.

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rian Chatten, coffee in hand and sat next to bandmate and guitarist Carlos O’Connell, is recalling a time mid-way through one of Fontaines DC’s many European jaunts in support of ‘Dogrel’ - the 2019 debut that propelled the quintet from buzzy Dublin newcomers to one of Europe’s most in-demand bands in the space of barely a year. It’s objectively a successful time; one that was categorised by endless sold-out gigs, constant radio play, and capped off with a slew of ‘Album of the Year’ plaudits. Or so it looked from the outside. “Everyone was at a point where we were carrying a litany of resentments against each other,” the singer recalls in a strong, slightly mumbled Irish brogue. “Nobody [in the band] represented a friend, everyone was a business partner who was fucking you up a bit. Me and Carlos were pretty bad at one point in Europe but we just really, really fucking addressed it. It’s those moments that I’m probably the most proud of, more than selling out Brixton [Academy] or anything - our ability to turn things around with our friendships.” For, more than a simple tale of doubling down on the hype and riding the success of their debut into the ring for a second run, the journey to new album ‘A Hero’s Death’ is one of watching things edge towards the precipice and clawing them back. Of - aptly for its title - letting go of certain expectations, and learning to prioritise what matters the most. “I’ve come to realise that I didn’t deal with anything last year. I just went through it and forgot to take a step back and make sense of everything around me. I just kept going,” Carlos nods. “I always thought of it like the album got more successful than us, so you’re always chasing that success. We were always a step behind, and things were already ahead. “We weren’t ready for that.”

f Fontaines weren’t sitting on an album that genuinely pushes them forward in unexpected and exciting directions – a record that proves they’ve made it through the wilderness, and come out stronger and more self-assured on the other side - you could easily chalk their journey so far up as a cautionary tale. Speaking to the pair, who are living together during lockdown for interview purposes such as these, every measure of success is given a doubtful caveat. Carlos notes that all were going through “different personal issues” during that year, but if, as Grian attests, “the thing that traps a lot of bands in that hamster wheel is a fear of losing something and not striking while the iron’s hot”, then Fontaines DC spent 2019 at boiling point. Each notch further up the career bedpost was deserved, but it also came at an overwhelming speed. By the time the band - completed by guitarist Conor Curley, bassist Conor Deegan and drummer Tom Coll - were due to play London’s 2,300-capacity Forum, they’d already sold out Brixton Academy several months in advance. “It’s a perfect storm for not [processing things],” says Grian. “When you’ve literally got Brixton in the bag, and you’re doing [the Forum], it means nothing. You’re not even there - you can’t relate to it.” Though Carlos recalls the later Academy show as being “really special, really emotional,” the singer is still reluctant to fully invest: “All of those things are amazing, but you do have to be careful about caring how much people like the record, too. When you have 5,000 people literally, physically in front of you, inviting you to put your sense of self-worth in their hands... That’s how paranoid I get about these things...” Grian clearly seems to have spent time wrangling with the internal complexities of being front and centre of the year’s

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“I THINK I PROBABLY DID TAKE MYSELF MORE SERIOUSLY, WALKING AROUND WITH A BOOK IN HAND ALL THE TIME ON THE FIRST ALBUM...” Grian Chatten

most-hyped band. If, as he semi-jests, as an Irishman “the greatest sin would be to accept a compliment,” then he’s had to wrap his head around being bombarded with them. “It’s not the quantity of it necessarily, it’s the quality - people aren’t just saying you’re a good band, it’s like, ‘You’re fucking AMAZING, man’. So as soon as you let that in, then that becomes your life source,” he explains. “I react almost violently to compliments then because I’m trying really desperately not to let them in.” Lauded by the press as a troubled young poet, a sort of Connell from Normal People for the indie sphere, he speaks of how the band’s oftwritten mythology - a group of young lads who bonded over a love of the written word - even began to warp their view of themselves. “The craic is, we told the truth about who we were, but this idea of our background as a band [became such] pure

narrative that we started to disown our memories and think of them instead as part of our branding. “I think I probably did take myself a lot more seriously, walking around with a book in hand all the time on the first album,” he adds with an element of mischief seeping in. “I think to an extent, having released that album and got that out of my system, I was a bit more freed up to take myself less seriously.” Today, the pair rattle between the two modes. At times they’re very much the epitome of the romantic young artistes - Carlos bearded and earnest, Grian decked in a baker boy hat and dungarees, somewhere between a young Lennon and a Victorian chimney sweep. At others, they’re more than willing to take the piss out of themselves. When we bring up the pertinent decision to begin LP2 with a track called ‘I Don’t Belong’, Grian rolls

“[THE FIRST VERSION OF THE ALBUM] SOUNDED TOO POLISHED. IT SOUNDED LIKE A BIG COCAINE SECOND ALBUM.” Grian Chatten his eyes: “‘I don’t wanna belong’ and all that kind of shite... ‘I was not born into this world’, all that fucking... I mean, I was obviously really fighting with the idea of any external presence,” he concedes. And of the somewhat blunt nature of finishing the record with a track simply entitled ‘No’? “This is how much meaning there is in this,” laughs Carlos. “We were writing it and I said to Carlos, ‘Do you have any ideas on what to call it, Carlos?’” picks up the singer, “And he said ‘No’. And I was like, ‘Perfect’.” Born simultaneously of intense soul-searching and a reigniting of some all-important humorous camaraderie, the road to ‘A Hero’s Death’ was evidently a winding one. It was also one that took them a very, very long way away from home. 33

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ut from the rainy streets of ‘Dogrel’’s Dublin to a scene in Los Angeles. The drinks are flowing, the crowd are colourful and Fontaines DC are... “We played this weird night in LA where we performed in a wrestling ring with a load of burlesque dancers and, what do you call them... dwarves?” begins Grian. “Mexican wrestling mixed with burlesque and strippers,” Carlos grins. “They weren’t strippers, they were dancers,” insists his bandmate. “Naked dancers,” nods the guitarist. “We played a cover of ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’ - 10 minutes long with about 16 solos and I was covered in baby oil,” he continues. Pause. “It was good fun, like.”

it didn’t work out because we realised that all we really need to have everything is a small room and to work with someone who cares about our music.” “It sounded too polished. It sounded like a big cocaine second album at times,” Grian explains. “Whereas the whole thing we learned from working with Dan in the first place is that your mistakes and your idiosyncrasies are the things that should be brought to the fore and you shouldn’t necessarily be comfortable with the sound of your own records.” A dense, sprawling release that touches on the rattling urgency of old (‘Televised Mind’, ‘A Hero’s Death’) but

primarily veers in softer, more introverted directions, Fontaines’ second is an album that sits squarely at odds with the notion of a swift follow-up to success. It may be arriving barely more than 12 months after its predecessor, but in those 12 months the quintet have acutely looked their intentions in the eye and chosen their path. Deciding to ditch the LA sessions and, by proxy, an entire finished album, they returned to Dan Carey’s studio last October with a renewed sense of themselves. “Being back in that studio just brought us all back to the very start of it all,” says Carlos. “You remember what it was like

“But it just didn’t really work,” the guitarist continues. “To think of our first experience in the studio with Dan Carey when we were recording our first single, then to think a couple of years later being in LA in this super cool famous studio going around in a convertible. It’s like, what the fuck? We were so far away from where we came from. We wanted to do something really fucking different and

To the outside ear, ‘A Hero’s Death’ might represent an audible about turn for the quintet. It is markedly not ‘Dogrel’ pt II. The band on this album are not - in terms of antagonistic youthful ambition - the same band. But in other ways, you sense they’re closer to the band that pricked up a nation’s ears with their integrity and visceral way with words than they have been since those first public moves. They’re friends, who’ve had all the possible wayward carrots dangled in front of them and still chosen to return home and do it the proper way.

If there was a looming question as to how the band would pick up from a debut so fully invested in their home city, having spent all of 10 minutes of the interim time in it, then Fontaines’ first response was clearly to go in as opposite a direction as possible. Leaving town to head to the Hollywood Hills, they pitched up at the world-famous Sunset Sound Studios - former home to the likes of Led Zeppelin, Aretha Franklin, The Rolling Stones and endless others - to begin work on round two. “We were excited by how different the feeling was gonna be in LA. The album was all [written], and we had the idea that it was gonna be a lot sunnier than it actually is and we’d be in a hot climate,” begins Carlos. “A sad pastiche of sunniness,” Grian interjects, “not pure Teletubbies...”

going in there for the first time, thinking about how we were so young and innocent and excited. When we do it with Dan Carey, it sounds like us, like Fontaines DC - the same band we were four years ago, playing a small venue in Dublin.” “There’s no ego, you’re not trying to convince the producer you’re a genius, you’re just wearing your... warts on your sleeve?” posits Grian, with an eyebrow raise. “There’s some poetry for you...”

“I ALWAYS THOUGHT OF IT LIKE ‘DOGREL’ GOT MORE SUCCESSFUL THAN US, SO YOU’RE ALWAYS CHASING THAT SUCCESS.” Carlos O’Connell

“I genuinely, GENUINELY don’t care if we get any bigger at all,” shrugs Grian. “I personally don’t mind getting big as long as the music is still ours. There’s people that might feel like, I don’t wanna be played on Radio 1 because all they play is fucking bullshit. But I think there’s something really amazing that a platform that would only look at a certain type of music changes where they’re looking because you’ve made something that resonates,” Carlos reasons. “If that’s the way we become more successful, by more mainstream media turning their eyes towards our music rather than us changing to be in their vision, then I don’t mind that. I’d be happy to take that.” He looks knowingly towards our Zoom camera: “And then probably complain about it in two years and say it’s the worst thing we’ve ever done.” ‘A Hero’s Death’ is out 31st July via Partisan. DIY

YOUTH in REVOLT A RECORD STEMMING EQUALLY FROM A DEVASTATING EXPERIENCE AS AN ADULT, AND A DEEP-DIVE BACK INTO THE FORMATIVE CHILDHOOD MOMENTS THAT SHAPED HIM, ‘DREAMLAND’ COULD HAVE BEEN DAVE BAYLEY’S EXISTENTIAL CRISIS ALBUM. INSTEAD, GLASS ANIMALS’ LATEST IS AN EXERCISE IN THE POWER OF POSITIVITY. WORDS: JAMES BALMONT. PHOTOS: GLASS ANIMALS & LOUISE MASON.

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here are a few moments in life where you’ll always remember exactly where you were and what was going on, like 9/11. This was one of those moments,” reflects Dave Bayley. In July 2018 Glass Animals were riding high off the back of their Mercurynominated second album ‘How to Be a Human Being’. Having completed relentless tours across the USA, Europe, South America and Australia, the Oxford band were set for a full summer of festivals, with a series of XL shows marking a final victory lap at the end of the year. But then tragedy struck. Drummer Joe Seaward was hit by a lorry while riding his bike in Dublin, suffering a severely broken leg, a fractured skull and brain damage. “You know how bleak the prognosis is when you see something like that,” he continues, describing the bloody scene he witnessed at the hospital. “He’s my best friend. I’ve known him for like, 15 years. The future looked really fucking doomed. And [without Seaward] I was pretty aware that Glass Animals might be gone, too.” But only two years after that catastrophic event, Glass Animals are returning with an album distinguished not by its vulnerability, but by its strength of character. ‘Dreamland’ is a record that displays a remarkable sense of maturity; written during a period of deep, personal reflection, it feels starkly intimate at times. And yet, despite its often-heavy lyrical themes, it feels alive with the same kind of vibrant, genre-mashing energy that made the band such a crossover sensation in the first place. Joe’s recovery wasn’t straightforward, admits the singer, speaking over Zoom from his studio in East London. “I don’t know how much you ever really recover from something like that. It was a really traumatic injury. He can run and drum again, and they’re the two things he loved doing the most. But it was really fucking bad.” And so, having put the band on pause during Seaward’s rehabilitation, Bayley’s return to Glass Animals required a change of perspective. Songs from the band’s previous release were built around characters they had

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met on the road (taxi drivers, stoners, and other colourful personalities). But, off the back of a life-changing event, the singer was forced to look inwards for what would become his first purely “autobiographical” album. “The accident was definitely a trigger to write more personal things,” he explains. “I wasn’t out meeting anybody, I wasn’t making new memories, and I wasn’t out doing fun stuff with friends. In a hospital you see a lot of relationships reforming through people sharing sad stories and memories of their loved ones. Families come together who may not have spoken to each other in years, and it gets you thinking about your family and friends, and the weird things that have happened. “I started looking back into my own memory because even if some of those memories are dark, or weird, or sad, that’s where you find your comforts. There’s still a bit of comfort in the fact that somehow you survived that, and it’s OK.” nspired by the dismissive remarks of his childhood teacher Mrs Brooks (“Wake up, Dave, you’re in dreamland again!”), Glass Animals’ latest captures and reflects on some of Bayley’s earliest memories as a child growing up in Texas. It chronicles pivotal moments of his life, chartering a course that leads right up to his present-day standing as the creative heart of the band, and hip hop’s unlikely collaborator du jour.

The titular opening track is described as a “table of contents” for all that follows. A twinkling melody evokes the image of a child playing with toys, while an obscured vocal hook seems to call out from the depths of a foggy old memory. The bedroom pop feel hints at a young, naive ambition, but then the rich, hi-fi sheen elsewhere on the record feels glossy and contemporary. Combined, these two styles of production signpost the breadth of the journey chronicled within. The album is chock full of playful melodies and pre-school sounds, harking back to Bayley’s formative years. Take the bubbly synth refrain and xylophonic chimes of ‘Hot Sugar’, or the sweetly naive fantasy of two bickering pieces of fruit on ‘Melon and the Coconut’. And then there’s the endless pop culture references that litter almost every song: The Karate Kid, GI Joe dolls, ‘90s video games like Doom and Quake.

JOE SEAWARD: FROM A&E TO THE PRC Joe didn’t know if he’d be able to play music again after his accident, so when the band finally hit the road in November 2019, it was a moment of triumph for the drummer. On a day off in Beijing, the band celebrated in style: “We had time to do one thing, so we went to the Great Wall of China,” says Dave. “You can get a toboggan down the Great Wall and it is rapid.” “They were on a metal track, but they flew down the mountain,” adds Joe. “But I was just loving being back on the road with my friends. Standing on the Great Wall - whatever has happened in your life - is just a moment.”

“YOU START OFF IN LIFE AS THIS NAIVE PIECE OF MARBLE, AND PEOPLE SLOWLY CHIP AWAY. EVENTUALLY WHATEVER KIND OF WEIRD, MISSHAPEN THING THAT IS LEFT IS YOU.” Dave Bayley 39

“I FEEL LIKE I’VE TORN ALL THE PLASTERS OFF, AND THOSE WOUNDS ARE JUST THERE, ALL BLOODY, AND THAT’S [THE RECORD].” Dave Bayley

The album is anchored, meanwhile, by Bayley’s mother’s voice - a recurring presence through a series of interludes ripped from home videos. “Through all the ups and downs, the weird and confusing shit, she was always there to stabilise things,” says Dave. In this context, these audio snippets feel like a kind of hand-holding device that guides the listener through the childhood traumas and heavier subtexts that appear elsewhere. Songs like ‘Helium’ and ‘Heat Waves’ explore past relationships with a heavy heart, while the brooding lament of ‘It’s All So Incredibly Loud’ peaks as Bayley repeatedly cries “I’m breaking down”. But the album’s darkest moments go even deeper. “I feel like I’ve gone really far into all the problems, torn all the plasters off, and those wounds are just there, all bloody, and that’s it,” he explains. Sometimes it’s liberating, but at other moments it’s more about acknowledging that “things are pretty fucked up”. Having eagerly walked DIY through the tools and toys that line his studio (including a Mellotron, a “Beatles bass” and a Super Nintendo), when the frontman begins to talk about album track ‘Space Ghost Coast to Coast’ his

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energy notably changes. He rests his hands on his head as he rocks on his chair, looking up at the ceiling pensively. “It’s about a friend of mine who I was really close with growing up. I moved to England eventually, and we lost touch. And then…” Bayley hesitates. “And then they tried to do a school shooting. He brought a gun to school and it’s just like… How can someone change that much? How can someone who was so kind do something so horrific?” It’s not the only song that delves into difficult places. ‘Domestic Bliss’ is, as Bayley tells it, based on one of his earliest memories - one that had a huge unconscious effect on his life, even though he was only a small child when he witnessed it. “My friend’s mum used to pick me up from school and we’d drive to where they lived. It was a weird place - dogs in cages and stuff - but you don’t understand it that age,” he begins. “She’d go inside, and we’d hear shouting coming from inside the trailer. Half an hour later she’d come out crying, blood on her nose. I remember just thinking that something incredibly awful was happening, and we should get the hell out of there.” As much as they’re essential to his story, the singer’s

upbringing, he’s keen to emphasise, was not defined by these events. It’s a “flip-flop” record, he says. “I can never really tell [if it’s happy or sad], but I do think that overall it is optimistic.” And there’s a tangible narrative submerged in ‘Dreamland’ that does feel like something of a great success story.

temming from the earliest days of Glass Animals, Dave has, over time, managed to cultivate a thriving career as a hip hop producer and collaborator. The lineage of this unlikely path (for a white, Jewish person, at least) can be traced in the subtext of the album. “You’re taught to behave a very certain way in Texas,” he says. “As a boy, you’re meant to play American football, to be a sort of hero sportsman or a ‘Donald Trump’ or some shit. But I wasn’t. I was really young for my year, so I was really pathetic and because of that I struggled. “I found music. I think that’s where most people who don’t quite fit in turn to,” he continues. “I had a boom box, and I just used to tune into this hip hop station that played The Neptunes, Missy Elliott and Busta Rhymes. I was obsessed with Eminem. And that’s how this whole project started - I just kind of wanted to do a beat tape, and have someone rap or sing on it, but I could never find those people so I ended up doing it myself.” The influence of those early sounds is palpable on singles like ‘Your Love (Déjà Vu)’ - a grooving R&B number that harks

“I TRIED TO GET A LOT OF THE STUFF THAT THE BEACH BOYS AND THE BEATLES WOULD HAVE USED, BUT I WAS IMAGINING HOW DR. DRE WOULD HAVE DONE IT.” - Dave Bayley

back to the early ‘00s - and ‘Tangerine’, which riffs on the insatiable organ bounce of Drake’s ‘Hotline Bling’. Like that track, itself built on a sample from Timmy Thomas’ minimal 1972 funk and soul single ‘Why Can’t We Live Together’, Glass Animals’ approach ultimately works through its fusion of a traditional band set-up and a production style of an entirely different complexion. “I tried to get a lot of the stuff that The Beach Boys and The Beatles would have used,” says Dave, referring to the album’s basis in the music of his youth. “But I was trying to imagine how Dr. Dre might have done it, resampling those old Casio keyboards and sonic elements, and making them into something different.” It could easily have gone the other way, he jokes. “The only other radio station in the weird little city I grew up in played Christian country music. They played Creed, and Nickelback. I thought about doing an album based around the sounds of Creed, but I backed out of that...” Landing a collaboration with Florida rapper Denzel Curry on recent single ‘Tokyo Drifting’ was undoubtedly a coup in legitimising Glass Animals’ genre-hybridising approach; with its trap-style hi-hats, rap verses and booming, brassy refrain, it almost borders on grime. But unlike Bayley’s other collabs in the hip hop world, many of which landed on his doorstep after the band’s 2014 single ‘Gooey’ became an unexpected hit in America, getting Curry involved took a lot of work. “Joey Bada$$ had got in touch when we were in New York playing some summer show in Central Park, and 6lack had reached out by just sending me a bunch of fire emojis on Twitter. But with Denzel it wasn’t easy,” he remembers. “I basically nagged him over the internet via every avenue possible until he replied. It turned out he doesn’t even check his own social media, but one of my friends played him the beat and he was like, ‘This is sick, what is this?!’.” Dave is visibly still chuffed

to have pulled it off. As the conversation drifts towards the album’s physical release, he unexpectedly brandishes a Denzel Curry nunchuk at the web cam, before listing off all kinds of merchandising miscellanea that the band have in the making: “We’ve got a cereal bowl coming, we’ve got spoons, PEZ dispensers with our heads on them… all these things I liked as a kid. “It’s meant to be like all the shit in your life in a tornado around you,” he continues, now referring to the album art, which features Bayley’s golden head floating on a canvas of neon text and 3D-printed objects. Inspired by the ‘90s aesthetic of the vapourwave microgenre, it was designed with the explicit intent to induce feelings of nostalgia. But the overall image is ambiguous. Holding his head in his hand, Bayley’s profile offers a mixed message. “It was a painful process writing this record, going in so deep,” he nods. “I was just in a weird fucking headspace the whole time, trying to find the weirdest stuff and dig it up and think about it. But you start off in life as this naive piece of marble, and people slowly chip away. Eventually whatever kind of weird, misshapen thing that is left is you.” Opening and closing with the same twinkling ‘Dreamland’ melody, the lingering message of the album seems to be that these experiences will repeat themselves throughout eternity. “It’s a continuous cycle of life,” says Bayley. But despite all the mental and physical anguish at the foundation of Glass Animals’ third record, the band’s innovative appeal proves to be equally enduring. Because as the old saying goes, when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. Or, as Dave puts it on the title track, “you go make an album and call it Dreamland”. ‘Dreamland’ is out 7th August via Polydor. DIY 41

Hurtling around the world, ripping up the rulebook with every inclusive, incendiary show, DREAM WIFE spent their debut cementing themselves as a punkspirited force to be reckoned with. Now, on ‘So When You Gonna...’, the trio are taking a step back and finding inspiration in their softer side.Words: Lisa Wright. Photos: Jender Anomie.

TRY A LITTLE I f you’d have caught Dream Wife before any one of the more-than-150 shows that the trio racked up across 2018 in support of their self-titled debut, you’d have stumbled upon a scene more like a focused locker room than a hotbed of celebratory, punk-rock excess. “If you see us half hour before a show, you’ll see us all stretching together, just making sure we’re physically fit to be able to do whatever we wanna do on that stage,” begins singer Rakel Mjöll. “You have to treat yourself like you’re an athlete not a pop star,” picks up guitarist Alice Go. “It’s a team sport, and there’s a camaraderie in our physicality live, so we wanna be at our best because we’re so grateful for everyone that stands with us when we’re saying these messages that obviously mean so much.” “I’m hoping by the time we start touring again I’ll be able to slide straight down into the splits while playing bass,” informs Bella Podpadec with a chuckle.

“It almost felt like this punk, rebellious thing to lean into a pop sensibility.” Alice Go 42

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Though, on stage, the band are a riot of energy, fire and fun, behind the scenes, life as a Wife is a much more wholesome affair - a conscious prioritisation of community and self-care that, you sense, is partially responsible for their rapid rise from art-school-project beginnings to one of the last few years’ most necessary breakthrough bands. Dream Wife want you to give a shit because they really give a shit. They’re not in it for the sex, drugs and - well, you can allow them the rock’n’roll. Instead, they’re a band who consistently walk the walk, putting active effort into elevating their peers, supporting other womxn creators and turning every show into a safe, welcoming space. As Rakel notes, “You get to a venue and there’s all these different people that have put that show together, and all of these people that have bought tickets and this whole community that’s come together for that one night to embrace the show. So the idea of arriving to that place hungover and taking it for granted just doesn’t work.” From the pre-gig talks that they would regularly set up with artists and fans to

their tour support initiative, which saw them enlist a different female-identifying artist to open up the show for more than 60 gigs across the UK, Europe and America, eventually leading to a ‘Tour Support Reimagined’ compilation release, Dream Wife have questioned the industry’s established, outdated norms from the off. However now, with second LP ‘So When You Gonna...’, the band are testing their own sonic norms, too. “It’s funny ‘cos the first record is raw and punk, and then coming off tour and back to writing it almost felt like this punk, rebellious thing to lean into a pop sensibility,” explains Alice, “to be a band that isn’t afraid to be softer and create light and shade and explore textures. It was us pushing the boundaries of what we’ve already done, still locking in as a live band and a unit, but pushing further.”

ream Wife, in many ways, are ideally suited to lockdown life. As well being prime advocates for looking after your own body and mind, they’ve basically already done the whole ‘jarring crash down into a totally different reality’ thing once already in recent times. “It was hard stopping; at the start I’d spend 10 hours a day painting really obsessively so I didn’t really have to think. It’s really paralleled with this time because

TENDERNESS

“Alas poor Yorick…”

“Giving voice to difficult emotions and experiences – there’s potentially huge power in the comfort that can come from that. - Bella Podpadec I had the mechanisms already,” reflects Bella on their return to London after a whirlwind 18 months of tour. “When you’re moving so much, you can’t really process anything, so for all of us it was a really reflective time, being still with ourselves,” picks up Alice. “And coming into the writing process it really fed through. There’s a much more sensitive quality to the songs; it’s simmering on things in a different way. Having that pause allowed us to open ourselves up to things we hadn’t felt for a really long time.” While there are still moments of playfulness and sass (see first single and album opener ‘Sports!’ or the record’s assertive title track for proof), it’s this sensitivity that marks the trio’s second out as a very different beast to its predecessor. Recorded in London alongside an all-female team including producer Marta Salogni, Rakel describes the experience as “the most wholesome month of [her] life”. “We’d have conversations in the morning about influences and play music [to

Dream Wife’s makeup choices were a real highlight.

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each other], and then we’d go and press record. Sometimes we’d be done recording a song within 20 minutes,” she explains. “With [the first album] it was like, we’ve got this really rocking live show so let’s just do it like that, get the songs out. We recorded it in a week,” Alice adds. “But on this record we’d spent the last seven months really being songwriters and arranging it so we wanted to spend time on it. Working with a full team of women was incredible, and it was a really trusted, safe space in the studio that allowed us to push things thematically into whole new places that we never got to on the first record.” Those places range from the gentle break-up of ‘Hasta la Vista’ to some less often found in song such as ‘Temporary’, which speaks of supporting and looking up to a friend who still resolutely found hope after multiple miscarriages, and closer ‘After The Rain’ - a soft, strong ballad that addresses the topic of abortion. For the band, allowing these difficult subjects rooms for discussion and empathy is just as important as

any of the other open spaces they’ve created along the way. “I think one of the things music can do is let us know we’re not alone in what we’re experiencing, because often when people experience traumatic things it feels like you’re the only person who’s ever felt that shit,” says Bella. “Giving voice to difficult emotions and experiences - there’s potentially huge power in the comfort that can come from that. “I think there’s a lot of difficulty in the idea of having to be a role model or represent a large group of people when we’re individuals, but this action of showing up authentically and honestly and taking up space - maybe that can act as a catalyst for other people to be able to engage with,” she continues. “We don’t have the same experiences as everyone, but hopefully people can relate to [what we’re saying] and draw power from it.” A record borne of far more meditative, inward-looking roots than their onstage firecracker of a debut, ‘So When You Gonna...’ might have to wait a while to receive the full Dream Wife live experience but, as the band note, there’s something fitting in that too. “It was created in our own private, intimate space and it’s being introduced to the world in a setting that’s still quite intimate and private,” says Alice before pausing: “But I absolutely cannot wait until we can share this moment, live.” You can take the band off the stage... ‘So When You Gonna...’ is out now via Lucky Number. DIY

PANIC PREVENTION Denai Moore

could never have guessed when she was writing new LP ‘Modern Dread’ how prescient her fears might turn out to be. A bold, unapologetic next step, its arrival couldn’t be more timely. Words: Jenessa Williams.

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hen the time came to make her third album, Denai Moore knew that she wanted to truly tackle the fears that plagued her consciousness. From weak political leadership and institutionalised racism through to climate change, she’d spent the past year processing her concerns through music, only for a global pandemic to throw her world into even darker relief. As a result ‘Modern Dread’ feels like a soundtrack for our times, despair mingling with the hope that maybe, just maybe, this societal breakdown could be the start of building something better. “It definitely feels a bit surreal, releasing it and doing all the press from my house in the midst of this particularly weird Black Mirror episode,“ she admits. “Obviously nobody gauged that these things would happen, but I feel like my role as an artist is to make music about how society makes us feel and think. We’re all feeling this kind of dread and anxiousness about everything that’s happening, but also a responsibility to do something, to use our platforms to be vocal about what’s happening. There’s so many things that a lot of our generation don’t necessarily align with politically; if you look at people in powerful positions like Boris Johnson or Trump, it’s really hard to exist in a world where you don’t feel identified with or seen by these people in charge. I think there’s a reason why a lot of recent music has shifted into this space - it’s a really valuable movement to be part of. “

“For me, making music has this sense of being in a playground, going back to a very childlike state.”

As an artist who’s always advocated for genre-fluidity, ‘Modern Dread’ sees Denai expand upon the chilled, spacey sound that shaped her early career. Both 2015’s ‘Elsewhere’ and 2017’s ‘We Used To Bloom’ tackled life’s heavier subjects, but did so with less in-your-face vigour than the topics might automatically suggest. However, this time around she seems to be having a lot of fun adding complexities to her sound, building on her strong visuals and off-beat layers of percussion, and shaking off the idea that electronic-inspired music has to sound glacial and distant. “For me, making music has this sense of being in a playground, going back to a very childlike state where you’re really heavily using your imagination to make things from scratch,” she says. “A lot of the sounds on the record were very

intentional, but a lot of them also just chose themselves. I wanted to make a record that had urgency about it. There’s a lot of really fast, visceral songs because, in reality, the concept of panic and anxiousness feels like that - it puts you through a whirlwind emotionally. I wanted to capture that feeling, to make it sound very cold and bold but in a very intentional way.” To achieve this soundscape, she needed a sympathetic producer. In stepped Alex Robertshaw of Everything Everything no strangers to a genre-bending opus of their own. “I’ve always been a big fan of Everything Everything and how they’ve gone to unexpected places,” Denai explains. “Towards the end of my campaign for ‘We Used To Bloom’, our schedules aligned and we just decided to go into the studio where we recorded ‘To The Brink’ and ‘Motherless Child’. It was a very instant partnership; I felt like a lot of the sounds that he made were on my wavelength and we understood exactly what the other meant. That’s how the record was born - after those two sessions I knew that I was meant to make this album with him.” Partnership established, there were still some emotional difficulties to overcome. “A lot of the songs definitely challenged me to be vulnerable and to say what I actually wanted to say,” she recalls. “Alex was very good at urging me to go to those places instead of just saying nothing. ‘Wishing You Better’ was a particularly difficult confrontation of my own personality - it’s me saying to all of those people that I fell out with in significant parts of my life where I was personally struggling that I still wish them good things. It can feel like an endless therapy session, but it’s good to act on those urges, and to understand more about how you actually feel.” Now she’s spoken up, Denai is ready to keep the conversation going. “I think this record feels very unapologetic; it definitely sounds ‘bigger’ to me than any other record that I’ve done,” she says. “I’ve become more and more aware of why people try to keep me bound to certain genres through the way I look. It’s something I have to change by saying it for myself: I am genre-free. It’s very undermining of my work to just say it’s R&B, and it’s been great seeing other artists like my friend Moses [Sumney] say it too - we have so many opportunities to listen to everything now, it’s impossible to sound like one thing. There might be a resurgence of music from the renaissance period next, who knows! Music can feel very transactional, but with the world upside down, there’s something nice about finding a space that feels strangely connecting.” ‘Modern Dread’ is out now via Because Music. DIY

SALVATION ARMY CRACK CLOUD began life as an exercise in self-exploration and recovery, but on ‘Pain Olympics’ the Canadian multimedia collective are beginning to show just how far they intend to push themselves. Words: Lisa Wright. Photos: Jennilee Marigomen.

ARM Day 5652 in the Big Brother house…

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rack Cloud are not a band: that much they want you to know. “Music is just one thing at this point,” states Zach Choy, the Canadian group’s singing drummer and de facto mouthpiece (for current press purposes, at least). “‘Pain Olympics’ is our first step into this world where we’re really trying to become more multimedia in our expression and you’ll see that over the next year or two; we’ll continue and the music will just be the skeleton to the greater picture.” Describing themselves as a collective, the amorphous troupe (which features a core touring party of around seven, and a host of other contributors that weave in and out) largely met through recovery and mental health programmes in their hometown of Vancouver. Some - including Zach - identify as recovering addicts themselves; others work within the programme. Crack Cloud itself first began life as, if not an extension of their work, then a device that would help its members in tandem. “When I started making music it was all about self-discovery and exploring a lot of the trauma,” he explains. “It turned into a fully-fledged rehabilitation endeavour for me with Crack Cloud; that was the whole principle of it and it just so happened that I had been surrounded by a bunch of really wonderful musicians.” Eventually it birthed two EPs, later combined into 2018’s self-titled release. This month they’ll release ‘Pain Olympics’, their first conceived as a deliberate album. Soon, they’ll start work on a children’s TV programme – a narrative-driven concept influenced by Jim Henson and John Waters that, they hope, will be “something that isn’t too preachy, but that’s easy for any child to digest, regardless of their societal stature.” When Crack Cloud resist being pigeonholed as a band, then it’s easy to see why: from ethos to output, what the project represents clearly extends to far more than just jamming sessions and having a lark on the tour bus. But it also belies the fact that, whether they like it or not, Crack Cloud are actually very fucking good at being a band, too. A dense and adventurous journey packed

“I think it was important for us to be transparent about where we come from, as addicts and as people with histories of destruction.” - Zach Choy 49

into eight tracks, ‘Pain Olympics’ is the product of more than two years’ work, and it shows. It’s a wild ride, that moves from tense, bleak claustrophobia (‘Bastard Basket’) to something approaching fun (recently-released, Devo-esque single ‘Ouster Stew’). At no point is it ever less than 100% invested in the cause. “‘Pain Olympics’ is an exercise in dichotomies and dualities. You have one track that becomes the antithesis of the next and it was engineered that way to explore highs and lows. It ebbs and flows and jumps all over the place; we’re pretty emotionally erratic people at times, so we try and transcribe that into the experience,” Zach explains. “By the end of the recording and the writing, it had very much become this full-fledged concept; we stitched together this narrative of chaos and adventure. I like to think of ourselves as storytellers because that’s what we set out to do. It’s more like theatre.”

f Crack Cloud’s latest deals in theatre, then it’s more Artaud’s Theatre of Cruelty than anything you’re likely to find on the West End. It is, after all, a conscious, perhaps shocking delve into life’s dark parts to open your record with a track entitled ‘Post Truth (Birth of a Nation)’ - a reference to the hugely controversial 1915 film of the same name that is acknowledged as giving rise to the rebirth of the KKK. “I felt like that song embodied the same sort of propaganda and insidious energy that that film embodied during its time,” explains Zach. “I wanted to create this false pretence of a world that quickly disintegrates.” During this journey of disintegration, the group create something that explores turmoil both inside and out. There are moments, such as in the aforementioned opener or the chaotic visual that accompanies ‘Ouster Stew’, where the

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world of ‘Pain Olympics’ is one that’s visceral and demonstrative - a literal setting on fire of things and watching them burn. At other points, the trauma is clearly more personal: “High strung without volition / One toke away from twitching / All wounds resurface in the night / Eighteen with no remission,” goes ‘Favour Your Fortune’. “I don’t want [those parts of my life] to be the mission statement, but you don’t grow out of those things. I struggle every day,” Zach explains. “I wrote those tracks in 15 minutes lyrically - the authenticity of how they came out justified in my mind being an exhibitionist in terms of those feelings and sharing that with the world.” It’s something Zach is clearly conscious about. In Crack Cloud’s still-fledgling time in the limelight, much of the attention has been focused on their beginnings. In some ways, it’s enabled him and his group to connect with people in ways he had never imagined; “there have been a lot of people who’ve come to us and been so vulnerable in revealing or confiding in us about what they identify with. It’s been really amazing,” he says. In other ways, there’s an element of “mythologising” to the story that he’s clearly uncomfortable with, something that he would like to push through until Crack Cloud can exist and be seen as their own entity. “I think it was important for us to be transparent about where we come from as addicts and as people with histories of destruction and unseen angst so that we can move forward and grow as individuals and artists,” he continues, “but I would like to say ‘Pain Olympics’ is the last attempt at exploring the past and I would like to think that moving forward

into our adulthood, the art will be more of an exploration into the future.” And really, it would be doing Crack Cloud a disservice not to focus on the wealth of creative energy they’re clearly ploughing into their future endeavours. If their latest musical release and its wild visual universe (more of which is set to unfold over the next months), is a marker of things to come, then the collective seem unstoppable – even to the, er, law. “The way we find locations, and everything we do in terms of how we capture a shot is sometimes illegal so we’re not really out of our element with this lockdown,” Zach shrugs. “You just need to know how to navigate city infrastructure...” From adverse beginnings, the group have emerged as a genuinely inspirational force - musically, artistically, personally, all of it. They’re a testament to the powers of intense creativity; weirdly, for a man last seen getting his head ripped off on video by a group of enraged women, you can sort of imagine him making a pretty educational kids’ TV show. “Outside of the thematic narrative, the medium is the message,” Zach concludes. “We made that record DIY, everything we’ve ever done is DIY and if there’s a message to take from it, it’s that art isn’t owned by anyone and any person can hone in on their potential and their vision and make it. Nobody owns your train of thought or your ability to explore whatever corners or recesses are tucked away; you don’t need to rely on a label, it’s on you.” ‘Pain Olympics’ is out 17th July via Meat Machine. DIY

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hey say your second album is supposed to be the difficult one, but it just so happened that our second one…” offers up Creeper’s Will Gould boldly, with a ripple of laughter, “was absolutely cursed!”

For a band who have consistently shrouded themselves in mystery and theatre - from the Southampton-wide treasure hunt they sent fans on around their debut, to their full-on disappearing act following 2018’s London KOKO headline show - you’d be forgiven for thinking that a narrative one-liner like that would be fairly commonplace. As it turns out, though, the curse of forthcoming second LP ‘Sex, Death & The Infinite Void’ actually sounds pretty bloody real. “We’ve been saying for a long time - long before all of this got really out of hand!!” Will laughs, dropping the bait, “that a lot of things happened with this Creeper record that were really nightmarish. We spoke about it being a cursed record. My original statement about the album was talking about the curse of this second record, and then I rewrote the press release because I felt I was making it into more of a thing. But then the curse rounded up into a global pandemic… “It feels like we’re almost making [Guns N’ Roses’ infamous super-delayed album] ‘Chinese Democracy’ here! There’s been this arduous process where this record’s been coming for such a long period of time,” he continues. “We had the year off - our optional year off! - and then immediately as we came back, My Chemical Romance came back the same day as us, after nine years or something! And then 2020, like a manic spider, just started weaving this web to try and stop us from ever releasing anything, or going on tour, ever again!” His laughter comes punctuated with a still-present sense of disbelief: the kind we’re all still getting used to. And while the band did take a year off the road in 2019, only to finish the album, prep for its release and then be told it was going to be delayed due to the COVID-19 crisis, it’s not just the pandemic that

“Everything that this record touches just turns to shit!” Will Gould

wreaked havoc with Creeper’s second effort. “Over the course of this record, my best friend got hospitalised; my mum’s partner passed away; the producer of the record went through a divorce; the head of the record label’s brother passed away,” he lists. “It was awful; everyone was just going through a tragedy at every point. When the record went to press in America at a record plant, our record was the last to go through that press because it burned to the ground. The whole thing burned to the ground!” Once more, with gusto. “In reality,” he adds, emphasising each word, “It. Burned. To. The. Ground. Isn’t that insane? Isn’t that mad?! Everything that this record touches just turns to shit!”

owever, hexed though their album may be, ‘Sex, Death & the Infinite Void’ still makes for as ambitious a next step as its flamboyant title might suggest. Set against the narrative backdrop of Calvary Falls - a small fictional town buried deep in the United States - it’s a predictably bombastic affair. Based upon the story of Roe, a man who’s fallen to earth much like a modern day Ziggy Stardust, and Annabelle, a woman betrothed to another, it revels in the sin of their illicit love and the ways in which they realise their world has changed forever. And while a touch of conceptualism isn’t exactly new territory for the band, their second album also saw the reality of their own personal lives taking more of a spotlight than they’d anticipated. “Every time we write stuff for Creeper records,” Will explains, “we try and think of the most outlandish, largerthan-life things. It’s supposed to be a more fantastical version of reality; that’s what we’re trying to build. [But even] the most mad story I could come up with falls to the wayside when you learn the reality of how we actually made the record. Even now, the time we live [in] right now, in these extraordinary times, I feel like the reality is a lot more interesting than the fiction. The last [album] was all about the story, and this one has been completely dominated by what’s been going on in our own personal lives, and the larger real world as well.”

Curse CalvaryFalls Of

Creeper

The

pulled their disappearing act back in November 2018, no one could’ve foreseen the When obstacles that’d be thrown their way whilst making Album Two. But if ever a band was destined to face some demons and come out fighting, it’d be this one… Words: Sarah Jamieson. Photos: Richard Kelly.

DIYMAG.COM

Behind The Silver Screen After 2020 delayed the band’s plans somewhat, rather than just sit around and bide their time, Creeper used the extended deadline to their advantage: they decided to make some more videos! And how exactly does a band make a music video during lockdown? Will Gould explains... “When we realised the record was going to be pushed back, we saw that as an opportunity to make some other pieces and to expand the world. We’ve now got a video for ‘Be My End’, which we had animator Marco Pavone do, and he’s worked on a bunch of Disney stuff which is really cool. We realised there were some elements of this story that you haven’t seen in the videos where we are playing [the characters] - in an animated world, you can offer up more depth to the landscape, and the world that the characters live in, and that video now sets up the finale. It’s a bit like in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? when they go to Toon Town for a bit. We briefly go to Toon Town and then we drive straight back into the real world! “The other video we made while we’ve been in lockdown was for ‘All My Friends’. It just felt like an appropriate song to put out at this moment in time, and we thought it was better for this video not to shy away from what’s been going on - not shroud it in character - so we decided to do a performance video, do it simply and me and Hannah shot the footage for it separately, and Olli [Applewood, from band Static Dress] edited it together. We used quite a lot of noir reference points, and I had my make up done a bit like Dave Vanian from The Damned. We used it as a chance to be a bit more art school filmy, which is stuff I’m much more familiar with, as that’s the kind of filmmaking I used to do when I was younger.”

“To try and release a record that’s based a lot in fantasy at a time when a very harsh reality is out there, it’s difficult.” - Will Gould

Well, Winklepicker didn’t have the same ring to it.

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Alongside the convincing list of hardships the band found themselves battling - most notably the hospitalisation of guitarist, and Will’s writing partner, Ian Miles right before their LA sessions began - Will also found himself inhabiting a strange space in the world during the record’s making. “There was this feeling of being an eccentric Englishman, wandering the streets of Hollywood,” he told us back in December last year, delving into some of the more peculiar situations he found himself in, alone, while his closest friend was being treated back in the UK. “There are a lot of feelings of isolation, and being a little bit out of place.” It’s little wonder, then, that he would manifest a character like Roe: an otherworldly being who finds himself a long way from home. Whenever they can get back on the road, Will himself will play the character on stage, alongside bandmate Hannah Greenwood’s Annabelle.

never did anything because no one ever wanted to see them. But just because one [project] has done alright, that seems a really rubbish way to keep going - to just constantly make the same thing over and over again. [We thought] ‘What else do we like?’ and started digging through. Wouldn’t it be cool if we did stuff with

Will and his bandmates, it still wasn’t the smoothest of rides. After all, any amount of success comes with a certain level of expectation, and rocking the boat isn’t always that simple. “Trying to persuade everybody to get on board with that was scary at first, because no one wants you to do that,” he confirms, referencing the wider network of people that surrounds a band of their increasing stature. “People get a bit worried at first, but as soon as people start hearing it and understanding… There seems to be a trajectory of a career for a band like ours, but I always think that blueprint was written ages ago. It just seems so boring from a creative standpoint and I can’t see myself being comfortable doing that. I would rather do something else entirely than dedicate my whole life to something that I no longer believed in.”

“2020, like a manic spider, just started weaving this web to try and stop us from ever releasing anything ever again.” - Will Gould

et while horror and m a g i c d o u s e d i m a g e r y have always helped to define Creeper’s vision thematically, on their second opus, the band give things a more unpredictable switch up sonically. “It’s completely the opposite of what we’ve done before,” Will confirms. “There are little shards of the past in there and, if you look for it, you can see our workings, but I don’t think people are going to be expecting it.” While 2018 debut ‘Eternity, In Your Arms’ saw them build on the hardcore-laced poppunk foundation they’d built thus far, it’s with this next album that the band rewrite their own rulebook. This time, the album arrives with an Americana tinge, and manages to sway from doo-wop to country and back again with the deftest of moves. The adrenalinecharged slashes of punk ‘I CAN’T BELIEVE are swapped for a more MCDONALDS STILL ISN’T DELIVERING TO MY AREA!!!” melancholic pop bombast (punctuated by eerie spoken word passages by Sisters of Mercy and The Damned’s Patricia Morrison) and the shadow of old school Hollywood, where me and Hannah where it was like Nick the album was recorded, looms large. Cave and PJ Harvey? Or we could do something that was like a Roy Orbison “The idea was to think, ‘Hey, what stops country song…” us being like every other band?’” Will reflects. “What’s the thing about us that And while exploring that different side of makes the difference? Before this band, their influences - more Bruce Springsteen we did loads of other projects which than Alkaline Trio - made perfect sense to

ow, in the cold l i g h t of the present day, Will admits it does feel strange to be releasing an album like this into such a different version of the world than it was first conceived in. “To try and release a record that’s based a lot in fantasy at a time when a very harsh reality is out there, it’s difficult,” he nods. “Trying to release something that works in escapism, rather than holding a mirror up to society, it’s certainly an interesting thing.” But while the curse of ‘Sex, Death & The Infinite Void’ may still be rearing its head - “2020 really does not want us to release this album, I’m telling you now!” - Creeper can be confident that, in spite of the circumstances, they’ve pushed the boundaries of what’s expected from modern rock bands, and claimed victory.

“I’m hoping it’s going to hit people in a way that they don’t quite know what to do with it,” he says wistfully. “Some people are not gonna get this record, and I’m ready for that, but I am interested to see what people think. I’m really proud of it all though, and I kinda live for that chaos.” ‘Sex, Death & The Infinite Void’ is out 31st July via Roadrunner. DIY

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THE STREETS

he fact it’s been almost a decade since The Streets released a full-length record sits at total odds with the outfit’s continued cultural resonance: stick on ‘Fit But You Know It’ at any well-oiled gathering (imaginary in these times, of course), and you’re guaranteed to witness at least a handful echoing back the entire number verbatim, ad libs and all. Plus it’s not as if Mike Skinner has even spent much time away. Since 2011’s ‘Computers and Blues’ he’s had his hand in remixes, toured DJ sets, and formed projects The DOT, Tonga Balloon Gang and most recently - up until the handful of new one-off Streets tracks began trickling through in late

DIYMAG.COM

None Of Us Are Getting Out Of This Life Alive (Island) 2017 - The Darker The Shadow, the Brighter The Light. So whether ‘None Of Us Are Getting Out Of This Life Alive’ truly constitutes a ‘comeback’ is up for debate; what isn’t is that it’s a stellar record. Akin to David Beckham casually striding back onto the Old Trafford pitch to smash in a twisting volley from 30 yards out, this is a turn-of-the-millennium hero with a legendary reputation reminding us what he does so well. Which is to say, it’s bangers, bops and top-notch observational lyrics at every turn. “If you’re treating her like a joke / she’ll leave you like it’s funny” (‘Phone Is Always In My

TRACKLIST:

1 Call My Phone Thinking I’m Doing Nothing Better (Ft. Tame Impala) 2 None Of Us Are Getting Out Of This Life Alive (Ft. Idles) 3 I Wish You Loved You As Much As You Love Him (Ft. Donae’o and Greentea Peng) 4 You Can’t Afford Me (Ft. Ms Banks) 5 I Know Something You Did (Ft. Jesse James Solomon) 6 Eskimo Ice (Ft. Kasien) 7 Phone Is Always In My Hand (Ft. Dapz on the Map) 8 The Poison I Take Hoping You Will Suffer (Ft. Oscar #Worldpeace) 9 Same Direction (Ft. Jimothy Lacoste) 10 Falling Down (Ft. Hak Baker) 11 Conspiracy Theory Freestyle (Ft. Rob Harvey) 12 Take Me As I Am (With Chris Lorenzo)

TOP CORNER, BACK OF THE NET. Hand’); “Ghost me at the bar, leave me thirsty with a drink” (‘Take Me As I Am’); “If God had have dropped acid would God see people?” (‘Eskimo Ice’); “Every girl has a dude in her inbox talking to himself” (‘The Poison I Take Hoping You Will Suffer’). Mike Skinner is, as ever, wry, witty, and never not bang on. “She talks about her ex so much even I miss him,” he laments in ‘You Can’t Afford Me’, while later on the same track, Ms Banks unleashes her own: “If you lay down with dogs babe then you’re gonna need a vet.” Still, this is no nostalgia trip, and The Streets’ little black book has clearly been updated for 2020, from the spectacular use of IDLES’ Joe Talbot on the title track, matching the frontman’s

trademark self-flagellating frustration with dark musical aggression, to south London singer Greentea Peng’s turn on summery bop ‘I Wish You Loved You As Much As You Love Him’, breakthrough rapper Oscar #worldpeace on ‘The Poison I Take Hoping You Will Suffer’ or Tame Impala mastermind Kevin Parker on prescient opener ‘Call My Phone Thinking I’m Doing Nothing Better’. Mike might still have fixations on telecommunication devices (see also: ‘Phone Is Always In My Hand’), but in part thanks to his choice of collaborators, it’s all so very now. Top corner, back of the net. (Emma Swann) LISTEN: ‘None Of Us Are Getting Out Of This Life Alive’, ‘I Wish You Loved You As Much As You Love Him’, ‘Phone Is Always In My Hand’

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HAIM

Women In Music Pt. III (Polydor)

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PROTOMARTYR

Ultimate Success Today (Domino)

Cold, wet and miserable. Long nights filled with nothing. Nothing at all. It’s the start of summer and Protomartyr are back with the soundtrack to the apocalypse. With ‘Ultimate Success Today’, Joe Casey and co have served up 10 tracks of heavy, tinnitusinducing post-punk that has never sounded so relevant. In the past it has felt like the group have been living in a sort of “worst case scenario” alternate universe, but with this, their fifth studio album, the timelines have crossed. The world has caught up with the group’s bleak outlook, and all is not well. The dreadfuelled Nick Cave stomp of ‘Processed By The Boys’ clash with epics like ‘I Am You Now’ and ‘Modern Business Hymns’ to create a record that sounds so much like the deflated “now” that it almost hurts. This is 2020 in pained, reverb dripping sound waves. This is the isolation. This is the pandemic. This is everything. The doom may have arrived, but at least Protomartyr are back in our lives. (Jack Doherty) LISTEN: ‘I Am You Now’

REVIEWS 58

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From the jazz saxophone flurry at the start of album opener ‘Los Angeles’, it’s clear that HAIM’s third studio album ‘Women In Music Pt III’ isn’t pulling any punches. Across sixteen tracks, the trio expertly explore their every musical whim, delving into ‘90s R&B on the groove-laden ‘3AM’, heavy distortion on ‘Up From A Dream’, minimalist guitar balladry on ‘FUBT’, and exceptional pop on ‘Now I’m In It’. “I think on this record we’ve all collectively realised how freeing it is to say ‘fuck it’ and truly mean it,” Alana Haim claims triumphantly in a press release, summarising a record that embodies their personality, something that has so often taken centre stage. ‘Women In Music Pt III’ is a response to the music industry’s need to pigeonhole its creators; a refusal to fall into line with the knowing wink that has underpinned many of HAIM’s public appearances. The critique continues in the record’s title, a reference to the widespread habit of separating creativity by gender. On the stripped back ‘Man From The Magazine’, HAIM overtly recall interviews in which their gender became the main focus. In response, ‘Women In Music Pt. III’ acts as an irreverent middle finger to both convention and expectation, and succeeds through the sheer brilliance of its songwriting and the trio’s palpable love of their craft. While perfectly capturing the zeitgeist, HAIM carry the passion, creativity and joy to also cement ‘Women In Music Pt. III’ as a timeless classic. (Ben Tipple) LISTEN: ‘The Steps’

A timeless classic.

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REVIEWS

FONTAINES DC A Hero’s Death (Partisan)

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DREAM WIFE

So When You Gonna... (Lucky Number)

Dream Wife’s 2018 self-titled debut was a firecracker of a record, the trio having distilled everything that made them so special to that point wonderfully: Alice Go’s spidery riffs; Rakel Mjöll’s vocal turning on a whim from playful to bloodcurdling scream; a nifty line in immediate choruses. ‘So When You Gonna…’ largely sees the trio going off on tangents from where they left off - and when it works, it’s magical. But too often on this second outing, it doesn’t, and the results are sadly forgettable. The title track, easily the best number here, takes its cues - quite literally - from the debut’s ‘Let’s Make Out’. Punky, in-your-face, and cleverly using guitars to echo the same tension in the to-thepoint lyrics, it’s Dream Wife at their best. Similarly, ‘Hasta La Vista’ has an earworm of a chorus, and ‘Sports!’, although dangerously close to cringeworthy in parts, is pure energy. On the flip side, the intensity of closer ‘After The Rain’ comes not from its sound, but its raw emotion. And while thematically just as strong as their debut, much of the message is lost in the medium. The middle run of ‘U Do U’, ‘RH RN’ and ‘Old Flame’ is so mid-paced and lacking in audible spark that it’s as if the record has momentarily dozed off. And for a group who have seemed so overflowing with ideas, so strong in their convictions and so urgently essential, it can’t help but feel a bit disappointing. (Emma Swann) LISTEN: ‘So When You Gonna…’

A little over a year since the release of their incendiary debut, Fontaines DC are right back at it. But if you thought another rollicking, rabble-rouser was on the cards, it’s time to think again. While the Dublin band’s early sound became defined by the agitated post-punk and no-nonsense vocals of ‘Dogrel’, on its follow-up the band are branching away, exploring a more varied - and at times darker - palette. An album that holds a mirror up to the group’s blistering rise and the resulting uncertainties with their newfound fame and demand, ‘A Hero’s Death’ arrives a much more complex beast. From opener ‘I Don’t Belong’ - with frontman Grian Chatten’s repeated drawl of “I don’t belong to anyone” ringing loud and clear - through to the likes of ‘I Was Not Born’ and the cautionary tale that is the title track, there’s a sense that this version of the band bear a few more scars than previously. Sonically, the mood has shifted too; smoky atmospherics swirl through ‘Love Is The Main Thing’, while the motorik percussion of both ‘A Lucid Dream’ and the title track whip up a heady sense of claustrophobia. A more sinuous effort than their previous razor-sharp debut - with the shoegazey ‘You Said’ and ‘Oh Such A Spring’’s dreaminess helping to define the record’s mesmerising quality - it also shows just how far they’ve come in such a short space of time. An unexpected move, perhaps, but a deft and accomplished one all the same, this is a second album that builds upon the foundations they’ve laid so far and opens up their world to all manner of possibilities. If ‘Dogrel’ promised that Fontaines DC were gonna be big, it’s with ‘A Hero’s Death’ that they prove they were worth the hype all along. (Sarah Jamieson) LISTEN: ‘I Don’t Belong’

An unexpected move, perhaps, but a deft one all the same.

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CREEPER

Sex, Death & The Infinite Void (Roadrunner)

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ALFIE TEMPLEMAN Happiness In Liquid Form (Chess Club)

Summer may feel like little more than a figment of our collective imaginations currently, but you’ll not find a release better suited to sunny days this month than this fourth EP from Alfie Templeman. Bright, vibrant and musically full of E-numbers - and crucially, continuing on from previous release ‘Don’t Go Wasting Time’ in glorious fashion. From the Justin Vaccines co-written bop of a title track (a man well-versed in a pop hit or two, of course), to funk-inflected earwormy banger ‘Obvious Guy’, via the psychinflected ‘Maybe This Is Time’, a number so wavey the track’s literal waveform is a perfectly symmetrical ripple, the sixtrack release is bursting with indie-pop goodness. Happiness in aural form. (Emma Swann) LISTEN: ‘Obvious Guy’

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REMI WOLF I’m Allergic To Dogs! (EMI / Island)

When your parents give you a name like Remi Wolf, you’re already onto a good thing. Having pricked up ears with the ‘You’re A Dog!’ EP back in 2019, she delivers once again in 2020 with a further dose of her kaleidoscopic pop. ‘Woo!’ still sounds every bit as good as it did as a single, but it is closely rivalled by ‘Hello Hello Hello’, a pithy calypso ditty about a useless ex that a 2006 Lily Allen would have traded her entire trainer collection for. Channelling a little more funk and soul than some of her contemporaries, this is a space lush with fruitful ideas. Roll on that album. (Jenessa Williams) LISTEN: ‘Woo!’

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Even back when they first emerged in 2014, Creeper didn’t fancy doing things the regular way. Born from the remnants of punk bands past, the six-piece quickly found that their strengths lay in evoking a tangible sense of mystery and intrigue; their brand of highoctane rock came accompanied by a series of horror-tinged tales of fiction. And while, on debut ‘Eternity, In Your Arms’ they cemented themselves as one of the UK’s most theatrical and ambitious young bands, that was never going to be quite enough for them second time around. Instead, on the boldly-titled ‘Sex, Death & The Infinite Void’, they reinvent themselves once more. While riffs and quick tempos dominated proceedings previously, this time, the band flex a different set of muscles. Tinged with a more moody Americana feel, and doused with faded Hollywood seediness, the album may seem like a sidestep for the band, but it also makes perfect sense. Frontman Will Gould croons his way through tracks - telling the ill-fated story of Roe, a boy who’s newly-arrived on Earth, and his lover Annabelle - treading closer to Nick Cave and Roy Orbison than AFI’s Davey Havok, while their brand of dark pop - whether explored in the huge choruses of ‘Be My End’, the doowop lilt of ‘Thorns Of Love’ or the darkly Tarantino-esque ‘Paradise’ - is potent throughout. Clearly not ones to do things by halves, ‘Sex, Death & The Infinite Void’ may be an album that feels boldly unexpected for a rock band in 2020, and that makes it all the more remarkable: for Creeper, it’s their most astonishing and liberating move yet. (Sarah Jamieson) LISTEN: ‘Be My End’

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CRACK CLOUD

Pain Olympics (Meat Machine)

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DENAI MOORE

It’ll come as a surprise to no-one who’s followed the career of Canadian collective Crack Cloud - a group who met through an addiction recovery programme and have been making complex, confrontational post-everything explorations ever since – that ‘Pain Olympics’ is not a straightforward listen. Over eight tracks, the record goes on an odysseylike journey, beginning with the cultish heavenly song of ‘Post Truth (Birth of a Nation)’ and ending with ‘Angel Dust (Eternal Peace)’ - an expansive, orchestral offering that feels something like acceptance. In between, the trials are explicit. A reworking of old track ‘Bastard Basket’ is antsy and claustrophobic, while the monotone, mantra-like rap of ‘The Next Fix (A Safe Space)’ is filled with loathing: “I’m not free / Never was / A good boy / A good man”. Yet while the troubles are integral, ‘Pain Olympics’ also manages to find moments of lightness and creative joy throughout. It’s a tough sport, but Crack Cloud are racing for their lives. (Lisa Wright) LISTEN: ‘Tunnel Vision’

Modern Dread (Because)

As a phrase that sums up These Uncertain Times™, ‘Modern Dread’ is a pretty fair encapsulation. For Denai Moore, it’s a theme that’s been much longer in the making, layering electronics into her deft and genre-less mix of ideas. At once punisher and protector, sheeny, metallic tubes of sound rise like buildings on ‘Don’t Close The Door’ and ’Turn Off The Radio’, weaving around skittering drums to frame her dystopian sky. On ‘Motherless Child’, she sings of solitude and displacement; the slinky, ominous beats of ‘Cascades’ only serve to heighten her lyrical turmoil. The urgency is obvious these are songs to dance to at the end of the world. But it’s not all doom and gloom. For something designed to speak to the overwhelming sensation of panic and despair, it’s a remarkably affirming record sonically, offering warmth to an electronic sound traditionally thought of as cold and distant. There’s an abundance of certified spirit-swellers; ’Slate’ sees her lend her voice to motivational mantra in a manner that will keep latterwork Paramore fans happy (“It’s not how you lose / But how you repave / Forgive yourself / But know it’s OK”), while closer ‘Wishing You Better’ shares a similar positive energy, recognising that although times may have been tough, we all have our own regrets and spaces to grow. For such an introspective record, it sure sounds like community - a portrait of an artist ready to lean into her fears. (Jenessa Williams) LISTEN: ‘Motherless Child’

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SILVERBACKS Fad (Central Tones)

Silverbacks’ first full-length sees the Dublin group pulling from a melting pot of art-rock, post-punk, and ‘90s indie influences, resulting in a dynamic 13-track run that has a little something for everyone. Whether it’s the Blondieesque ‘Up The Nurses’, the Pavementleaning ‘Fad ’95’, the folky instrumental penultimate track ‘Madra Uisce’ or the huge chorus of ‘Grinning At The Lid’ which echoes classic indie sing-alongs, the group expertly dive into different genres with whipsmart lyrics that pack an instant punch. Presenting different characters, such as the man having an existential crisis in spiky opener ‘Dunkirk’, and packed full of quippy moments ala ‘Just In The Band’’s eyerolling “Where’s his top? He’s just in the band”, Silverbacks’ ‘Fad’ is an excellent example of how a debut should be done. (Elly Watson) LISTEN: Drink It Down 61

REC O MME NDED Missed the boat on some the best albums from the last couple of months? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.

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RUN THE JEWELS RTJ4

Urgent, prescient and the duo’s most accomplished chapter yet.

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PHOEBE BRIDGERS Punisher

It’s a clear step forward from the cult superstar.

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LITTLE SIMZ Drop 6

Raw, heavy and pulsing with urgency a wonderful teaser for what’s to come.

DIYMAG.COM

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LIANNE LA HAVAS Lianne La Havas (Warner)

‘Lianne La Havas’ arrives five years after the Londoner’s second LP ‘Blood’, and the line “No more hanging round” on opener ‘Bittersweet’ seems apt for such a large gap looming between releases. The song, which bathes in smooth, sumptuous songcraft, takes an Isaac Hayes sample and spins it into a stunning slow jam which sets the mellow pace for the LP. And although this pace rarely shifts, never does it feel like Lianne is veering too much on the side of caution. The raw emotional range of her vocal and the palpable live musicianship that unravels under the spell of the slower, subdued BPMs really offer up the goods. Highlight ‘Please Don’t Make Me Cry’ is hauntingly beautiful especially as choral vocals climb in the track’s second half, even the cover of Radiohead’s ‘Weird Fishes’ which cuts the hyperspeed drum pattern of the original to half-time blooms beautifully under her command. There’s plenty of room for experimentation here too - the wonky whistling synth that coils around ‘Courage’ and the jazz flutes that flutter on the tailend of ‘Seven Times’ give the tracks an ethereal, dreamy quality. Where ‘Blood’ indulged cinematic sonics which sometimes clashed against the more stripped-back acoustic arrangements, ‘LLH’ finds its strengths in restraint and the spirit that flits between musicians in the live setting. Her most satisfying and complete work to date. (Sean Kerwick) LISTEN: ‘Please Don’t Make Me Cry’

REVIEWS

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WESLEY GONZALEZ Appalling Human (Moshi Moshi)

JARV IS...

Beyond The Pale (Rough Trade)

If most records are made in privacy and then given to the world’s stages, then ‘Beyond The Pale’ is the opposite: pulled together using live recordings taken from over the last three years as its basis, it’s an album that’s been created communally only to land, ironically, into a world devoid of any such fun. And while the concept doesn’t necessarily equate to anything like a traditional ‘live album’, what it has managed is to completely distil the strange, undulating atmosphere of the JARV IS... live experience into a record that throbs and pulses with the same energy. Previous single ‘MUST I EVOLVE?’ attempts to track the entire theory of human evolution over tense, propulsive instrumentation; ‘Sometimes I Am Pharoah’ twitches and heavy-breathes over metallic rumbles, while ‘Save The Whale’ inches along on sparse, almost dub beats. There’s something of the seedy atmosphere of ‘This Is Hardcore’ that runs throughout (particularly on the lusty ‘Swanky Modes’), but this time the sordid scenes are transposed to a sparser, more electronic landscape. The constant – and the constant joy – however remains Jarvis’s inimitable way with wordplay there are, after all, few people who could get away with rhyming “claustrophobia” with “disrobing ya”, as he does on ‘House Music All Night Long’. Pushing nearly 30 years in the game, JARV IS... still an absolute one-of-a-kind. (Lisa Wright) LISTEN: ‘Sometimes I Am Pharoah’

Q&A

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With shades of Prefab Sprout, Al Green and contemporaries like Metronomy, Wesley Gonzalez’s solo work is a far cry from his scrappier days as part of Let’s Wrestle. Described as a “post-therapy album,” on this second album Wesley channels his learnings and faults with a cathartic funk, retaining the Mark E Smith humour that made his debut such an interesting departure. Opener ‘Tried To Tell Me Something’, for instance, is a tale of ignoring the problems soundtracked by a technicolour melody, all saxophones and bright synth stabs. Elsewhere, however, the maximalism makes the lyrical darkness strike in an odd way. The two rub up against each other in a none-too-friendly way, and the sparks that generate don’t catch fire either. The album’s highlight comes in its bruising closer, ‘Did You Get What You Paid For?’. It’s the perfect example of what Wesley is trying to achieve; a reassessment of everything that’s come from before and of his priorities too. “Do you all love me? / Am I what you want?” he asks, with a quiver in his voice. It’s sharp and serious but without the navelgazing feel that sometimes makes ‘Appalling Human’ a difficult one to truly get stuck into. (Chris Taylor) LISTEN: ‘Did You Get What You Paid For?’

Wesley talks laughing in the face of despair, and how ‘Appalling Human’ is his post-therapy album. Interview: Lisa Wright. There’s a lot of discussion about the sort of moral gymnastics of being human in the new record – where did that all stem from? Me and my step-father who pretty much raised me fell out to a really extreme degree, we still don’t speak. And I had the same sort of rejection as a child - my actual dad disowned me when I was a kid and actively told me ‘I don’t want to be your parent’. So over the therapy process, a lot of it was dealing with why have I been rejected. And that brings in the question of am I a good person or a bad person? Have I been rejected because I’m not worthy? I don’t actually remember writing a lot of the songs; they were all so guttural and I felt like I was in so much pain when I was writing them that it became this blur. But there’s a lot of humour that everything’s cloaked in, too... That’s how I am in life - I’ve got a very sick sense of humour and I can laugh about horrible, horrible things that have happened in my life and make jokes to the point where people get really uncomfortable. But to me, that’s my way of coping with it; you don’t let it rule you if you make a joke out of it. You’ve described ‘Excellent Musician’ as a pre-therapy album and ‘Appalling Human’ as a post-therapy album. Do you think there’s an audible difference? The first one was a realisation that there were things I needed to fix in myself but hadn’t realised how to do that and the frustration is audible. And even though this new album has a lot of negative stuff on it as well, it’s more positive in the way it conveys it. It takes on a more forgiving form, and it makes for an easier listen in a sense. The more hindsight you have as a person, the more people can understand what you’re putting out there. 63

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NZCA LINES

Pure Luxury (Memphis Industries) While we’re all confined to our houses as lockdown rages on, NZCA LINES has lovingly decided to bring the disco-pop party of the apocalypse to us. Born out of the political transatlantic shitstorm, ‘Pure Luxury’ finds Michael Lovett processing unsettling times through a shimmering pop-funk lens. Taking on the problems surrounding the world, the sleek and groovy ‘Larsen’ tackles the break-up of the Larsen C ice-shelf in 2017, while the bass-driven ‘Real Good Time’ sees him exploring the concerns of agricultural chemicals and overpopulation over the hook-laden backing. Elsewhere he gets more personal, lamenting a toxic relationship on the undisputed funky foot-stomper ‘Prisoner of Love’, analysing online love on the cinematic ‘For Your Love’, and the more delicate electronic ‘Take This Apart’ that details a love affair coming to the end. Transforming troubles into huge disco-pop bangers, these may be difficult times, but NZCA LINES will be throwing the greatest party ever nonetheless. (Elly Watson) LISTEN: Prisoner Of Lover

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DRAWING BOARD with NZCA LINES

Q1: Where did you record the album?

Q3: What is the most luxury item you own?

DRAB CITY Good Songs For Bad People (Bella Union) Drab City have chosen a very specific direction for this debut: take the music of the ‘60s, strain it through modern production elements, and add dark lyricism. And they stick to this unreservedly, through the plucked minor chords of Leonard Cohen on ‘Working For The Men’, the sexy restraint of David Bowie on ‘Devil Doll’, or even an apocalyptic Ronettes coming to life in ‘Just Me & You’, led through it all by a vocal reminiscent of favourite throwback Lana Del Rey. But, like other production duos (Underworld coming to mind), Drab City layer in modern flavours, with drum machines and reverberating guitars often crashing in and then fading to nothing. And with hardly a chorus on it, the closest we get being the meandering ‘Troubled Girl’, this album folds you in with textures and suggestion rather than big hooks, with the lyrics leaving a lot to unpack. This is not an album of obvious blaring colours, but of a hypnotic dark swirl, asking you to find its heart. Listen to it twice, or more, for full effect. (Nick Harris) LISTEN: ‘Troubled Girl’

Q2: What is your idea of a ‘Real Good Time’?

Q4: ‘Take This Apart’... what was the last item you took apart?

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REVIEWS 

THE BETHS

Jump Rope Gazers (Carpark)

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NASTY CHERRY Season 2 (Vroom Vroom / Asylum)

Having broken through with debut ‘Future Me Hates Me’, The Beths’ vocalist and songwriter Elizabeth Stokes has been battling with the anxieties of change. Opener ‘I’m Not Getting Excited’ lays out the conflict between her new reality and the desire for comfort. It’s a tentative response to the success of their debut, one that sets the foundation for her exploration of its impact on both her and the people she knows. Although ‘Jump Rope Gazers’ deals with this crisis of confidence, it adds a polish to the already assured sound that saw ‘Future…’ open up their world. The delicate title-track builds with poise, underpinning a tale of melancholic nostalgia, whilst more energetic numbers showcase the introspective lyrics under an elevated wave of guitars. The clash between the lively melodies and the doubt-filled lyrics perfectly embody Elizabeth’s discomfort. Yet there’s hope, not least on the ethereal ‘You Are A Beam Of Light’ and closer ‘Just Shy Of Sure’. Although far from a discovery of confidence, it rounds out ‘Jump Rope Gazers’ as a cathartic acceptance of doubt. With it, The Beths find their most focused sound yet in the midst of uncertainty. (Ben Tipple) LISTEN: ‘Jump Rope Gazers’

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LISS Third (Escho)

This aptly-titled third EP from the Danish quartet has Liss showing off an increasingly mature sound, and pop-influenced direction. ‘Another Window’ is astral and spacey, with melodic piano intensifying alongside harsh electric guitar sounds towards the track’s close. ‘Waste My Time’, meanwhile, features Søren Holm’s smooth vocals gliding across piercing riffs while the refrain “I don’t wanna waste my time” echoes throughout, and ‘Off Today’ shows the group’s more introspective, hypnotic side. It’s good to have them back. (Oliver-James Campbell) LISTEN: ‘Waste My Time’

Reality TV stars formed in Charli XCX’s image ripping off Sky Ferreira; there was already an identity crisis of sorts on Nasty Cherry’s ‘Season 1’ EP, but at least we’d seen the route from sipping champagne by an LA pool to… well, more champagne tbh. ‘Season 2’, without (so far) visual accompaniment doesn’t do anything to answer the question ‘who are Nasty Cherry?’ (closer ‘Cardamon December’ still veers too close to ‘Night Time, My Time’) but does possess wank bop ‘I Am King’, and for that alone it’s worth a listen. (Louisa Dixon) LISTEN: ‘I Am King’

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BUZZARD BUZZARD BUZZARD The Non-Stop (Communion)

Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard are essentially what you’d get if you put all of music’s current trends together and then found the exact antithesis of them. They’re maximalist, retro-minded, old fashioned rock’n’roll lovers; they basically sound like catsuitwearing, ‘70s glam-rock types Sweet, booted unceremoniously into the 21st Century. All reasons why Buzzard x3 are unlikely to ever top a BRITs newcomer poll, but why ‘The Non-Stop’ EP (actually a 10-track album by any other name) is one to be cherished. From the wonky stomp of ‘Double Denim Hop’, through the ballsy vocals of ‘Stockholm City Rock’ to the unashamedly massive riffs of recent single ‘Hollywood Actors’, frontman Tom Rees doubles down on the things that clearly make him tick. ‘John Lennon Is My Jesus Christ’’s musical name-drops perhaps explain it best: The Beatles, Marc Bolan, David Bowie - they’re not modern obsessions by any stretch, but they are the kind of classically brilliant ingredients that you can’t deny. (Lisa Wright) LISTEN: ‘Hollywood Actors’

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ROXY GIRLS

A Wealth Of Information

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FILM NOIR Tendrement, (Albé Productions)

Film Noir couldn’t have given themselves a better name. Musically moody, taking cues from post-punk, ‘80s goth and Lana Del Rey retro-pop, and lyrically theatrical (not to mention literally in French most of the time), this second EP from the band formed by siblings Joséphine and Alexandre de la Baume, is a smoky, wistful set of songs that’s one minute staring longingly into the middle distance (the dreamy ‘My Love’), the next heading off on a garage-psych Hollywood road trip (‘Los Angeles Whirl’). A real mood. (Louisa Dixon) LISTEN: ‘Vertige anatomique’

(Moshi Moshi)

While the boys of Roxy Girls themselves seem like perfectly pleasant Sunderland lads, the personification of their band would likely be a far more chaotic, ADHD character - a frenetic kid, clattering through life with a bump and a bruise. On their second EP, the quartet hurtle through seven tracks that barrel along with nary a pause for breath; recent single ‘Dirtier’ opens proceedings with guitars that race along like they’re trying to out-run each other, while ‘Command’ is interspersed with wild cries of “I’ve had enough!”. Landing on the mathier end of post-punk, everything slots together in short, sharp jabs, all played hard. If their formula is one that delights in short bursts, then by the end of ‘Get Up (Seize The Day)’, you’re left feeling a little dizzy. For their next trick, it’d be interesting to hear what Roxy Girls in slightly more restrained form would sound like. (Lisa Wright) LISTEN: ‘Dirtier’ 65

Coming Up 

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TTRRUUCES

Out In The World

Brainwash Machine Setting

(AllPoints)

(Spinning Top)

(Purple Stains / JägerMusik)

Mysterious duo TTRRUUCES’ self-titled debut comes loaded with an immediately grating concept (it is, we’re told, a rock opera about two lost souls on a search for a mind-altering new drug), but don’t let that put you off. Sure, its 11 tracks are filled with cinematic flourishes and appropriately wonky pop, but the result is far more charming and less selfconsciously kooky than their description might suggest. Opener ‘Sad Girl’ begins like a lost pastoral ‘60s psych gem while, throughout the album’s course, we get sultry French pop (‘Sensations of Cool’), a pure Gloria Estefan romp (‘The DISCO’) and a strange bubbling nugget (‘Evil Elephant’) that sounds like it should be on the Fantasia soundtrack. It’s all over the place but in a fun way; if TTRRUUCES need an overblown storyline to help them flourish, then we’ll let them off this time. (Lisa Wright) LISTEN: ‘Sad Girl’

Known for his work with Tame Impala and POND, multiinstrumentalist Jay Watson has shared his fifth solo output under his moniker GUM, unveiling ‘Out In The World’ last month. Exploring his self-described “fascination” with how other people live their lives while simultaneously turning inwards and examining his own, it’s a similar existential exploration as 2018’s ‘The Underdog’, but with a bit more sparkle. Throughout the record’s 10-track run, Jay combines the soaring guitar sounds and psych-leanings of his other projects with more pop-driven ethereal melodies, creating a sleek and dynamic offering that flourishes in its delicate delivery. Moving seamlessly through the mesmerising, woozy guitar plucks of opener ‘Weightless in LA’, to the groove-filled thumper ‘Alphabet Soup’, to the jazz-inflected chords of closer ‘You Make Your Own Luck’, his fifth effort is by far his most fun yet. (Elly Watson) LISTEN: Airwalkin’

Kent outfit Lady Bird’s latest punk offering is certainly aptly named. ‘Brainwash Machine Setting’ is a real exercise in mental catharsis. The EP’s themes get progressively deeper and more introspective; like an emotional spin cycle, moving from light rinse to a heavy soak. The lyrics draw heavily from homegrown social commentaries, giving the band a rare knack for tapping into universal experiences much like The Streets’ Mike Skinner or a punk rock John Prine. Yes, at times there is a tendency to stick to a well trodden sonic path, but when the band allow themselves the space to spread out the results are captivating. A prime example of this is stand out acoustic track ‘Nice DLC’, which tackles the difficult subject of losing friends to suicide with a refreshing sense of honesty and charm. An entrancing set of stories that lets us walk in the band’s shoes. (Jack Johnstone Orr) LISTEN: ‘Nice DLC’

GUM

LADY BIRD

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ANOTHER SKY - I SLEPT ON THE FLOOR The foursome will release their longawaited full-length debut on 7th August.

TKAY MAIDZA LAST YEAR WAS WEIRD VOL. 2 The second instalment will be out via the Aussie's new home of 4AD on 7th August.

THE MAGIC GANG - DEATH OF THE PARTY It's bops galore on the foursome's forthcoming second album. Out 21st August.

Coming Up

TTRRUUCES

THE NINTH WAVE Happy Days! (Distiller)

Less a statement of intent than the Scottish nowquartet-again trying on a new sound for size, ‘Happy Days!’ has them teaming up with The Horrors’ Faris Badwan. And what a stroke of genius that decision was. ‘00s indie’s own man in black takes the group’s dark electropop - which on two-part debut ‘Infancy’ shimmered, but often swayed a little too close to its influences and softens their palette to channel genuine darkness. ‘I’m Only Going To Hurt You’ takes the producer’s day job’s affinity for taking cues from the dancefloor to hypnotic effect, ‘Abattoir’ utilises the dual vocals of Millie Kidd and Haydn Park-Patterson to create a mood as haunting as its title suggests, while on ‘There Is Nothing I Hate More Than Small Talk’, a cheeky nod to Laurie Anderson’s ‘O Superman’ is layered with piano to create a bombastic Cold War Kids-esque emotional ballad for good measure. (Louisa Dixon) LISTEN: ‘Come Down Forever’

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Specialist Subject: NEUROSCIENCE

IT’S YOUR ROUND

To the closest pound, how heavy is the average adult brain? Oh, I can’t measure in pounds. How many pounds in a kilogram? It’s about 1.5 kilograms. A pound is just under half a kilogram so your answer is 3? Yes. That is correct!

THIS MONTH: MILLIE KIDD

Which part of the brain is important for emotional learning and memory? The frontal lobe. It’s specifically the amygdala. That’s in the frontal lobe though. OK, you can have half.

Where: Glasgow Drinking: Neat vodka (on a Monday afternoon) Price: Cheaper than the pub.

What separates the right and left brain hemispheres?

A big inter-band pub quiz of sorts, we’ll be grilling your faves one by one.

(THE NINTH WAVE)

The corpus callosum? It’s the longitudinal fissure. That’s not right - it’s the corpus callosum! We have just looked on Wikipedia and you are wrong. Sorry pal. Where would you find the cardiac, vasomotor and respiratory centres? I’m guessing it would be the parietal lobe if it’s looking at functions of the body? But I have no idea. The answer is the medulla oblongata. No idea. What is the largest part of the hindbrain? Cerebellum? Correct! Yesssss.

2.5/5 General Knowledge What is the longest river in the UK? Is it in Scotland? It is not. The Thames?! It’s not, it’s the River Severn. What is the highest selling flavour of Walker’s crisps? I hate to say it, but I feel like Britain is a cheese and onion nation. Indeed we are! Correct. Yes! What type of car is the car in Back to the Future? Oh god, I haven’t seen that film in so long. No idea. It’s the Delorian. My boyfriend was trying to

mouth the answer to me... No cheating Millie! What are the two main ingredients in a Dark and Stormy cocktail? Dark and Stormy is ginger beer and rum. Correct. These are the kind of general knowledge questions I like. What is the national animal of Scotland? The unicorn! It’s a symbol of Jesus apparently, up in Stirling Castle the unicorn’s tied to a tree because they thought Jesus was gonna come back or something. Correct!

3/5

FINAL SCORE:

5.5/10

Verdict: “That’s the best I’ve ever done on any general knowledge quiz in my life!” says Millie. We say: impressive neuroscience knowledge, especially considering she’s on the straight vodka.

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