by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
Oakland’s Body Double are getting ready to release their full length debut, Milk Fed, on September 18th via Los Angeles’ Zum Audio (AIDS Wolf, Zs, Somnambulists). The five piece band play a haunting mix of post-punk, no-wave, and art rock, with songs both atmospheric and claustrophobic. Led by Candace Lazarou, the albums reflects a personal time that found her ending relationships both personal and dependent, turning instead to focus on writing and arranging the music of Milk Fed, an infectious record that feels alien but darts between krautrock boogie as heard on their first single “The Floating Hand” and a more mechanical drawl on “Bitch on Wheels,” which premieres below.
Their second single is an immersive sprawl of sound and design, trickling a tight rhythm under lurching bass and crackly synths. It sounds a bit hopeless and desolate, not quite filling the space, but leaving room for that dread to sink in. When Lazarou’s vocals hit and we get the counter melody however, there’s a dreaminess that sneaks in, and the industrial landscape starts to bubble and contort into something closer to Trent Reznor’s work than anything too doom and gloom. It’s all fitting as Lazarou describes:
"At around 30 years old, underground musicians start admitting they like very popular bands. It’s too exhausting being niche! I wrote "Bitch On Wheels" right after I was in an all-girl Nine Inch Nails cover band called Miss Piggy, and I was finally forced to love a synthesizer. This song heavily features an Akai AX60, which I like because it only listens to my instructions half the time."