GRRRL rock that breathes the spirit of generations of influential punk and post-punk women.
At the beginning there is this skull base fracture of a song: With “Kick In The Teeth” it starts with a bang, the third album of the Brighton women trio Dream Wife. No doubt Rakel Mjöll, Alice Go and Bella Podpadec mean business. The trip to the more harmless regions of indie pop from the predecessor SO WHEN YOU GONNA seems to have been forgotten… Yes, Dream Wife screams their souls empty and the listeners: inside their topics such as the patriarchy dilemma or failed sex parties.
The band sucks everything out of the guitar-bass-drums-vocals construct
It’s stupid if you only have cotton panties to wear for them: At least that’s what Mjöll complains about in “Curious” and shows that Dream Wife also allows themselves to be foolish. “We wanted to make an album that kicks,” says the singer. No need for male role models, the trio has breathed the spirit of past generations of important punk and post-punk women: from the Slits to Sleater-Kinney to Le Tigre and Karen O, at times fueled by noughties dance-punk.
The band sucks everything it can out of the guitar-bass-drums-vocals construct, even though they seem tamer next to the iconic role models. That may be down to music supervisors Alan Moulder’s (Nine Inch Nails) and Caesar Edmunds’ (Beach House) tailor-made mix, but that doesn’t detract from this snotty album attack.
Author: Michael Prenner