So When You Gonna・・・

Put your money where your mouth is! Dream Wife shout on So When You Gonna…, and thats exactly what they do on their second album. Known for their support of female and non-binary artists, the band worked with a creative team consisting entirely of women, including producer Marta Salogni and mastering engineer Heba Kadry (who is almost as well-known as her clients). With the help of these women, Dream Wife deliver a more polished, more eclectic version of their music that lives up to the promise of their self-titled 2018 debut album in unexpected ways. Dream Wife won fans not just because of its brash, fresh take on female-fronted sounds that spanned 70s punk, 80s new wave, and 90s and 2000s indie, but because of the empowering, inclusive messages in songs like Somebody. On So When You Gonna…, Rakel Mjoll, Bella Podpadec, and Alice Go show they know empowerment isnt just catharsis. Sometimes, its an arm around a shoulder or just sharing a moment with someone, as they do on the gently anthemic U Do U and RH RN (short for right here, right now). It turns out that Dream Wife are just as good at reflection as they are at raising hell. Theres a newfound tenderness to their music as they find the strength to make a fresh start on songs like Hasta la Vista, which skips away from the bad old days on a guitar line equally indebted to Blondie and the Strokes, and on Temporary, a graceful, lilting song inspired by a friends miscarriages -- a subject rarely addressed in pop culture, let alone a three-minute song. On much of So When You Gonna…, the pop instincts Dream Wife wrapped in barbed wire riffs and snarling vocals are allowed to ring out clearly and sweetly, as on the chiming perfection of Hold on Me, where Mjoll details a flings fleeting moments with a swooping melody that shows off her classically trained vocal chops. Though the bands approach is softer than before, its not subdued. The intensity of Dream Wifes emotions is just as palpable on the pro-choice ballad After the Rain as it is on So When You Gonna…s louder moments. Those include the rip-roaring album opener Sports!, which hints once again that Dream Wife could be the spiritual and musical heir to Le Tigre, and the equally cheeky title track, which reaffirms Mjoll has a wail to rival Karen Os (and also subtly but significantly uses they/them pronouns). Though its very different from Dream Wife, So When You Gonna… is just as genuine, and the duality in Dream Wifes music only makes them a more interesting, and more relevant, band. ~ Heather Phares

パンクからニューウェイヴへ。〈期待の新人〉と脚光を浴びたデビューから2年半。ロンドンの女性トリオが順当な進化を遂げたことをアピールするセカンド・アルバム。ファンクの導入に加え、歪みよりも残響を意識したギターが洗練を印象づける一方で、アルバムのトップに置いた"Sports!"には前作の"F.U.U"同様、持ち前の煽情的なポップセンスが横溢。彼女たちの挑戦的な態度はまだまだ健在なようだ。
bounce (C)山口智男