Band Of The Week #246 - Dizzy
This week’s Band of the Week is Dizzy - who have just released their self-titled third album via Communion Records.
Dizzy’s lead singer, Katie Munshaw, has been thinking a lot about the way things look and the way you can find comfort in disappearing into it all. She describes the new album, a bold indie-pop beast continuing the legacy built from two previous shimmering records, as a “patchwork quilt” with each song a square, or a sliver, of her life. “None of them have all that much to do with each other and yet they wouldn't exist without one another,” she says.
It makes for a colourful record that’s intrinsically Dizzy – one that swerves comparison, instead reflecting the shapeshifting and imperfect nature of its musicians. Avoiding the spotlight yet more confidently themselves than ever.
They took a moment to talk to us about how the album came together.
Hey there Dizzy - how are you? So your album is out now - how does it feel to have it out there in the world?
It feels scary! And it feels good to give it away to someone else who might need it. It was my crutch for three years, but now it feels like there are new anxieties for me to address.
Where was it recorded? Any behind the scenes stories from the creative process you are happy to share with us?
We set up a home studio in the living room of a little bungalow in L.A. We stayed there for two weeks recording, making dinners, going on walks, and playing video games as a band, while our producer, David, came and went every day. We're all pretty big homebodies so it felt like the most comfortable way to provoke vulnerability for a band full of introverts. A lot of it was also recorded in my mom's basement back home in Oshawa.
What are the key themes and influences on the album?
The album is a snapshot of my mid-twenties, and each song is basically me growing to know myself in a very public way. There are themes of childhood trauma, loss, grief, all joyous things I've since started journaling about in private because honestly this album's vulnerability is humiliating in layered ways. This is a joke but it is also the truth. But seriously, I'm cherishing getting older and thus, getting to know myself better via life and music. On tour recently, my soundtech was like, "Nobody is cool until they're at least 40." Full stop. I agree, so the work continues.
If the album could be the soundtrack to any film - which one would it be and why?
I just recently rewatched Frances Ha, and it's a staple of a film that navigates being in your twenties in a brutal and unforgiving way. I think this is exactly how the album feels to me.
Do you have a favourite lyric on the album - if so, which one and why?
I really love ‘Knock The Wind’ in its entirety. I honestly think I blacked out while writing it and it all just came gushing out of me like a wound trying to heal itself. I didn't even really know what the song was about until recently. The brain is so funny in the ways it tries to protect itself. It's kind of sad how the pain inevitably seeps out without asking. I also love that my unwavering adoration of whales has been written in stone (song). Some girls are horse girls, but I am undeniably and forever a Whale Girl. Strike it on my tombstone.
Now the album is out there - what next?
The humiliating journey of self exploration continues, privately and publicly, I'm sure. I have to get to work if I'm gonna be cool by 40.
