
Du Blonde
bigfatbig
The Farting Suffragettes
AT THE MASH HOUSE
for fans of… Sharon Van Etten, Courtney Barnett, PJ Harvey, Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Du Blonde ‘s swaggering, heart-on-sleeve rock came into being when musician, composer, animator, and video director Beth Jeans Houghton reinvented her music. On albums including 2019’s self-produced Lung Bread for Daddy, Houghton matched the heavy sounds of punk, blues, garage rock, and soul with cathartic songwriting. Later, she let some glimpses of pop peek through on 2021’s Homecoming without sacrificing any of her music’s bravery or honesty about heartbreak and mental illness.
“The grunge-pop guitar don is throwing a hell of a party–and you’re absolutely invited too” – NME
“Made me feel excited about listening to new music again” – Loud & Quiet
“Unstoppable as a lava flow” – MOJO
“Heartfelt, raucous pop-rock”- Uncut
“An artist who finds energy in constantly moving and shaking things up”- The Line Of Best Fit
Du Blonde releases fourth LP ‘Sniff More Gritty’, out today (November 15th) via Daemon T.V.
Spawning acclaimed lead singles ‘TV Star’, ‘Blame’, ‘Next Big Thing’ and ‘Solitary Individual’, ‘Sniff More Gritty’is an album of many faces, some belonging to Du Blonde, others belonging to a host of characters from past loves, to record industry executives, each played with humour and heartbreak in a one-man pantomime of glam-rock, punk, and a single, acrylic nail adorned middle finger. The glimmers of pop teased on 2021’s acclaimed ‘Homecoming’ LPbecome firework displays that illuminate stories of missed connections, anxiety, controlling relationships and hard earned peace. In spite of darkness, Du Blonde is choosing fun.
Having self-produced her third album, after years of working relationships with record labels and industry producers, Du Blonde found herself able to finally express herself musically in a way that her previous situation would not allow. The freedom that came with her return to production and engineering opened up a new sonic world for Du Blonde, one that is arguably catchier, more colourful and more exciting than anything she had been allowed to bring forth previously. Aside from live drums, played by Chris McManus, ‘Sniff More Gritty’ is entirely performed, engineered and produced by Du Blonde, and also features unique collaborations with Skunk Anansie’s Skin, Against Me!’s Laura Jane Grace, Maximo Park’s Paul Smith and The Futureheads’ Ross Millard.
Throughout the record, Du Blonde revels in solitude and stares down assumptions about her life choices. On ‘Solitary Individual’, a folk-punk freakout featuring Against Me!’s Laura Jane Grace, she touches on the glee of ignoring societal pressures to socialise, and embracing a hermitic lifestyle, celebrating ’Pants off, late nights and lie-ins’. ‘Radio Jesus’ is a love song to the media platforms Du Blonde enjoys in her private time – television, radio, podcasts… She is joined by Maximo Park’s Paul Smith and The Futureheads’ Ross Millard for a divine ‘Hey Jude’ coda set to induce joyful audience singalongs. ‘Yesterday’, with its Fleetwood Mac gloss, is a song Du Blonde regards as the most comedic song she has ever written. A self-deprecating ribbing of her tendency to fall rapidly in love with charismatic fuckboys with zero substance, its cathartic silliness is typified by the slapstick thwack! that accentuates her references to swatting a fly. Indeed, audio sampling is a technique found throughout ‘Sniff More Gritty’. From ‘Yesterday’ and ‘Dollar Coffee’, to ‘TV Star’, thunderclaps, car screeches, steam and even the heavy sniff of a cokehead adorn the tracks at opportune moments, part decoration, part audio documentary.
With widespread acclaim circulating throughout the press community in recent years (The Guardian, The Times, The Sunday Times, Pitchfork, Brooklyn Vegan, NME, MOJO, Uncut, The Line of Best Fit, Clash, Loud & Quiet, Crack, Wonderland, Under The Radar, The Needle Drop, Guitar World), as well as considerable attention across the BBC 6 Music (Steve Lamacq – ‘Homecoming’ was his 2021 album of the year, Chris Hawkins) airwaves, Du Blonde has certainly become a formidable presence within the indie landscape and will be taking her scintillating live show on the road in January and February 2025 (incl. a Scala, London headliner), showcasing ‘Sniff More Gritty’ in full.
Speaking ahead of the LP release, Du Blonde stated: “”I’m so excited to be releasing ‘Sniff More Gritty’ into the world. It’s been fun expanding on the more theatrical side of songwriting, and having the freedom to make more left-field decisions with performance and production has resulted in one of my favourite albums I’ve ever made. It was a joy to make and I hope the listening experience will be just as fun for someone else out there.”
Du Blonde’s ‘Sniff More Gritty’ (LP) is out now via Daemon T.V and available on all digital platforms.
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