New Pagens album, OUT NOW, is utterly brilliant and there’s a real grit and attitude of Sonic Youth meeting elements that scream Wolf Alice and The Pixies. There’s enough familiarity to cling to, but despite these references to ease you in, the band have their very own DNA and are building a sound of their own mixing post-punk, grunge, and indie rock into abrasive, yet melodic noise.
Lyrically the band don’t candy coat anything either and throughout the album challenge past and present issues surrounding relationships, equality, history, gender and more. They have just released the new single ‘Harbour’ (video here), which was written about lead vocalist Lyndsey McDougall’s pregnancy with her daughter. It captures the experience of childbirth from all angles – the sickness, the joy, the frustration and the resilience and strength of women. Lyndsey also contributed to Kerrang’s IWD coverage this week with an essay, which is a great piece you can read here.
It follows ‘Christian Boys’, another dramatic example of what to expect from their fiery debut. It’s about one of McDougall’s friends, who told her about a Christian leader in Northern Ireland with whom she had been having an affair just before he got married to his virgin bride.
The band comment that, "This is shocking but what is more disturbing is that it hadn’t been the first-time similar stories had emerged. When these men were confronted, they all stated that the women were to blame, it had been their fault, they were the sinners and had led the Christian men astray."
