''Beware of the Dogs'' is the debut studio album by Australian

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and su ...

musician

Stella Donnelly Stella Donnelly (born 10 April 1992) is a Welsh-Australian indie rock singer-songwriter and guitarist. After the success of her debut EP ''Thrush Metal'' in 2017, she signed with Secretly Canadian in 2018. She released her debut studio album ''B ...

, released on 8 March 2019 by

Secretly Canadian Secretly Canadian is an American independent record label based in Bloomington, Indiana, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin, London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Berlin. Secretly Canadian is a label included in Secretly Group, which ...

. The album was nominated for various awards in 2019 and 2020, including Australian Album of the Year for the

J Awards The J Awards are an annual series of Australian music awards that were established by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's youth-focused radio station Triple J and which are judged by the music and on-air teams from radio stations Triple J, ...

and Breakthrough Artist at the ARIA Music Awards. In 2020, the album won Independent Album of the Year and Best Independent Pop Album at the

AIR Awards The Australian Independent Record Awards (commonly known informally as AIR Awards) is an annual awards night to recognise, promote and celebrate the success of Australia's Independent Music sector. History The inaugural 2006 awards were held at ...

Background

Donnelly independently released her debut EP, ''Thrush Metal'', in 2017. She was signed to

in February 2018, while ''Thrush Metal'' was re-released by the label that June. One song off of ''Thrush Metal'', "Boys Will Be Boys", was included on ''Beware of the Dogs''.

Critical reception

Many reviewers praised Donnelly's songwriting and the album's discussion of topics like the #MeToo movement and

toxic masculinity Toxic masculinity is a set of certain male behaviors associated with harm to society and men themselves. Traditional stereotypes of men as socially dominant, along with related traits such as misogyny and homophobia, can be considered "toxic" d ...

. For ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'', Hannah Mylrea wrote the record is "an enthralling and deeply relevant debut", praising its "searing lyrics" and playfulness. Jon Dolan of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' commended its composition, writing "the glazed guitars, sunny

Casio is a Japanese multinational electronics manufacturing corporation headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Its products include calculators, mobile phones, digital cameras, electronic musical instruments, and analogue and digital watches. I ...

beat and pure spirit of her songwriting keeps her shaky reality rolling forward." Olivia Horn of ''Pitchfork'' wrote that Stella's music is "empathetic to the core", and praised her "impressively dexterous voice, which she puts to work in service of some of her album’s most winsome moments." Reviewing for ''

Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character t ...

'', Robert Christgau said the album is, "in plain English and unassuming soprano, a musical encyclopedia of assholes, all male not just because she's female but because assholes generally are."

Track listing

All tracks written by Stella Donnelly. All tracks produced by Dean Tuza, except "Boys Will Be Boys" by Jordan Shakespeare and "U Owe Me" by Drew Vandenberg. # "Old Man" – 3:33 # "Mosquito" – 3:11 # "Season's Greetings" – 2:49 # "Allergies" – 2:55 # "Tricks" – 4:06 # "Boys Will Be Boys" – 4:04 # "Lunch" – 3:40 # "Bistro" – 2:03 # "Die" – 2:54 # "Beware of the Dogs" – 3:35 # "U Owe Me" – 2:40 # "Watching Telly" – 4:45 # "Face It" – 2:17

Personnel

Musicians * Stella Donnelly – vocals (all tracks), bass (track 2), guitar (tracks 1-7, 10, 11, 13), percussion (track 1), piano (tracks 2, 3, 10, 11), synth (tracks 7-9, 12, 13), writing, composing * Jennifer Aslett – bass (tracks 1, 3, 5, 8-10, 12), guitar (track 7), vocals (track 12) * Indigo Foster-Tuke – vocals (track 12) * Miranda Murray Yong – cello (track 7) * George Foster – drums (track 7), guitar (tracks 1, 3, 5, 8, 10), synth (track 12) * Talya Valenti – drums (tracks 1, 3, 5, 8-10, 12), percussion (tracks 1, 3, 7, 12), vocals (track 12) * Dean Tuza – drum machine (track 9) Technical * Matt Colton – mastering * Tony Espie – mixing * Ewan Pearson – mixing * Jordan Shakespeare – engineer, producer (6) * Dean Tuza – engineer, producer (1-5, 7-10, 12-13) * Drew Vandenberg – engineer, producer (11) Promotional * Pooneh Ghana – cover photography * Nathaniel David Utesch – design

Charts

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2019 debut albums Stella Donnelly albums Secretly Canadian albums