By Desh Kapur, Rock At Night Manchester

Venue: The Deaf Institute, Manchester-DREAM WIFE-24/3/2017

The Deaf Institute is a great little venue, so it was with great pleasure I headed there to see the much talked about Dream Wife.  Dream Wife are made up of the Icelanic Rakel Mjöll (lead vocals), Alice Go (guitar, vocals), and Bella Podpadec (bass, vocals), who all met and formed the band for an art project whilst the girls were at art college in Brighton. The band, named after a 1953 romantic comedy, make a very cool mix of garage rock, punk, and pop, stating their influences as the likes of David Bowie, Peaches, Talking Heads and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

After arriving a little later than expected, I have to be honest and say I didn’t catch the first band, so it was with anticipation I waited the arrival of Dream Wife on to stage.  Local feminist writer Gina Tonic introduced the band, and then they bounced on to the stage, Rakel Mjoll resplendent with champagne flute in hand.

Dream Wife’s songs have a feminist message, their posters and media carry support of anti-harassment movement Girls Against, and before they launched into their recent single “Somebody”, they insisted that the crowd part to allow a girls-to-the-front, which I found interesting and refreshing in equal measures. I respect the band for having the courage to back up there beliefs at their live show. Taking what could have been a normal indie punk/rock show and turning it into a positive feminist music party.

They were exciting, full of energy and delivered there songs with joyful careless abandon, lead singer Rakel Mjöll in constant movement across the stage, champagne flute in hand, connecting with the crowd in her very unique way, her vocals which go from singing to snarling in the blink of an eye.  They played pretty much their debut album from start to finish and threw in a couple of covers like Blondie’s “One Way or Another” and Spice Girls’ “Wannabe” into the outros, with the crowd loving it, moshing bodies down the front, and the constant cheering and shouts were a testament to that.

They have the songs, they have the energy and they have a message we should all listen to,

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