Punk-y trio Dream Wife have finally returned with the follow up to their self titled debut. An album that left everything out on the field, every piece of anger they had within them, bottled up and splashed onto wax in the short 6 days they spent in the studio laying it to tape. So, how could they possibly follow up on a record that poignant and important? Well, they decided to make a pop-infused album that truly blew me away.
The first single (and album opener) from 'So When You Gonna...' was 'Sports!', a joyfully, tongue-in-cheek track inspired by their love for badminton whilst recording the album. Unfortunately, the joke and cliche wears thin after a few listens and I started to find myself putting the needle down one track into the record, however, I just know this is going to blow the roof off when live shows resume and I can only count it as bad luck that they've released a single so heavily reliant on seeing them play it live. But then, I watched a video of them performing the song for Rough Trade on Instagram, and they really brought it to life. The energy, the passion, the humour was all there and it gave the song a new lease of life for me, a track that now welcomes me into this pure, unadulterated work of art of an album.
The subject matter is sometimes tough to listen to, whether it's misogyny, queer love or miscarriage, it makes me uncomfortable and sometimes angry at the state of the world. But in bringing such important issues and injustices, Dream Wife prove themselves to be one of the most important bands of this generation and people need to stop and listen. The song that stopped me in my tracks and made me just put my head back, and do nothing but just listen was the stunningly beautiful album closer 'After The Rain'. A dreamy track that presents it's emotion with power, a song that is brave and honest, that I find hard to discuss because it's just not my story to tell.
If anything else, their slight change of sound is ambitious, their anger is replaced with brutal metapors, bass replaced with rhythym and shouting replaced with harmonious singing. When people asked how they were going to follow up their debut, they threw two fingers up at them and released their magnum opus.
9/10