Dog Race and the darkly drawn, imaginative abstractions of "It's The Squeeze" (Official Video)

 

photo by Holly Whitaker

The gothic, post punk otherworldly abstractions of "It's The Squeeze" by London five-piece Dog Race is, in it's entirety, like nothing you have heard before. The overall atmosphere, a seething blend of psychedelic post rock, darkly drawn 80's new wave tones, 90's post punk bass body, synth walls that bend and contort into witchy tribalism and most of all, vocalist Katie Healy's wide eyed manic possessions, dramatic and potently different. 

From Liner Notes (bracketed):

["It's The Squeeze" sees the band continue to work with producer Ali Chant (Dry Cleaning, Sorry, Portishead) to create the perfect concoction of their live energy and all their influences both past and present from the perilous depths of Xmal Deutschland and the electronic pulse of Kraftwerk, to the dramatic flair of Klaus Nomi.]

[Speaking on the track, vocalist Katie Healy shares: "'It's The Squeeze' represents a pivotal point in my life, a time that began to suffocate my past relationship until I decided to accept the unknown instead of waging a war with it. I wrote the demo during lockdown. After feeling like I was suffering from writer's block, I decided to listen to a bit more electronic music, which led me to Kraftwerk's Trans-Europe Express and The Model. It only took about half an hour to write, but it sat in the bank for a couple of years. Finally, we played it as a full band, and from the first rehearsal, we knew it had to be our next single."]

Feeling ingeniously more like performance art than simply a typical song, you might tend to feel an instant connection (or even repulsion) to Dog Race and I like that exquisitely 'go for the throat' artistry. Of course, more people will connect than not because most people are starving, are thirsty for anything other than the cookie cutter pap that is often times all we have to partake in the current musical landscape. 

Love this and the Official Video as Directed / Filmed by Dougie Chalmers only amps up the abstract artistry. 

[Today, London five-piece Dog Race unleash their latest single 'It's The Squeeze', a cold-sweat invocation of modern anxieties and personal suffocation. Released via Fascination Street Records, this collision of gothic, splintered guitars, surgically-interlaced electronics and unsettling vocals with vaudevillian flair announces the band as a dark, endlessly fascinating arrival.]

-Robb Donker Curtius

THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM 

https://open.spotify.com/artist/36Ar4uCS5iNCgQLMFrWKyA

https://www.instagram.com/dograceband/

https://www.facebook.com/dograceband

https://linktr.ee/dograceband


Bedford's Dog Race believe in the power of patience, having built a feverous word of mouth buzz locally and for a series of mysterious, often last-minute DIY shows across London. On the 15th August they released their claustrophobic debut single "Terror", as strong a first release as you'll hear anywhere this year. "Terror" was produced by Jessica Winter (Pregoblin, Jazmin Bean) and mixed by Jon McMullen (Wet Leg).

Dog Race, Post-Punk, Gothic, Dark Wave, Alternative Rock, abstractions, proto punk, 90's post punk, "It's The Squeeze" (Official Video), London 5 piece, vocalist Katie Healy,