Dig ‘in: RVG, Dream Wife, Water From Your Eyes
Check out what the No Wristbands team is listening to and what’s in our show calendars this month on our latest Dig ‘in.
INCOMING
RVG - Brain Worms (Fire Records LP)
When I caught RVG’s set at Lazarus Brewing Company this past March as part of their SXSW appearance, it was an emotionally charged event. In the light of day on a late afternoon here was this goth-inspired band from down under led by their namesake vocalist Romy Vager ripping it up as if their lives were at stake. As a trans woman from a country that is awash in macho culture, Vager brought a raw intensity that was somewhat unsettling but impossible to look away from. The set was a preview of many of the songs that would comprise their Brain Worms album that dropped this month.
Vager has mentioned that she’s always thinking about writing for her 16-year-old self; a period in her Adelaide upbringing where there was zero representation to guide her through the gender dysmorphia that she was experiencing. On the record’s most harrowing track, “Squid,” she reveals “I didn’t intend to be / Some hideous turquoise thing / Some hideous third thing.” Acceptance both inside and outside music circles hasn’t been readily forthcoming. “Well, it’s easy / It’s not easy / It’s easier to get things over and done,” Vager confesses on “It’s Not Easy.” Goth and glam music was a saving grace for Vager growing up, providing an outlet for her to slip into androgyny and escape gender norms. An eventual move to Melbourne also fostered a more empathetic community. On the concluding track, “Tropic of Cancer,” an inner peace appears to have settled in when she sings “Leave the light off me / Let me carry on / No more memories and no more / Sad songs in my head / The big moon has left.” Life outside the spotlight is a good way to go knowing that your visibility doesn’t need to be sacrificed along with that decision. -Bruce Novak
Dream Wife - Social Lubrication (Lucky Number LP)
On “Who Do You Wanna Be?” Dream Wife issue a call to action. Vocalist Rakel Mjöll remarks: “When I see another empty slogan tryna dictate my life / Can’t you see my pockets are running dry? / A consumer consumed with the idea of a good time.” For a band that makes it a point to empower their “bad bitches” community, it’s clearly evident they’re done buying into false narratives. In an illusionary world, Dream Wife find strength in following their hearts and minds. They unabashedly confront masculine toxicity in “Leech” and expose the folly of being in a band with “Hot (Don’t Date A Musician).” In addition to Mjöll, the members of Dream Wife—Alice Go (guitar), Bella Podpadec (bass) and Alexander Paveley (drums—all display a physicality on stage that has them preparing beforehand as if they’re readying themselves for a sporting competition. The music on Social Lubrication is meaty, big and bouncy. The narrator of the tender track “Mascara” finds pleasure and meaning in living in the moment and ends up dancing until 3AM at the bar with their partner before concluding “I’ll romanticise, this life / As though we, could live it twice.” For Dream Wife, the essence of life is what’s worth living for, however ephemeral and fleeting that may be. -Bruce Novak
Water From Your Eyes - Everyone’s Crushed (Matador Records LP)
Water From Your Eyes got their start in Chicago in 2016 when Albany Park native Rachel Brown met Vermont transplant Nate Amos, who had played in This is Lorelei and Opposites previously. Brown attended New York University and Amos would follow in time with both settling in Brooklyn. Their genre-blurring indie pop mashes elements that transcend the sum of its parts. Digging into Everyone’s Crushed’s tool bag reveals drone, distortion, electro-bursts & blips, dance rhythms, breakbeats and lyrical abstraction. Amos describes his song creation methodology as “editing chaos.” The duo have come to embrace the chaos and address it in an absurdist manner. Everyone’s Crushed examines feelings of disassociation created by work (“Barley”), isolationist living (“Out There”) and consumerism (“Buy My Product”). On the closing track, Brown intones “There are no happy endings / There are only things that happen.” Whether guided by fate or circumstance, Water From You Eyes are on a path without a verifiable ending, but one that guarantees an amazing journey. -Bruce Novak
UPCOMING
SAVAK
Where: Empty Bottle / Directions
When: June 19, 9:00 PM
Sohrab Habibion and Michael Jaworski originally crossed paths at SXSW when their respective bands at the time played a show together. Habibion started out in the Washington DC post-hardcore scene with Edsel, while Jaworski is an Omaha, Nebraska native who relocated to Seattle where he played with The Cops. 2015 found them both now living in Brooklyn, and a chance encounter led to the formation of SAVAK. Last year the band released their fifth album, Human Error / Human Delight, which was originally conceived as two separate six-song EPs. It’s SAVAK’s strongest release to date; encapsulating a varied music vocabulary that touches on angular post-punk, shimmer pop and traces of indie jazz. The record later underwent a remix treatment that brought in the likes of Mogwai and Colin Newman as an apt reference point. Their Empty Bottle appearance coincides with the club’s free Monday series of performances and also features sets by Tim Midyett (Silkworm, Mint Mile) and Douglas McCombs (Eleventh Dream Day, Tortoise, Brokeback), who also contributed bass to a couple of tracks on Human Error / Human Delight. -Bruce Novak
Tallies
Where: Cole’s Bar / Directions
When: June 22, 9:00 PM
Tallies caught the ear of Simon Raymonde, the previous multi-instrumentalist in Cocteau Twins, who signed them to the Bella Union label that he founded with Robin Guthrie for their 2022 sophomore release Patina. There’s a distinct current of ’80s/‘90s dream pop that courses through the Toronto band’s catalog. Vocalist/guitarist Sarah Cogan swaddles their songs in a comforting sereneness and melancholy. Dylan Frankland (lead guitarist), Stephen Pitman (bassist) and Cian O’Neill (drummer) embellish with jangle, choral, bounce and punch to provide the gravitas needed to anchor their material from drifting too far into the ether. The result is more bittersweet than surgary excess that’s buzzworthy but not cloying. -Bruce Novak
boygenius
Where: Riis Park / Directions
When: June 24, 8:15 PM
Boygenius headline the second night of the Chicago Re:SET festival with Bartees Strange, Dijon and Clairo in tow as openers. Unlike to majority of outdoor festivals, there’s no performance overlaps and each artist is afforded a full set. What began as a friendship over shared interests and experiences between Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus and Phoebe Bridgers early in their careers eventually led to a modest goal of releasing a single together. The opportunity presented itself when the trio were booked together on a triple bill and the project expanded to a six song EP that was recorded at Sound City Studios in Van Nuys and released on Matador Records in 2018. This year they’ve double-downed with the twelve track The Record LP which surfaced in March on Interscope.
While each performer maintains a distinct identity that allows you to identify elements of their contributions, what’s remarkable about the songs is how seamlessly they come together. No one feels crowded out or marginalized—not the easiest thing to achieve with three talented songwriters operating at the top of their games. Thematically, everyone is on the same page; these are some soul-baring moments that don’t shy away from vulnerability, the type of thing you only share with trusted collaborators. There’s a literary, storytelling aspect at work here, which shouldn’t come as a surprise for individuals who quickly bonded over beloved authors and poets. Above all else, boygenius exude a strong resolve, independent but truly impactful in togetherness which makes them a supergroup in the best sense of the word. -Bruce Novak
UNCOVERED
The Gordons - The Gordons + Future Shock (Flying Nun LP)
In his memoir, In Love With These Times, Flying Nun founder Roger Shepherd recounts the Gordons’ sonic oppressiveness in remarking: “I witnessed punters pushing over tables trying to get to the doors and away from the noise at their first Gladstone show.” The band’s inception came about after the club’s promoter, Jim Wilson, asked guitarist John Halvorsen to form a band to fill in a fast approaching schedule opening. Word must of spread quickly because numerous pubs refused to book them because of their intense volume and take no prisoners approach.
The trio of Halvorsen, fellow guitarist Alister Parker and drummer Brent McLachlan were fiercely independent and self-released their 3-song EP Future Shock in 1980. The next year they returned to the studio with the intention of recording three albums’ worth of material, but settled on seven tracks after time and money ran out. Shepherd emerged to offer the band a distribution deal, which aided in giving them greater visibility. The clanging guitars, booming bass, leaden drums and high-strung vocals paint a post-apocalyptic landscape where survival instincts are put to the test. Unsurprisingly, the Gordons imploded shortly thereafter when Parker abruptly left, only to be replaced by Vince Pinker for a time to deliver the Volume 2 album in 1984. Parker re-emerged to put out the Nelsh Bailter Space EP in 1987 with Hamish Kilgour. Halvorsen joined for Bailter Space’s Tanker LP the following year, and when Kilgour departed for a re-united Clean, McLachlan returned full circle to make an extended run with his old bandmates in that subsequent outfit that have mightily delivered on the Gordons’ immense potential. -Bruce Novak
We recommend listening along over at our Spotify page. Here’s this week’s content: