On the strength of two excellent EPs—*Waves* (2021) and 2022’s *Banshee*—NewDad quickly became one of Ireland’s fastest rising acts, earning the four-piece big-gig support slots with Inhaler and Paolo Nutini in 2022. The gauzy textures of those two releases also fastened the “shoegaze” and “dream pop” tags to the Galway-formed band composed of Julie Dawson (vocals/guitar), Cara Joshi (bass), Fiachra Parslow (drums), and Sean O’Dowd (guitar). However, their own vision was always for something more divergent, something more muscular and dynamic—something they’ve forged on a debut album that adds cleaner, steelier edges to their sound while exploring their love of grunge, alt-rock, and electronic music. “It was really rock music that got us all into wanting to play in a band,” Dawson tells Apple Music. “We never really imagined that we’d make a rock record, but that’s what this ended up being. I guess deep down it was always what we wanted to do but we didn’t really have the tools to do it. When we started off, we were still figuring out our sound and then, when we started playing songs live, it was way heavier and we wanted to translate that into the recordings. When we got that guitar sound on ‘Sickly Sweet,’ we were like, ‘Nothing we’ve ever recorded sounded like that. Holy shit, that is what we want!’” The album was recorded with trusted band producer Chris Ryan at Rockfield Studios in Wales. Here, NewDad felt galvanized by the fresh air and the studio’s history—which includes incubating records by Queen, The Stone Roses, Oasis, Manic Street Preachers, Pixies, and Iggy Pop—while a downtime diet of zombie movies might, says Dawson, have added to the album’s sense of menace. As much as the sound of *MADRA*— Irish for “dog”—represents an evolution for NewDad, the lyrics are more concerned with stasis and repetition, particularly in our everyday relationships and behaviors. “It’s those things you can’t escape, or repeating unhealthy patterns,” says Dawson. “It was initially just a working title. It was probably because when we were like, ‘Oh, what will we name it?’ we saw a dog walk past the window or something. But the image of a dog following you does line up nicely with the music. It’s definitely a lot about the relationship between you and whoever—family, friends, partners.” Let Dawson explain further with her track-by-track guide. **“Angel”** “It was during lockdown and it was definitely like I was having a dry spell when it came to writing. \[TV series *Euphoria*\] is so lovely to look at and the plot lines are so crazy that it got my brain going. That whole dynamic between \[show characters\] Rue and Jules—feeling like a burden in a relationship—is something that so many people go through if you have bad mental health. It was one of those moments where I was like, ‘Oh yeah, OK. I have an idea of something I want to write about now.’ That bassline is just such a good hook. It’s just a really strong opening. We’ve always been very bass-led, and it’s a familiar sound, so it’s a nice way to open.” **“Sickly Sweet”** “‘Sickly Sweet’ is that whole thing of repeating unhealthy patterns, maybe going back to something or someone, even though you know that it’s bad news. The line that sums it up the best is: ‘But I’m reliant on the nonsense.’ It’s like when you do things out of pure boredom and it’s completely stupid, but it’s just something you do. I love this one because it feels like a lot of ’90s records that I would’ve listened to. \[We were aiming for\] a Breeders-y kind of thing. That raw vocal is something that we don’t do that often, but was definitely necessary.” **“Where I Go”** “This was a really old one. I had never imagined it being on the album, to be honest. But a lot of other people and the rest the band were like, ‘It really does sound great,’ after we recorded it in Rockfield. I was very against it for a while but when the mix started sounding really cool, I was like, ‘OK, I’m comfortable with this.’ It’s an important song on the album because so much of it is like, ‘Meh, I hate myself,’ and this is like, ‘No, actually, fuck you to anyone who actually made me feel like shit.’ It’s a good moment, a good release of anger.” **“Change My Mind”** “‘Change My Mind,’ again, it’s that unhealthy pattern where you’re not really trying to be better and then that repeats \[something\] bad, whatever it is. The initial inspiration, sonically, was \[2020 single\] ‘Blue.’ We were like, ‘We need to do something that’s kind of like “Blue” because everyone loves “Blue” so much.’ And funnily enough, it is a similar theme, that kind of, ‘I’m bringing my partner down.’ I think it’s a nice, poppy moment on there.” **“In My Head”** “\[May 2023’s single version\] was recorded in Church Studios \[in London\] and we loved how it sounded, so we wanted to put it out, but then we actually ended up doing the album in Rockfield, so we did an album version of it. I love both.” **“Nosebleed”** “This was one that I wrote with Justin Parker \[cowriter of Lana Del Rey’s ‘Video Games’\]. It’s someone having a hold on you, a toxic relationship. It could be between friends, family, whatever. It’s that wanting to stay with that comfort even though it’s not necessarily good. But ‘Nosebleed’ was initially really high and really fast, and it was a really poppy song. I didn’t see it being on the album, but then we were doing preproduction with Chris Ryan and he was like, ‘I love this song so much. I really want to give it a go in Rockfield.’ And we were like, ‘OK, whatever. Let’s try slowing it down and making it lower,’ and then it clicked instantly. It was just like honey, just like a mushy, warm sound. I absolutely love it now.” **“Let Go”** “‘Let Go’ is way more about the instrumental and I guess I didn’t think that the vocal needed to be overly complicated, so there’s not a whole lot going on lyrically. I like that kind of swirling. It feels like you’re really stuck in something in that song. This and ‘White Ribbons’ are my two favorites on the album. I just love the chorus and the bridge and the guitars are so snarly. It’s sick.” **“Dream of Me”** “We wrote this in a session with a guy called Rob Brinkmann. I think we just had the chords. We brought it to Rob and he’s really excellent at structuring songs. The reference was actually ‘Waking Up in Vegas,’ the Katy Perry song. I guess it’s a lighter moment in the album because lyrically, as well, I’m not really saying anything profound. It’s just like, ‘Oh, when you like someone and they don’t really care about you,’ that’s it.” **“Nightmares”** “‘Nightmares’ was another song that I did with Justin and it was such a fun one to do because I went in with chords initially and we were layering it up. Then, when we had those little guitar harmonics, we were actually, ‘Just them by themselves sounds so sick.’ It was reminding me of Massive Attack and I thought that was a cool way to roll with it. So I love the electronic sounds in that song. ‘Nightmares,’ again, is that feeling of not wanting to like someone because you know it won’t work.” **“White Ribbons”** “It was very therapeutic to write and it feels like a more hopeful track on the album. We put our bodies through so much shit and they always fix us, and this is basically just a thank you \[for that\]. I actually don’t even know where it came from—one day I had that guitar line and vocals, and it’s a pretty line. I love the stripped-back moment and all the weird vocoder stuff.” **“Madra”** “‘Madra’ is really old now. It was a chord progression I was playing when we were in the studio in Belfast during *Banshee*. Once we got back from recording, we made the demo pretty quickly. We were sitting on that one for a while and we all loved it so much. The outro just felt so strong. It felt like such a cool ending, like a final scene. And all the bass licks and stuff, they’re just so sick. I feel like it sums up everything that is said in the album—about the highs and the lows and the repeating patterns.”
The lights are low, the radio’s playing the soft hits of yesteryear, and Greg Gonzalez has just been struck by a cartoon vixen in a Marvel comic from the early ’90s—that look on her face reminds him of someone. “I need that sweet life with its decadent ways,” sighs the lead singer of TikTok’s biggest dream-pop band on the woozy “Silver Sable,” a Cigarettes After Sex mission statement if there ever was one. Gonzalez formed the band in 2013, though he’d written songs under the evocative moniker since 2008: sultry songs that float along in a post-coital haze in the vein of ’90s bands like Mazzy Star or Cowboy Junkies, the kind of thing you play in headphones to feel like the main character in the noir film of your life. The band’s third full-length album, *X’s*, plays out like a dream you might have after a few hours of scrolling Tumblr. The title track is a pleasant blur of cinnamon and leopard print, candlelight and birthday cake, with a nod to Marilyn Monroe’s last photo shoot to fully set the mood, all sung like a horny lullaby as is Gonzalez’s trademark. “Hot” is all pink lemonade and backyard pools, while “Dark Vacay” reads like Eve Babitz at the Chateau: sleeping on the cool tile of the bathroom floor, drinking expensive bordeaux and listening to old voicemails. And on lead single “Tejano Blue,” El Paso native Gonzalez is the only guy at the beach in leather pants. The mood hardly deviates from the usual slow burn (though the muted disco pulse of “Holding you, Holding me” passes for upbeat in the Cigs’ catalog), but who needs bangers when you can wallow instead?
“\[There’s an\] eerily similar melancholy,” Luke Hemmings tells Apple Music, comparing his sophomore album, *boy*, to his 2021 debut, *When Facing the Things We Turn Away From*. “And that really propelled the emotion of *boy* and these seven songs. A lot of the stuff I write is very existential and trying to understand who I am and why I am. At this time, I was very disorientated and maybe a bit emotionally lost, even though life was moving forward in a really great way.” The two albums were conceived and recorded in vastly different circumstances. His debut came together in isolation under the cloak of COVID lockdowns, while *boy* was written as he toured the world with 5 Seconds of Summer, the Sydney band the singer/guitarist co-founded as a 15-year-old in 2011. Still, the pair have much in common: turns out you can feel just as alone spending months traversing the globe as you can sitting in your house waiting for the world to open up. Part of the reason for that disorientation was the dawning realization that he was entering his late twenties, leading Hemmings to reflect deeply on his youth while considering a potential future as a father. “You want to be the most fully realized version of yourself before stepping into that sort of role, which is a work in progress,” he explains. Taking inspiration from artists such as Damon Albarn, Beach House, LCD Soundsystem, and Richard Ashcroft, *boy* exhibits a dreamlike quality, one that bathes in melancholy without ever sinking into depression—witness the way in which opener “I’m Still Your Boy” builds from a whispered acoustic beginning into a grandiose and uplifting climax; or the sad-happy mélange of synths and dance beats that propel “Close My Eyes.” Here, Hemmings takes Apple Music through *boy*, track by track. **“I’m Still Your Boy”** “This song really encompasses the ache I wanted to get across and the growing pains it took to become a fully realized adult version of myself. It’s only until I started thinking of having children of my own that I began reflecting on the struggles I had myself as a teenager who grew up in the public eye. This song is about understanding my youth that was marred with trauma amidst beauty, whilst trying to become a good man. ‘I’m Still Your Boy’ walks on the high wire between boyhood and adulthood, looking both ways.” **“Shakes”** “‘Shakes’ was written on a dreary evening in between long periods of travel and touring, so it easily came from an incredibly melancholy place. A feeling of yearning to be back home, of feeling lonely and emotionally desperate and depleted. There is a longing for love and self-acceptance in the lyrics, and I hope it to be a song that anyone listening \[to\] can find themselves in and attach their own story.” **“Benny”** “This song is named after my brother, Ben, but in its entirety, it represents all of my loved ones and the guilt I feel being away from my family and living on the periphery of their world. It represents the mornings I wake up in a panic, anxious and worried that today will be the day I get bad news. News that would make my dreams of making music seem infantile and pointless. I’d do anything for the people I love.” **“Close My Eyes”** “I wrote ‘Close My Eyes’ as I headed into my late twenties and felt an unavoidable wave of fear and anxiety towards the inevitable death of my youth. I found myself unable to sleep because every time I tried, it was as if a film of my life was projected onto the back of my eyelids—the mistakes, successes, everything that could have been, and everything that was. I was sonically trying to tap into 2000s indie rock bands like LCD Soundsystem and The Rapture.” **“Garden Life”** “I had the idea for ‘Garden Life’ when I couldn’t sleep in a hotel room somewhere in the world, sometime around 3am. The next morning, I went for a walk and wrote the lyrics on a park bench, watching life pass me by. It’s really just an existential love song to my happiest and safest place. The older I’ve gotten, the more I’ve realized that sometimes the most beautiful and visceral memories in life are not the most grand and obvious ones, they can be simple and powerful. It’s not always the fireworks on New Year’s Eve. Sometimes it’s a Friday night sitting on the couch listening to your favorite person laugh.” **“Close Enough to Feel You”** “This song was inspired by sounds from Cocteau Twins and my bloody valentine, who I listened to heavily during the making of *boy*. The beauty in ‘Close Enough to Feel You’ is all in the details, both sonically and lyrically. Sometimes when you suffer a big emotional loss, something so mundane and otherwise unnoticed can become earth-shattering. A glimpse of a photo out of the corner of your eye, a stain on the carpet, an old sweater, sends you into the fetal position. This song is about the willingness and desire to live in that pain in order to feel close to who or what you lost, rather than moving on.” **“Promises”** “‘Promises’ was the song written for the EP that finally made me feel like I was really onto something. It started with merely a drum beat, which I find ironic as I’m not a drummer. But I think maybe it’s that naïveté that led to this song being created. It’s about a time in my life when I saw the world through gray-colored glasses. I was a pessimist, struggling with depression and my mental health, who fell in love and started to see color for the first time.”
