ALBUM REVIEW: Dream Nails – Dream Nails

DREAM NAILS have been quietly making a name for themselves in the DIY punk scene over the last few years. The continuing growth of feminist punk bands in the UK has been a really vital and exciting movement that DREAM NAILS are very much part of. Now they finally have their debut album ready to go and look set to take things up a whole other level.

It won’t take long to work out whether DREAM NAILS will appeal to you. Jillian is an extremely fun opening track about queer romance. It’s blend of punk with elements of surf rock, especially on the guitar just give it a real playful sound. Corporate Realness changes things up a bit bringing in some anger on a track that takes aim at capitalism and how we are being overworked. One thing that really stands out on this track is how DREAM NAILS mix humour in with the anger. This is a recurring theme on the album. It helps keep the album relatable.

Text Me Back (Chirpse Degree Burns) is another incredibly fun track looking at modern dating and the pains of just being left on read. It’s the brilliant and vital Vagina Police and the Women and Non-Binary People to the Front skit before it where the album really kicks things up. It’s a minute and a half blast of aggression shouting about women’s reproductive rights and is one of the most punk tracks you’ll hear this year. The main hook of “your body is not your own, you have no autonomy” is something that women will be all to used to hearing and this song takes down that backwards attitude. It’s sure to be a rallying cry that will become a standout moment in their live set.

The whole album is just an inter-sectional feminist rallying cry that will surely resonate with women and queer people. Whilst there is plenty of humour on the album, DREAM NAILS are not afraid to get painfully real on tracks like Payback, arguably the albums most angry moment. Again that craft a brilliant hook here of “Hey mister, get your hands off my sister“. The track is a real call to arms to fight back against the violent misogyny that is all to rampant in society. This is followed by Kiss My Fist which is another track that tackles uncomfortable truths of the homophobia and the fetishisation of queer women. But like Payback this is a track about fighting back. “You fear us more than we fear you” is just another brilliant example of the kind of rallying cries this album is full of.

Dream Nails is very much an album about taking the power back. It’s a vital record that needs to be heard. The continuing rise of brilliant feminist punk bands is one of the most exciting scenes in the UK right now. DREAM NAILS are the latest band of that scene to make a huge statement and hopefully it’s a message that will spread to all those who need to hear it.

Rating: 8/10

Dream Nails is set for release on August 28th via Alcopop! Records.

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