WATCH: Alice Phoebe Lou - 'Dirty Mouth'

I saw my first bumblebee and blossom of the year yesterday... spring is well and truly on the way! For now though, looking a little further forward, consider this a slice of summer bottled into a three minute track. Absolutely obsessed with this - and the wonderfully joyous video that comes with it too. Dirty Mouth is the brand new track from Alice Phoebe Lou, lifted from her upcoming third album Glow, due 19th March. 

Born in South Africa, Alice developed her performance skills at 18, busking through Europe, and releasing her debut EP in 2014, before her debut record a couple of years later. Paper Castles came in 2019, and - my first taste of her music - the singles Witches and Touch early last year. These tracks document the start of an analogue love affair of sorts, with the whole new album recorded using tape recording and vintage gear alongside producer David Parry at Castle Studios in East Germany. 

On the track, Alice shares: "'Dirty Mouth' is an upbeat punk banger with a badass attitude begging you to dance around your room naked and scream out what you really feel. The words are written from an uninhibited, no bullshit, part of myself that I often hide with manners, pleasantries & politeness. It's a big smiling middle finger to the men that have pulled me down, used me & hurt me in ways that took me years to heal. Asking for what I want. Saying how I feel. Not holding back." 

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ALBUM NEWS: Alice Phoebe Lou - 'Glow'

Quick! Grab your calendars/diaries, it's album news time. I'm loving lining up all these releases in my diary - there's a lot to look forward to. After new Tender Central, Arlo Parks, The Staves and Django Django, we'll get this treasure - Glow from Alice Phoebe Lou, on 19th March. It's her third studio-album, and, inspired by a little musical exploration through the year, it's her first that has been recorded, mixed and mastered entirely analogue, with producer David Parry (of Loving) at Castle Studios in East Germany. 

Her first single of the year was my first real taste of Alice's music - it seems impossible to believe that Witches was released this year, in March, just before the first restrictions started. It feels a lifetime ago. I love that track! Dusk is the first taste of the new record, and there's a homemade and self-directed video below. 

On the year that unfurled after the release of Witches, and on Dusk, Alice shares "I spent more time alone than I ever had. I shaved my head. Had an ego death. Fell in love. Had my heart broken. I was a raw little mess. And that was what I wrote about [...] Dusk is an ode to friendship and feeling the deepest sense of intimacy & care for another person. the kind of friendship that is uncompetitive, based in mutual respect & admiration. full of adventure & possibilities." 

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WATCH: Alice Phoebe Lou - 'Witches'

Absolutely loving this one from an artist who is a new name to me (love me an ace new discovery!) Witches from Alice Phoebe Lou is currently sitting at the top of the 2020 playlist - get listening and following that here. The track arrives following the release of her second album Paper Castles this time last year, which saw Alice rack up 102 shows in four continents across the year. Trialling new tracks on the road, Witches came to life, and it is all sorts of lovely. The track, produced by Ziv Yamin in a DIY studio at home, and mixed by Noah Georgeson, is accompanied by a music video shot by Alice and her bandmates on an 8mm camera while on tour last year.

Talking about the track, Alice explains that it is "in a different world to my usual sound, a stand alone song that leans towards a punk attitude while holding on to a gentle feminine energy. After being gifted a one inch tape machine, we decided to use this song as the first try at recording in this tasty analog way. I've never been so inspired by a recording process as I have with recording to tape, especially in the DIY nature in which we did it (2 people in a living room). Watching the song come to life without a computer, listening to the tape whirring backwards [...] there's nothing quite like it!"

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