Dream Wife: Social Lubrication
London-based trio Dream Wife – vocalist Rakel Mjöll (she/her), guitarist Alice Go (she/her), bassist Bella Podpadec (they/them) – today announce that their highly anticipated third album, entitled Social Lubrication, will be released on June 9th.
Social Lubrication showcases a band in electrifying form. An entirely self-written and self-produced album, with the only outside influence being the heavyweight mixing duo of Alan Moulder (Nine Inch Nails, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Killers, Depeche Mode) and Caesar Edmunds (Wet Leg, Beach House), the incendiary and riotous record finds the band once again tackling big subjects in their trademark unapologetic manner where, with the band being adept at merging the political with the playful, vital statements are hidden within hot and heavy anthems about making out, having fun and staying curious. Social Lubrication, in the band’s words, is “Hyper lusty rock and roll with a political punch, exploring the alchemy of attraction, the lust for life, embracing community and calling out the patriarchy. With a healthy dose of playfulness and funthrown in.” The playfulness of the album is to the fore on “Hot (Don’t Date A Musician)”, the silly, sexy second single shared from the album to-date. Inspired by Rakel’s grandmother’s sage advice – advice that she, herself, didn’t follow – the track wryly pokes fun at musicians, themselves included. “Don’t date a musician,” sings Rakel over infectious, B52’s-style drums and jagged, angular melodies. “They’ll think you’re competition / I was never competition, I was just… hot.”
“Hot (Don’t Date A Musician)” follows “Leech”, the album’s bold and explosive first single, a rock-heavy, call-to-arms for empathy, in a world still propped up by patriarchal systems and underhand codes of silence. These themes – exhaustion with the patriarchy, a rejection of the systems built to contain us – simmer and spit throughout Social Lubrication. In conjunction the album’s celebration of community is a middle finger to the societal barriers enforced to sever connection, playfulness, curiosity and sexual empowerment. “Music is one of the only forms of people experiencing an emotion together in a visceral, physical, real way,” says Alice. “It’s cathartic to the systemic issues that are being called out across the board in the record. Music isn’t the cure, but it’s the remedy. Calling the record Social Lubrication harks to that. It’s the positive glue that can create solidarity and community.” “The album is speaking to systemic problems that cannot be glossed over by lube,” says Bella. “The things named in the songs are symptoms of f-ed up structures. And you can’t fix that. You need to pull it apart.”
