Following hot on the heels of their 2023 EPs Dancer and As Well, 10 Songs I Hate About You is the debut LP from Glasgow-based post-punks Dancer. If the arrival of yet another post-punk band doesn’t thrill you, then let it be known: this is no bog-standard release, and Dancer’s music is far from generic.
Singer Gemma Fleet’s lyrics are witty, insightful, and absurd, and whilst the delivery is often evocative of slam poetry, her vocals are brimming with effortless melody and, in their peppier moments, are great for a singalong. There’s also something enduringly endearing about how she casually announces the song title at the beginning of each track in her Home Counties accent.
To complement Fleet’s vocals, the rest of Dancer concoct a catchy cocktail of slacker rock, techy indie and awkward punk that’s part Television, part Dananananaykroyd, and part Smashing Pumpkins. Chris Taylor’s intricate guitar playing switches between lively and meditative, Andrew Doig trades trundling bass lines with melodic low-end grunts, and Gavin Murdoch’s drums are complex and danceable, with a satisfying thump and thwack.
Album highlights include the dreamy synth lines of ‘Change’ (played on a DIY contraption attached to Taylor’s guitar), the mathy guitar lines and oddball lyrics (‘how now, brown cow, big wow’) of ‘Make A Decision’ and the chorus of ‘When I Was A Teenage Horse’ – its melody delightfully borrowed from The Equals’ chart-topping hit ‘Baby, Come Back’.
10 Songs I Hate About You is fun, memorable, and unabashedly eccentric.
10 Songs I Hate About You is out on 15th March via Meritorio Records
They play their album launch at Mono, Glasgow, on 20th March. Tickets here.
