single review, video premiere & back-catalogue peak
Shoun Shoun
Drip
Out now
LTW reviewed Shoun Shoun’s album Monsters & Heroes in 2022, so it has been a while. No wave. No logic. Somewhere between art rock and electronica / Making noise for our pleasure is how they describe themselves. Drip is the first taste of an album of the same name, due out in the Autumn. And it’s the kind of song Ged Babey thinks maybe should be reviewed from a female perspective?
But then again, I have been a passenger on my wife’s hormonal rollercoaster for forty years, so I do have an insight into what it’s like. I’ve not always been as sympathetic as I should’ve – but I’ve tried to be supportive.
Drip is a song about the hormonal rollercoaster that most women experience in their lives. Being a woman is full of challenges. Right from the start our bodies keep changing and if we choose to or not, at some point we’ll probably experience pain, confusion, insecurity, depression and a general feeling of not being in control of our bodies or our minds. Everyday can be a struggle trying to simply function as the outside world views us with suspicion when we don’t. It’s exhausting. It’s challenging. It’s a rollercoaster. It never stops. I haven’t found a solution, just a compromise. This is me trying to channel all these thoughts and feelings into a song – Drip.
The words of Annette Berlin – frontperson/lyricist with Shoun Shoun. Her nom de guerre taken from her home city, but she has adopted Bristol – and vice versa. A city with numerous no-nonsense female artists: Rita Lynch, Emily Breeze, Hazel Winter, as well as Menstrual Cramps, I Destroy, The Lovely Basement….
Using broken technology to make very human moments, Annette’s songs take sharp, twisted routes making your feet move one way and your head in very much another. Stuttering drums, liquid sex bass, post punk squonk and sporadic noise constitute a sound like no other…. and a set of songs of alienation, masculine toxicity, racism, French criminals, and sex. (says the PR).
Here is Drip, the new song: there are distinct elements that recall the Banshees and the Creatures and the wibbly-wobbly synth is a bit Numan – but that aside, it’s a song which is unusual, unconventional in musical structure, yet pretty darn accessible. It bodes well for an interesting and distinctive album.
The video features a whole load of what Poison Girls called Real Women rather than the AI representations you see online…
Drip was filmed in collaboration with 38 women. Every woman in the music video filmed the clip herself. Each choosing a lyric, location, scene, outfit and expressing herself whilst being completely in control. Receiving and putting together all of these video snippets from so many different women was the most beautiful experience. Enjoy!
I have to admit, I have a few ‘personal favourites’: the woman on the kitchen floor and the one who pushes the board game off the coffee table… but they are all stars.
I have absolutely no idea how old Annette Berlin is. The subject matter of the song points to her being older than she appears to be. With ‘Senior Sisters’ Kim Gordon and Gina Birch getting lots of media coverage, there is seemingly a demand for uncompromising women making difficult music – irrespective of their age – and Shoun Shoun – a band built around the front-person – are an under the radar proposition that deserve more attention. Boris Ming – Keys, Violin, Vox, Ole Rudd – Bass and Jake Monro – Drums, the ‘token males’, take a bow. They take Berlins ideas and give them foundations, and wings. Without her they might be a pile of arty-wank like that spotty Angina Poltroon band who are popular – but with her they have a focus. And without them, she might be a folk singer.
Christ knows what the time signature is in Drip, but the music seems to spin in ever decreasing circles.
Shoun Shoun have been recommended to me over the years on a separate occasions by two friends and their back catalogue is well worth dipping into in anticipation of the forthcoming album. It’s difficult-fun, personal-political stuff with a variety of influences from the Bad Seeds to Marlene Dietrich to the Au Pairs. They’re a band outside the mainstream Music Biz, and, I love this mini-manifesto soundbite, Making noise for our pleasure… but that doesn’t stop others from enjoying it too.
Buy Drip on Bandcamp
Bonus videos… for those, like me, playing catch-up.
I’m Fine (2018 from the A Hundred Trips 5-Track EP)
Fabulouso sleazy waltz on the wild side with a great Bad Seeds/Gallon Drunk vibe.
Refresh and Replay (2020 from the Monsters & Heroes 9-Track Album)
Shoun Shoun can definitely do slow-burn moodiness. Annette probably gets compared to PJ Harvey a lot, but this again has a real Siouxsie tone in places. There’s a touch of Portishead about this song too.
Sway With Me (2022 also on Monsters & Heroes 9-Track Album)
Beautifully cinematic – if the movie is a dark psychological thriller with inevitable jump-scares after this lulls you into a false sense of woozy security.
We Woke The Monster (2024 Single)
Great astringent guitar and a touch of Chairs Missing-era Wire repurposed. The track that convinces me they’d be great live (although Nessie did tell me they were ages ago.)
As I do the final edit – it suddenly occurs to me that this whole review could be perceived as an exercise in Mansplaining – and could be completely ignored by all women readers….But at least, in relation to Drip, I didn’t mention that some women were AMAB…. that would’ve been…. (CUT!)
It’s taken me seven years to discover that Shoun Shoun are great! American bands making this kind of music get praised to the heavens and UK bands fly under the radar. Buy their music and catch them live….
Live Dates
17 July, Liverpool – supporting Mugstar
18 July, Weston Super Mare – with Scaramanga Six
7-9 August, Builth Wells – Kozfest
Date tbc September, Bristol – supporting Desperate Journalist
All words Ged Babey – with PR in italics
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