Dog Race - 'It’s The Squeeze'
Spectral art-goths Dog Race release their latest creeping single, “It’s The Squeeze”.
With only two tracks previously out in the world, Dog Race are quietly gaining attention with their darkly haunting live sound, appearing at Visions Festival as well as support slots for the likes of Fat Dog, Nuha Ruby Ra, and Maruja. “It’s The Squeeze” is a driving operatic fever dream, difficult but captivating in its sound and delivery. The band also announce their signing to Bristol’s Fascination Street Records.
Citing sessions of listening to Kraftwerk during lockdown as the original inspiration for the electronic elements of this track, a few years down the line the result is more haunted and reminiscent of the New Romantics of the 80s, of Siouxie or Elizabeth Fraser, in the vocals of Katie Healy. Her range is what make this band interesting, chilling and superior it draws you in with a desperation to be heard. But the isolation is also still there.
The music video transports you back to cold mornings in school halls. Healy, alone, embodies a gangly ghostly Kate Bush-esque figure, possessed by the bellows of the track. On its inspiration she shares that the song’s lyrics are about the suffocation of a past relationship, “until I decided to accept the unknown instead of waging a war with it”. This lasting sense of unknowing both in society and interpersonal relationships continues to inspire much of the darkness in art and music created currently, with Dog Race becoming a deeply intriguing band in their portrayal of this.
Words by Alice Jenner
