Dream Wife is an English,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

-based band, whose sound is a mixture of punk rock,

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...

and

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

. The band consists of Rakel Mjöll (lead vocals), Alice Go (guitar, vocals), and Bella Podpadec (bass, vocals). They have been supported by Alex Paveley on drums since 2018. In 2018, the band was included on ''

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

'' magazine's list of "The 13 Best Things We Saw" at that year's

Lollapalooza Lollapalooza (Lolla) is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991 but several years later made Chicago the permanent location for the annual music festival. Musi ...

music festival. Kev Geoghegan and Paul Glynn of

BBC Music BBC Music is responsible for the music played across the BBC. The current director of music is Bob Shennan, who is also the controller of BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 6 Music, and the BBC Asian Network. Officially it is a part of the BBC's Radio o ...

called Dream Wife "a jaw-dropping live act and one of the most talked-about new bands of 2018." Joe Lynch of ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' wrote "Dream Wife are inarguably one of the most exhilarating live rock bands to emerge within the last few years."

History

Early years

Lead vocalist Rakel Mjöll (b. ) was born in

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

and spent eight years of her childhood living in Santa Clara and San Jose, California. She also trained in

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

and

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

as a teenager in

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

-raised bassist Bella Podpadec (b. ) met guitarist Alice Go (b. ) at a Mid-Somerset Battle of the Bands. The two women, and Bella who is non-binary, went on to attend

Brighton University The University of Brighton is a public university based on four campuses in Brighton and Eastbourne on the south coast of England. Its roots can be traced back to 1858 when the Brighton School of Art was opened in the Royal Pavilion. It achieve ...

and in 2014 they formed the band as an

art school An art school is an educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, including fine art – especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. Art schools can offer elementary, secondary, post-seco ...

performance project. The trio had the concept of forming a "fake girl band" and they recorded themselves composing the songs that they would eventually perform at an art gallery exhibition. The film was shot in a

mockumentary A mockumentary (a blend of ''mock'' and ''documentary''), fake documentary or docu-comedy is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events but presented as a documentary. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on c ...

style inspired by ''

This Is Spinal Tap ''This Is Spinal Tap'' (also known as ''This Is Spınal Tap: A Rockumentary by Martin Di Bergi'') is a 1984 American mockumentary film co-written and directed by Rob Reiner (in his feature directorial debut). The film stars Christopher Guest, M ...

''. After graduation the band moved to London. The band's lyrics often tackle issues related to

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

gender roles A gender role, also known as a sex role, is a social role encompassing a range of behaviors and attitudes that are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for a person based on that person's sex. Gender roles are usually cent ...

body image Body image is a person's thoughts, feelings and perception of the aesthetics or sexual attractiveness of their own body. The concept of body image is used in a number of disciplines, including neuroscience, psychology, medicine, psychiatry, ps ...

and

sexual objectification Sexual objectification is the act of treating a person solely as an object of sexual desire. Objectification more broadly means treating a person as a commodity or an object without regard to their personality or dignity. Objectification is most ...

. Members of the band have cited influences such as

Be Your Own Pet Be Your Own Pet (also known as BYOP) is a four-piece punk/garage rock group from Nashville, Tennessee. Biography The band formed in 2004, while all members were in high school at Nashville School of the Arts. Playing house shows and gigs at ...

Sleigh Bells Sleigh Bells may refer to: * Sleigh bells, a type of bell which produces a distinctive 'jingle' sound, especially in large numbers. * Sleigh Bells (band) Sleigh Bells is an American musical duo based in Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2008 and ...

Le Tigre Le Tigre (, ; French for "The Tiger") is an American electronic rock band formed by Kathleen Hanna (of Bikini Kill), Johanna Fateman and Sadie Benning in 1998 in New York City. Benning left in 2000 and was replaced by JD Samson for the rest ...

Debbie Harry Deborah Ann Harry (born Angela Trimble; July 1, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie. Four of her songs with the band reached on the US charts between 1979 and 1981. Born in ...

Grimes Claire Elise Boucher (; born March 17, 1988), known professionally as Grimes, is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Her early work has been described as extending from "lo-fi R&B" to futuristic dance-pop, and has in ...

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

and

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

. During their live shows the band are known to enact a "bitches-to-the-front" policy where they ask the audience to part in order to allow women who wish to

mosh Moshing (also known as slam dancing or simply slamming) is an extreme style of dance, dancing in which participants push or slam into each other, typically performed to "aggressive" live music such as heavy metal music, heavy metal and punk rock ...

together to move closer to the front of the stage.

First commercial releases and tour

In 2016, the band released their first self-titled EP via Cannibal Hymns. The EP was recorded at Go's parents' home in Somerset with her father on drums. The following year they released another EP titled ''Fire''. The title was in part inspired by the fact that all three band members were born under astrological fire signs—Mjöll and Go are

Sagittarii ''Sagittarii'' (Latin, plural form of ''sagittarius'') is the Latin term for archers. The term ''sagittariorum'' in the title of an infantry or cavalry unit indicated a specialized archer regiment. Regular auxiliary units of foot and horse arch ...

and Podpadec is a Leo. That same year they toured Canada and performed at festivals such as the

Iceland Airwaves Iceland Airwaves is a music festival annually held in early November in Reykjavík, Iceland. The festival spans four days (Wednesday - Saturday) and its main focus is showcasing new music, both Icelandic and international. The festival's main sp ...

festival in Reykjavík, as well as

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

. In 2018, they released their self-titled debut album to positive reviews: Joe Goggins of ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' gave it 4 out of 5 stars and noted that "they released a self-titled debut record that doesn't for a second sound like a DIY endeavour; it's a polished, assured slice of melodic punk." Leonie Cooper of ''

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 ...

'' gave the album a 10 out of 10 and wrote: "God ''damn'' have we been waiting a long time for a band like Dream Wife." Emma Swann of ''

DIY "Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and semi ...

'' gave the album a 4 out of 5 rating and said: "Sometimes we get the bands we want: sometimes - like in the case of Dream Wife - they're also the bands we need. The band followed their album release with an extensive tour of Europe and North America, opening for

The Vaccines The Vaccines are an English indie rock band, formed in West London in 2010. Band members Justin Hayward-Young (lead vocals, guitar), Freddie Cowan (lead guitar, vocals), Árni Árnason (bass, vocals), Timothy Lanham (guitars, keys, vocals) and ...

and the UK,

Sunflower Bean Sunflower Bean is an American rock band from Glen Head, New York and Brooklyn founded in 2013. The band consists of Julia Cumming (bass, lead vocals), Nick Kivlen (guitars, backing vocals), and Olive Faber (drums). Their most recent album ''Headf ...

during some of their US and Canadian shows,

The Kills The Kills are an English-American rock duo formed by American singer Alison "VV" Mosshart and English guitarist Jamie "Hotel" Hince. They are signed to Domino Records. Their first four albums, '' Keep On Your Mean Side'', ''No Wow'', ''Midni ...

on some of the other US dates as well as opening for the band

Garbage Garbage, trash, rubbish, or refuse is waste material that is discarded by humans, usually due to a perceived lack of utility. The term generally does not encompass bodily waste products, purely liquid or gaseous wastes, or toxic waste produc ...

in the UK, Germany and France. That same year the band performed in several cities in Australia as part of the

St Jerome's Laneway Festival The St. Jerome's Laneway Festival, commonly referred to as Laneway, began in Caledonian Lane, Melbourne, Australia, in 2005. Beginning as predominantly an indie music event, the festival grew in popularity and expanded to five Australian citie ...

. In late 2018, Dream Wife embarked on their first headlining tour in North America. The band originally toured with a drum machine, but have since toured with drummer Alex Paveley.

Second album

In 2020, the band released their follow-up album '' So When You Gonna...'' to generally positive reviews. Helenia Wadia of the

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

described it as "hearfelt and unapologetically outspoken." The album drew comparisons with several female-fronted bands such as the

Yeah Yeah Yeahs The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are an American indie rock band formed in New York City in 2000. The group is composed of vocalist and pianist Karen O (born Karen Lee Orzolek), guitarist and keyboardist Nick Zinner, and drummer Brian Chase. They are complem ...

. Music critic

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

applauded Mjöli's insight into sex and romance from the perspective of a "minor rock star", "from the male-bonding pissoff 'Sports!' – 'Time is money/Never apologize/These are the rules' – to a finale called 'After the Rain' where she both craves and rejects a tenderness that can only be provisional in a line of work that keeps her on the move."

Discography

Studio albums

Live album

* ''IRL (Live in London 2020)'' (2020)

Singles

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control All-female punk bands Musical groups established in 2010 English pop punk groups English indie rock groups Musical groups from Brighton and Hove 2010 establishments in England