Label: Alcopop! Records
Released: 28th August 2020
Rating: ★★★★
From being ghosted to the vapid tasks in office jobs, and the more positive rose-tinted sugary sweet feelings of crushing on girls, Dream Nails’ debut record is full of feminist punk songs that are overwhelmingly relatable and gush with charisma and charm.
As with all good punk records, most tracks don’t hit the three-minute mark, and they don’t need to. The empowering messages and cathartic honesty are delivered in intelligent, short bursts of zealous energy and fiery passion, with a universal understanding of their self-worth: “Work is not your life” vocalist Janey screams hoarsely on the abrasive ‘Corporate Realness’, and later adopting a more told-you-so jeer on sugary pop-punk ‘DIY’ “I can walk myself home, I can make myself cum”.
The rudimentary garage punk has pop twists, with basslines that thump and grooves weaved throughout. There’s bucket loads of fun, with hooks left, right and centre, all with a hint of confrontation for good measure. There are skits sprinkled throughout too, adding another dimension to an album that’s already incredibly layered – a nod to their love of the 90s and the hip-hop albums they grew up with. One thing to note is that this band aren’t aggressive, only determined.
The album closes with ‘Kiss My Fist’, a track that addresses the hypocrisy of men who are violent towards queer women, yet fetishise them at the same time. Dream Nails shine poignantly and defiantly on the album closer; as an emotional mission statement of solidarity and strength, it summarises what the whole record is about.
Dream Nails are more than a force to be reckoned with, they are an entity, and what they stand for and the music they make is bigger than the sum of their parts. Now armed with production that keeps their DIY punk intact with a bolder sheen, they are ready to both take on, change and disrupt the mainstream and wider world.
