Dream Wife - So When You Gonna...
Angry girl music of the indie rock persuasion finds its modern home in the London based trio Dream Wife. Their latest album, “So When You Gonna...” , strays a little further from their previous brand of pure indie punk towards some more mellow, and dare I say it, happy numbers. Although “Sports”, the first single they released, was an excursion into Bikini Kill style noisy indie, “Hasta la Vista”, my personal favourite track on the album, is a nostalgic, hazy kind of song, which has been the soundtrack to much of my sunbathing during the last few sunny weeks. It’s absolutely full of hooks and sounds like road trips in summer, what more do I need to say.
A couple of songs, such as “U do U”, are possibly a little too slow for my taste, but even so, in the right setting this is still a top notch song, particularly for an evening alone in the dark. “Old Flame” is probably the closest to a pop song from the album, but it’s got a great bass line running through the song (not particularly innovative, it has to be said, but it makes it a dancey track without needing to use too many electronic elements). It’s an instantly catchy song, and as with quite a few of the other songs, I actually caught myself singing along the first time I listened to it. Dream Wife have found the sweet spot of making ear worms.
The namesake of the album, “When You Gonna...”, is equally as catchy, and probably the heaviest track. It’s got a great 20-something energy to it, embracing noisy electric guitar, screamy vocals and a subject matter that is slightly sexy, but mostly just kinda angry. Honestly I wasn’t a huge fan the first time I listened to it, but the more I hear it, the more I start to bop along, and it’s actually kind of a tune. The final track on the album, "After The Rain”, is a bit (and I hate to say this) boring. It’s a five minute long sad-fest, complete with mopey piano and a sample of rain sounds. I’m not entirely sure what it’s doing on such a lively collection of songs, and it’s a bit of a downer after such a good album.
All in all though, “So When You Gonna...”, is filled with bops, and I’ve really, really enjoyed listening to it. It’s especially nice to hear Dream Wife’s sound growing and changing, and for such a young band, and this only being their second album, I am super hyped to see where they go next.
