The sheer pummeling post punk power of "Pretty Picture" by Bristol's The Pleasure Dome feels like a rebellion in the streets with guitars screaming like an army of Italian police cars with sirens blazing. The double time throttle of bass lines by Loz Fancourt, shifting pounding drums by Bert Elvin, Harrison Newman's driving guitar rhythms and Bobby Spender's open throated vocal wail and piercing lead guitar lines, “Maybe I’m a narcissist / Maybe I can’t see / That all my best traits / Are my insecurities”! In total, feels like an eclipsing assault of mosh worth sound. "Pretty Picture" is a noisy rebuke of social media and "not only screams their distrust of social media’s curated lifestyles, but also begs for self-reflection as a way to break the harmful cycles it can be all too easy to fall into."
Spender offers:
"Self love is important. It's important for our mental health, our relationships and even to our dreams and ambitions. Sometimes you wonder if anyone will love you, first love yourself. "Pretty Picture" is inspired by everything from the nursery rhyme, 'Mary Mary Quite Contrary' to Show Me The Body, Metronomy's album 'Nights Out' and The Beatles the song 'Taxman' - it presents the idea of people's desire to share their lives on social media, with their superficial sand castles soon lost to the scrolling tide. Their carefully crafted content is gone in a moment - does this impact the self, is it healthy, is personal social media contrary to the reason we do it? It explores these ideas of narcissism by looking inwards at the self, the way we give meaning to our own image based on our experience, how we can be blind to aspects of our personality which are clear to others."
I am fully digging The Pleasure Domes unmitigated shock and awe sound while holding up a mirror for us all, that mirror being our phone, our Instagram account, the propensity to text instead of calling someone and actually speaking to them. It is, after all, easier to hide your pain behind texted words.
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
https://www.facebook.com/thepleasxuredome/
https://www.instagram.com/thepleasuredomeband/
Bristol punks The Pleasure Dome are back today with scathing new single, “Pretty Picture”. Somewhat at odds with its title, it paints an ugly scene of narcissism as currency, presented in a world where pride has become interchangeable with vanity. Through three short minutes the four-piece channel a raw and direct energy, in which “Pretty Picture” not only screams their distrust of social media’s curated lifestyles, but also begs for self-reflection as a way to break the harmful cycles it can be all too easy to fall into. It is part bitter rebuke, part message of self-love.
“Maybe I’m a narcissist / Maybe I can’t see
That all my best traits / Are my insecurities”
“Pretty Picture” was record live with producer Theo Verney (TRAAMS, Pip Blom, Egyptian Blue) who masterfully captures the band’s bludgeoning, caustic and vitriolic tongue. Several of singer and guitarist Bobby Spender’s lyrics are heavy with the weight of reality. “How can we dream when we don’t sleep ourselves” speaks to the idea of lost ambition, as we attach our self-worth to unrealistic levels of adoration. His repeated questioning of “What really happened?” points to how the way in which we portray ourselves online can often mask our truth. It’s a song of whirlwind intensity, harnessed into stunning clarity. "
The Pleasure Dome, indie rock, alternative rock, Bristol, UK, politico punk, social commentary, self love, social media false lives, "Pretty Picture"
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