With the ever dwindling number of entirely self written artists nowadays it is incredibly refreshing and inspiring to hear a band that writes, as well as producing, all of their music independently. It is made even better by the punchy, unapologetic and bold sound that Dream Wife’s latest album ‘Social Lubrication’ has.
Filled with energetic guitar riffs and bass lines mixing distortion and catchy crunch tones that play underneath the lyrics, it’s a perfect mix between on the nose, honest and fun. A perfect example of this is the third track ‘Hot (Don’t Date A Musician)’, which is a hilarious, satirical song entirely based on warning the listener not to date a musician. The chorus features the lyrics “Don’t date a musician Don’t date a musician. They’ll think your competition, I was never competition I was just… hot”, the melody is catchy and the track has well written and humorous lyrics. It is the kind of song that gets stuck in your head for hours after listening.
When asked about the album and the topic of it Dream Wife stated “Ultimately, much of the album is about lust: sexual lust, lust for life, lust for letting loose, lust in the face of having to be a nice, polite ‘good girl.'” “A ‘good girl’ is not the same as a good person,” says Rakel. “That’s something I’ve had to shed a lot.” The way that the band takes advantage of this topic is by creating the most excitable and energetic melodies and completing them with incredible lyrics that bring a complete atmosphere to the rock based songs. They have a wonderful way of switching up their style to show the emotions in songs, for example in angry or pent up songs they use more distorted guitars and the vocals switch between more spoken to shouting. During the happier and more energetic songs they focus a lot more on creating something fun and catchy in both the instrumental and vocals, which works great to show how they were feeling when they made the song.
My personal favourite moment in this album is the lead single ‘Leech’ where they show their political side, commenting on issues of patriarchy and lack of empathy in a modern world. To be specific, when asked about the song and why this topic was important bassist Bella Podpadec said: “Empathy is what allows us to collaborate, to build things together and to make things that are larger than the individual. But there is also a lot about modern society that denies us access to that, and teaches us that it’s bad or dangerous.” I think that this is such a beautiful meaning behind a song and the rock leaning, powerful build up to the track showcases their anger throughout the song. The line “You see the leech sucks the blood from those who truly know how to love, sucks the blood from those who truly know how to love.” really stood out to me, it is such an honest, open and angry line that sums up the entire song.
Dream Wife has described ‘Social Lubrication’ as “a middle finger to the societal barriers enforced to severe connection, playfulness, curiosity and sexual empowerment”, which I think describes the album perfectly. I would say this is one of the most notable and impressive albums I have been able to listen to recently and I cannot implore people to listen to it enough.