Ever since catching Dream Wife playing the early slot at St Jerome's Laneway Festival in 2018 with their fierce and empowering live show, we've been enamoured. We partied with them backstage and watched them tour tirelessly on social media. Their punk pizazz embraces the strength of femininity and oozes girl power while their razor sharp pop tunes juxtaposes simple hooks, cutting riffs and screamy-dreamy vocals.
Now, Alice Go (guitar), Bella Podpadec (bass) and Rakel Mjöll (vocals) are back with their second album and just like the title suggests, this is a record brimming with adrenaline and playful excitement ("It’s an invitation, a challenge, a call to action," says Rakel). From the jagged, CSS-like guitar of 'So When You Gonna…' to the hooky brightness of album opener 'Sports!' and the whip-smart lyrical asides of 'Validation', these are moreish, pumped up, sparkling tracks that feel like newer, dynamic evolutions of debut standouts, like 'F.U.U.' and 'Hey Heartbreaker.'
But they often lean into sweeter, softer, more emotional moments too. 'Temporary' and 'After the Rain' in particular – songs about miscarriage and abortion, respectively – are complicated, painful stories told through a soft and hopeful lens. These were difficult subjects to write about, but Dream Wife think it’s important to bring these conversations into the public sphere, to refuse to brush things under the rug, to empower and support others in the process.
Dream Wife have always been outspoken about holding up other womxn and non-binary people in the creative industries, but these aren’t just words or sentiments. With a gender divide in music production currently estimated at around ninety-five percent male to five percent female, the band are proud to have worked with an all-female recording team for So When You Gonna..., including producer and mixer Marta Salogni (Björk, Holly Herndon, FKA Twigs) engineer Grace Banks (David Wrench, Marika Hackman) and mastering engineer Heba Kadry (Princess Nokia, Alex G, Beach House).
"It was a way of us practicing what we preach," says Alice, "It felt like an honour to be able to deliver this baby with these three amazing midwives." "Put your money where your mouth is!" adds Rakel, quoting the lyrics of 'Sports!"
DREAM WIFE'S SO WHEN YOU GONNA... IS WAXX LYRICAL'S JULY RECORD OF THE MONTH.