Brisbane’s Harriette Pilbeam – as Hatchie – has just unveiled a new, darker slice of shoegaze dream pop in new track ‘Nosedive’, in the midst of her US tour.
Out through label Secretly Canadian, ‘Nosedive’ pulls on a hoodie and pogoes with a degree of gothic-fringed menace and aggression – stabbing fragmented instrumentation drives through her velvet vocals with a hyperactive thrum. Pilbeam says of the track:
I wrote ‘Nosedive’ with Joe [Agius] and Jorge [Elbrecht] last year after we hit up an amazing goth megaclub in Denver on a weeknight. We were inspired to recreate the energy we felt there and experiment with a lyric-free chorus. There aren’t any other songs in our live show that are this punchy, so we wanted to write something angry and powerful. It’s about realizing you don’t have control over your life despite your best efforts; I wanted the lyrics to sound like the devil on your shoulder convincing you to self sabotage.
The lyrics disclose an angst and frustration:
What you want and what you’ve got aren’t always what you need
Spend your time trying to walk a line, seeking serendipity
Keep serving your head on a platter expecting loyalty
When all you need is a glimpse into a parallel reality
It’s certainly a darker turn and with less of the lipstick gloss from previous material – reflecting perhaps the rigors of international touring and the wider universe Pilbeam and her band find themselves in following the massive global acclaim for her last album ‘Giving The World Away’. The accompanying video is suitably frantic and shatters like glass and captures the element of excess and bacchanalia that flows through the track :
This is a welcome injection of steel and barbed wire.
Hatchie is continuing her US tour with some added dates in Australia in the New Year:
11/8 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club*
11/9 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club*
11/11 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel*
11/12 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel*
11/14 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club*
11/17 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club*
11/18 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer*
12/30 – Hesse, AU @ Beyond The Valley
01/07 – Melbourne, AU @ OnStage: The Series
03/18 – Mt Cotton, AU @ A Day on the Green (w/ Florence & the Machine)
* w/Alex G
Ticket details at hatchie.net.
