More about: Du Blonde

Homecoming ushers in a new era of Du Blonde. One free of limitation and dripping in creative freedom, it's the first project she’s done away from the ever-seeing eye of record labels. There’s a distinct shift from what we heard on her previous two LPs Welcome Back to Mil and Lung Bread For Daddy as what defined these two projects was the heavy guitar riffs and abundance of grunge. In Homecoming, whilst those elements are built into the album’s foundation, what Du Blonde has built on top of that can only be described as a pop. And it’s fantastic. 

This album is a mosh pit of cuddly toys, pink picks and glitter. A glam-rock-pop-grunge blend of everything that makes music exciting. Du Blonde brings together heavy crunch guitars, emotionally sporadic harmonies, phasers, solos and even gospel-esque vocals that all combine to make something beautiful. 

Everything about this album, from first burp to last pluck is an absolute treat. It takes no time in asserting itself as ‘Pull The Plug’ jumps straight into a catchy hook along with banging drums and power chords on tap, Du Blonde’s way of saying, “this is what I’ve got in store for you, settle in.” 

It doesn’t let up from there. ‘Smoking Me Out’ merges punk, pop and theatre to the point it wouldn’t sound out of place on the Rocky Horror soundtrack. ‘Medicated’ is a commentary on the importance of taking medication that, ironically, will make you lose your mind. 'I’m Glad That We Broke Up" screams live sing-along more than any track I’ve listened to since the start of Covid. The whole thing is such an exciting blend that by the time the final track ‘Take Me Away’ plays, Du Blonde opting for a much slower ballad style here, it feels like you’re floating. 

Whilst the album is tough to find fault with, it’s worth pointing out that because of the mix of distortion, heavy drums and harmonies, as good as the lyrics sound, it can be quite tough to hear them. It means that if the album has an overriding message or there is something you need to be taking out of one of the songs, that can be quite difficult to do. Honestly though, the way all these sounds come together is so good, this is an extremely anal and “if I have to” criticism. 

Not only a great listen, but this album is also important. More and more now you’re seeing indie artists release their own music without a label (or under their own label) and some great stuff has come from it but with Homecoming, because of Du Blonde’s previous projects, not only do you have an album but you also have comparisons. Welcome Back to Milk and Long Bread For Daddy are great albums but what you have with Homecoming is an example of what happens when artists don’t have to fit into specific genre or meet a certain demographic that has been pre-selected for them by the label they’re signed to. You have burps, spooky narrators, harmonies that convey not just different pitches but emotions and as if that wasn’t enough, Ezra fucking Furman. 

Does the future of music look like this? Probably not. But there is a certainly a future for music represented by this album, one where indie projects recorded in bedrooms are the same quality and treated with the same respect as record label induced LPs with hundreds of thousands of pounds behind them. I couldn’t recommend Homecoming enough and if Du Blonde is reading this: I’m glad that you and your label broke up. 

Homecoming arrives 2 April via Daemon T.V.

More about: Du Blonde