Dream Wife is Loud and Unforgiving in New Album “Social Lubrication”
Dream Wife’s latest endeavor takes form in new album Social Lubrication, a loud, unforgiving, and raw tracklist full of hot and heavy rockers. Made up of Rakel Mjöll on vocals, Alice Go on guitar and Bella Podpadec on bass, the badass rock trio comes full force in their latest album as they take on the patriarchy, sexuality, and the inner workings of the music industry's social standards.
Wasting no time, the album opens with “Kick in the Teeth”, a pissed-off, gritty rocker with screeching vocals that sounds like it comes straight out of the peak of the riot grrrl movement. Moving forward, “Who Do You Wanna Be?” asks that exact question; if not you, then who? Questioning not only our individual places in society, it questions the structure of society of self, and our individual roles in upholding it.
Photo by Sophie Webster
“Hot (Don’t Date a Musician)” showcases the band's more playful side, with lyrics that poke fun at past mistakes and relationships, as well as lessons learned. It’s not hard to imagine the story behind lyrics “Don’t date a musician / they’ll think you’re competition / I was never competition / I was just hot”, but the band takes bad stories in stride and turns them into tracks you can’t help but have fun dancing and screaming along to.
The title track, “Social Lubrication”, is done with acting polite and smiling along. Lyrics move from unsolicited comments on presentation to gendered violence; Dream Wife is coming straight for the center of the patriarchy. Their experience of the patriarchal structure in the music industry couldn’t be more clear than in the lyrics “What’s it like to be a woman in music, dear? / You’d never ask me that if you regarded me as a peer”.
Thematically different from the rest of the album, “Mascara” is about the smaller moments in life, stopping to romanticize where we are and what we have. Backed by soft accompanying vocals and a strong bass line, the song appreciates the more modest parts of life and those we share it with. In comparison, “Leech” is tense, angry, and cathartic all in one. No one wins in our society so we all just need to “have some fucking empathy” for the people around us.
“I Want You” is a fast, direct song about desire and lust, followed by “Curious” which is a self-exploratory anthem. Staying open to new experiences rather than letting social pressure influence one’s decisions, the song explores self-acceptance and growth.
“Honestly” is sonically different from the rest of the record, breathier and brooding as it explores tension and temptation from the female gaze. The tone of the guitar adds a sensual feeling to the track as it delves into a darker side of the band.
The final track on the album, “Orbit”, leaves the listener on a more positive note with the excitement of strangers and the connections we form with people in passing, as friends, lovers, or just people we share fleeting moments with. Throughout the record, Dream Wife channels their rage, and their lust, into an incredible tracklist that spans both their love and their hate for the people and the society around them.