More about: October and the eyes
Supernatural, powerful, eerie: pure rock gold
October and the Eyes burst onto the scene in 2020 with a clear vision: witchy shoegaze by way of Scooby Doo's The Hex Girls. Emerging in remarkably finished splendour with 'All My Love' in (when else?) October, this solo artist turned heads straight away.
Today, with the release of the six-track EP Dogs and Gods, October fleshes out that statement. Supernatural, powerful, eerie and pure rock gold, the EP is a must listen from the New Zealand born Londoner. Here, she takes us through it track by track:
'Playing God'
The first verse is about loving and loathing power. I think people love getting their own way, who doesn’t? But I also think people like to reject responsibility when it all goes wrong. We like to play god until we don’t. The second verse is about learning to laugh at yourself and not taking yourself too seriously - about realising just how silly this little earth of ours can be - everything’s a farce if you look hard enough. This one goes out to all the people who have tried to play God in my life.
'All My Love'
I sort of just wanted to make a hot 'n' heavy song that people would make love to. A friend told me she was going to dance to it at the strip club which is really just mission accomplished for me. Its more of a lust song than it is a love song - about yearning for a stranger. I also wanted to experiment with spoken word which is what you hear in the bridge here - a strangely prophetic poem I wrote last year. At the end of the day, I really just want people to seduce and be seduced to this song.
'Wander Girl'
I wrote this one with my friend Oliver - maybe one of the first instances I’ve written something with someone else? I tend to write in solitude. This one was just fun to write and probably involved some sort of illegal substances. Because Oliver was engineering and producing the session I was able to focus on the performance of the song a little more. I can’t say this song is too deep - I think it’s just about being horny.
'You Deserve It'
Post breakup song I wrote while in isolation in New Zealand. I think that’s all that really needs to be said about that. Bit of a zinger, but I don’t really mean all of it...
'The Unravelling'
This is probably the one I’m most proud of lyrically. I think it originated as a poem first which I then wrangled into a song. Wanted it to feel really raw and loud and had Black Sabbath and Bauhaus in mind while while making this one. It’s about allowing love to untie and free you from the mundanity of existence or something like that.
'Dark Dog'
This is the first song I wrote on the EP maybe 3 years ago before I realised this would even be an EP. The second was Playing God, so it felt natural to have them as bookends for the EP. Also I like how the inversion of Dog/God somehow manifested itself. Dark Dog started as a stream of vocal consciousness over a single crackling note. It wasn’t until maybe a year later that I produced the rest of the track. I had the image of a malformed dog who’s always near - limping, snarling, growling and drooling. One you feel equally sorry for as you do fear it.
Dogs and Gods EP is out now via KRO Records.
More about: October and the eyes
Photo: Alexander Schipper
