David Cronenberg's Wife - Department of Biology

With a wink towards the body horror auteur, David Cronenberg’s Wife (or DCW) are the house band in the biology theatre at the end of the world. They loop riffs in relentless cycles til they stop being riffs and become psychological conditions; the bass maintains the pulse; the guitars sharpen the knives; the drums suggest they’re growing extra limbs. Then, removing an eye from his microscope, the deadpan lecturer with the twinkle in his eye details narratives of the absurd and the macabre, all the while waiting for the weaker stomached of his audience to exit the room in despair. Told with devilish wit and displaying a vulnerability beneath the jagged edges, the musicians don’t so much soundtrack these stories as stalk them. The songs of DCW are unhinged to the point where the door at the dark side of the corridor falls off into the seediest underbelly of fun.

This is DCW’s 5th album. Fresh off 2 UK tours supporting Jeffrey Lewis, David Cronenberg’s Wife trace their origins back to the late 2000s/early 2010s London DIY scene, serving as a catalyst for other like-minded bands in South London to follow suit. DCW played Fat White Family’s infamous Slide In night with FWF returning the favour at the Antifolk Fest (curated by DCW leader Tom Mayne). DCW have supported The Fall and The Nightingales, amongst others, and have played numerous BBC 6 Music sessions. With influences ranging from The Birthday Party to Jonathan Richman, DCW’s songs swing between the sweet and the disturbing. Whether playing twisted acoustic lullabies or in-your-face electric hollers, the lyrics catch you off guard with their black humour, openness and off-the-wall themes.

The new LP explores themes of love, sex, heartbreak and shame, all with DCW’s trademark off-kilter lyrical approach. Album opener ‘Lot’s Daughters’ features a humorous retelling of the shocking biblical story; Side A closer ‘Mermaid’s Tale’ details the protagonist’s graphic encounter with a mermaid. Built around a driving Russian folk rhythm, ‘Chekhov’s Bordello’ spins a bawdy, yet tender tale of Anton Chekhov slipping off to visit a house of disrepute whilst on a visit to a penal colony in 1890. A man seeks redemption through bodily pleasures in ‘Deliquescent in Saltland’, but possibly takes things too far, ‘The Sea’ shares the intensity of a tumultuous love affair gone wrong, driven by a 1980s Casio beat; and album closer ‘If You Think About It’ is David Cronenberg’s Wife at their most lyrical, personal and heartfelt.