Album Review: Dream Wife's 'Dream Wife'

2018
11 songs
Length: 34:39
Available to buy on vinyl or CD or digital download

Dream Wife are a British punk rock trio based in London. Comprising of Rakel Mjöll on lead vocals, Alice Go on guitar and Bella Podpadec on bass, the band released their self titled debut album in January this year to critical acclaim. Its super fun, sugar-coated punk pop, with Mjöll’s accent (she’s an Icelandic native) giving it a fresh sound.

Mjöll, Go and Podpadec met at art college and formed Dream Wife in 2014. The band is named after the 1953 romantic comedy starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr and romance is rife on the album; on songs like ‘Let’s Make Out,’ ‘Taste,’ and ‘Spend The Night.’ Although it’s a far more liberated brand of romance than the 1950’s version. The band count David Bowie and Madonna among their influences. I imagine this would be the kind of album Madonna may have made herself if she was a punk rocker in the 1980’s or 90’s.

The album mixes honeyed pop melodies and harmonies with raw garage rock. Mjöll’s vocal range is interesting; shifting from sweet to powerful with so many inflections in between. ‘Let’s Make Out’ is a prime example. On ‘Act My Age’ Mjöll seems to be channeling Karen O of Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Flashes of the 90’s rock band Elastica can also be heard throughout the album, in the mighty guitar riffs on ‘Fire’ and the catchy as hell, ‘Hey Heartbreaker.’

Dream Wife spruik a strong message of women’s autonomy. Songs like ‘Somebody’ (“I am not my body / I am somebody”), ‘Spend The Night’ (“Spend the night with me / I would like to know you better”) and ‘Let’s Make Out’ (“Or are you too shy? Or are we too shy?”) reject the notion of women’s sexual submissiveness; much like the Riot grrrl punk rock of the 90’s and bands like L7, Sleater Kinney and Bikini Kill. But Dream Wife are girly too, with the lush pop melodies of ‘Kids’ and ‘Love You Without Reason’ and herein lies their great appeal. Don’t get the wrong idea though, Dream Wife still have plenty of hardcore rage; ‘F.U.U’ attests to this.

‘Dream Wife’ is a brash and sparkling punk rock debut. It is party punk rock at its best and I can’t wait to hear more from this exciting new band.