Tag: Indie rock

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Tunes

Best tunes of 2020: #21 Dream Wife “Hasta la vista”

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From what I’ve read, London-based Dream Wife started from an art school project in which its three principal members portrayed a 90’s alt rock influenced band in a Spinal Tap-like mockumentary*. Rakel Mjöll, Alice Go, and Bella Podpadec (along with drummer Alex Paveley) still seem to be having fun but now, they’re damned serious as well. They are well-known for their electric live shows, not shying away from tough subjects in their lyrics and their unwavering support of women and non-binary, especially in terms of their underrepresentation.

I came upon the group after the release of their sophomore album, “So when you gonna…”, in 2020 and I made the immediate and obvious comparison to the riot grrl** punk acts that emerged out of the early nineties. But I also noted that it wasn’t all about the rage, hearing a certain embrace of melodic pop and felt there were whiffs of bands like Elastica and Sleeper and Echobelly from the Britpop era. To be honest, it was this latter element that led me towards repeat listens because as counterintuitive as it might sound, the introduction of pop elements to the harder edge suggested a willingness to expand and experiment.

I still haven’t gone back to explore the self-titled debut but I certainly will make the time, just as I plan to give their upcoming third album, “Social lubrication”, a go. “So when you gonna…”, though, is an enduring listen to my ears and the album’s second single, “Hasta la vista”, is all kinds of fun. But don’t be fooled by the title that smacks of the old Schwarzenegger tagline. Gimmicky, this song is not. The giddy-up bassline and ticky-tack drums get you moving and the synths just hang out there in the background, a humming wash, setting a warm tone. The guitars dance a pogo and frontwoman Rakel Mjöll softly bemoans and at the same time, celebrates relationships lost and never to be re-discovered. The band has admitted that “Hasta la vista” was the first song to be written for the new album after returning from a long period of the touring and coming home to find everything changed.

“Remember me in the morning light
Remember none of the wrong, just the right
Remember all the joy we gave
Remember that it paved the way”

This is a sentiment with which many can appreciate and identify. And now, they can dance to it as well.

*I loved Spinal Tap so I’d be curious to check it out, though I have no idea if it’s available anywhere online.

**As well other all female bands with a similar sound and aesthetic that had been mislabelled as such, like L7 and Hole.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 2020 list, click here.

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Live music galleries

Live music galleries: Hey Rosetta! [2012]

(I got the idea for this series while sifting through the ‘piles’ of digital photos on my laptop. It occurred to me to share some of these great pics from some of my favourite concert sets from time to time. Until I get around to the next one, I invite you to peruse my ever-growing list of concerts page.)

Hey Rosetta! wowing the crowds at Bluesfest 2012

Artist: Hey Rosetta!
When: July 13th, 2012
Where: Claridge Homes stage, Ottawa Bluesfest, Lebreton Flats Park, Ottawa
Context: Friday the 13th was perhaps the hottest evening at Ottawa Bluesfest 2012. While waiting for the first band at the Claridge Homes stage with not a lick of shade to be found, all the crowd could do was hope for a breeze or the next droplet of perspiration. A couple of drunkards behind me started shouting at those setting up the stage, “Come out early and I’ll give you eight bucks!” When Hey Rosetta! burst on to the stage in a blaze of multi-colored maple leafs (shot from cannons), it was made apparent that the wait was worth it. Newfoundland flags were proudly waving to the sweet sounds made by the St. John’s exports in an impressive crowd for an early 6:00pm set time. And I think the whole crowd was fancying themselves honourary Newfoundlanders throughout the duration of the one hour set. For my part, I wasn’t disappointed at all. Hey Rosetta! sported an energetic indie rock sound made immense by a combination of violin and cello embellishments and by throwing in some mandolin and glockenspiel for good measure. Unfortunately, their set ran long and they were cut off before they could play their last song. While setting out for another stage, I could hear the honourary Newfoundlanders still shouting for “one more song”.
Point of reference song: “Seeds”

Tim Baker of Hey Rosetta!
Kinley Dowling of Hey Rosetta!
Romesh Thavanathan of Hey Rosetta
Phil Maloney of Hey Rosetta!
Josh Ward and Tim Baker
The string section of Kinley and Romesh
Tim Baker, Adam Hogan, and Phil Maloney banging the drums

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Tunes

Best tunes of 2013: #27 Lanterns on the Lake “Elodie”

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Back in 2018, when I was counting down my favourite tunes of 2011, “Lungs quicken” from Lanterns on the Lake’s debut album, “Gracious tide, take me home” came in at number twenty-five on said list. I mused, then, at how perfect their name was, in terms of how it forewarned of what you would experience should you take the chance to listen to their music. “Lungs quicken”, and many of the tracks on their debut, evoked the image of “candles in paper lanterns, hundreds of them, maybe thousands, just visible in the mist out on the grey lake. And then the wind whips up, the music builds in volume and gusto, and the lanterns jostle on the waves, crashing and splashing but not going out.”

“Elodie”, the song of today’s focus, is also an opening track by the band but in this case, off their sophomore record, “Until the colours run”. And if the band were looking to forewarn of the change in sound, a portent of another coming sea storm perhaps, they succeeded here.

The indie pop band from Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, had lost a couple members, brothers Brendan and Adam Ian Sykes, since their first album. They replaced Brendan with Bob Allen on bass but the other brother would have been much more difficult to replace since he co-led on vocals on much of the debut, so instead the band chose not to. Hazel Wilde took sole responsibility for vocal duties moving forward and that seems like it gave the band more direction. Interestingly, there’s less electronic trickery* on “Until the colours run” and more focus on the stringed instruments and at the same time, Wilde’s vocals seem less fragile and more assured.

“Forget the barricades
We’re four years too late
And all your mother’s words
Strength’s not in numbers”

“Elodie” starts the album with a feedback warning and if you didn’t heed it, you’d run headlong into the brick wall of guitar noise that follows. Then, just when thought you’d need to come up for air, the guitars fade to echo, replaced with the high speed ticking of a clock, the tentative dabs on the piano keys, and Wilde’s plaintive tones. Of course, the guitars make a return and there’s this delicious push and pull between the angry noise and the delicate strings and inferred beauty. Whoever this Elodie was, she has invoked a lot of passion and for this, we can be thankful.

Happy Sunday!

*The “folktronica” is all but gone.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 2013 list, click here.