Album Review: CLT DRP - Nothing Clever, Just Feelings (Venn Records)

6 years in and Brighton based feminist electro-punk trio CLT DRP, have just dropped an absolute banger of an album, their second and first for Venn Records, home of Bob Vylan, Witch Fever and Meryl Streek.

Recorded at Shaken Oak Studios in Oxford over the course of a week in March 2022, Nothing Clever, Just Feelings, released today (8^th Sept), evokes comparisons with the likes of CSS, Gossip, Le Tigre, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and even Idles in parts. Live, they are like a juggernaut, with drummer Daphne Koskeridou laying down a thick funky beat, whilst Scott Reynolds smothers the fire with rich layers of electro augmented guitar, all driven by dynamic bass heavy backing tracks. Annie Dorrett’s vocals push and pull the listener, drawing you in on the ebb flow, before the waves inevitably spit you back on to the shore. And that feeling has been captured and preserved by producer Alex Gordon, (The Cure, Tigercub, Sea Power, Blood Red Shoes), on the 11 tracks here. You’re going to need a wipe down with a damp cloth after listening to it.

With the studio based in a rural setting on a farm, guitarist Scott Reynolds enjoyed a morning trail run before starting each day, and the band cooked family-style for each other every day. “It was very wholesome and much needed,” recalls vocalist Annie Dorrett. “Joking about in the studio with Alex and making little moments pop on the record.”

“Being surrounded by this gorgeous, serene place,” adds drummer Daphne Koskeridou, “it was such a privilege waking up and playing music all day, with no distractions, just fuelling our passion to create something special.”

And create something special they did!

From the opening track New Boy, a relationship autopsy to the closer, I Put My Baby Sleep, the listener is taken on a very personal journey. Annie’s lyrics are immersed in self-identity, gender politics and sexuality, wearing their heart on their sleeve. In places it makes for slightly uncomfortable listening, but that’s what good music should do, unsettle and take you to the edges of your comfort zone.

The churning engine of the band’s iconic sound remains the dual powerhouse of guitarist Scott and drummer Daphne, a perfectly symbiotic mutated rhythm section who feed ravenously off each other’s unorthodox styles.

“It’s very inspiring hearing the riffs and sounds that Scott comes up with,” explains Koskeridou. “It pushes my boundaries as a drummer. There have been times where the groove I wrote was actually too hard to play, just because I had this idea of how I wanted it to sound and compliment Scott’s part! I like to think of drums as a melodic instrument and not just percussive. There are so many different ways you can create textures and melodies on the drums, and I love to experiment with that.”

Personal faves are M.U.T.M, which features one of the best lines ever written about self-love, “So I put makeup on to masturbate, so I look good when I f*ck myself!” and title track Nothing Clever, Just Feelings, complete with it’s IDLES-like intro, which is destined to become a sing-a-long party floor filler.