New music review with singles from Pillow Queens, SEY.MOUR ft. The Misses and The Orchestra (For Now)

Our weekly fix of the best new music as Julia Mason (aka The Decibel Decoder) brings us her new music review with singles from Pillow Queens Be A Big Girl, SEY.MOUR ft. The Misses I Don't Like You Having A Body and The Orchestra (For Now) Hattrick

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Artist: Pillow Queens

Track: Be A Big Girl

Dublin’s Pillow Queens return with new single Be A Big Girl, a track that bristles with defiance against the urge to shrink, whether as a woman, a musician, or simply someone living in Ireland today. Released independently, the track is produced and mixed by Daniel Fox (Gilla Band, Sprints, Lambrini Girls) at Sonic Studios in Stoneybatter, and mastered by Jamie Hyland (Mhaol, Gilla Band). It’s a raw, urgent reclamation of strength that refuses to come at the expense of vulnerability.

The phrase “be a big girl” is usually shorthand for swallowing emotion, keeping quiet and holding it together. Pillow Queens turn that on its head: here, screaming, crying, fighting and standing your ground are all part of being a big girl. It’s a song that lives in the tension between exhaustion and persistence - between being pummelled by the world and finding power in simply enduring. It’s about being told there’s no space for you - in your country, at the table, in the music industry - and deciding to take up even more.

The band explain: “I think people expect ‘being a big girl’ to mean keeping your chin up, not making a fuss, and politely ignoring the fact you’re being shoved towards the door. For us, it’s the opposite. It’s staying exactly where you are when you’re told to leave, making a fuss, and taking up more space in the process. Living in Ireland, making music here, and not hopping on the first flight out is already an act of stubborn optimism. And yeah, sometimes you’re crying in Lidl or planning a better life in Australia, but at least you’re still standing. That’s the kind of ‘big girl’ we’re interested in being.”

Be a Big Girl is released as Pillow Queens join US indie heavyweights Lord Huron for a major European tour, which will include dates at London’s Eventim Apollo (19 September) and O2 Academy Brixton (24 September). The band will also play a headline show at National Concert Hall in Dublin on 21 October.

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Artist: SEY.MOUR ft. The Misses

Track: I Don't Like You Having A Body

Credit SEY.MOUR

London-based post-punk artist SEY.MOUR., alongside The Misses, have unleashed their debut single, I Don’t Like You Having a Body. The track is a bold and confrontational response to the resurgence of anti-abortion legislation worldwide — a protest anthem forged in distortion, defiance and raw emotional power.

Opening with a menacing bassline and eerily atmospheric synths and organ, the song immediately sets a tense and cinematic tone. As the track builds, thunderous drums and slashing guitar lines erupt with urgency and force. SEY.MOUR.’s vocal delivery is ferocious and emotionally charged — each word delivered with piercing clarity and conviction, ensuring her message cuts through the noise.

I Don’t Like You Having a Body is a rallying cry. The arrangement surges and recedes with calculated fury, culminating in a cathartic, explosive final chorus that leaves no doubt: this is music with purpose, fury and fire.

SEY.MOUR. is carving her own path through noise, chaos, and resistance. Rooted in punk’s defiance and jazz’s unpredictability, her music is a bold collision of crunchy guitars, off-kilter melodies and sharp-edged lyricism. Performing alongside new 3 piece post punk band, The Misses, SEY.MOUR. brings her sound to life with explosive energy and unfiltered emotion.

They performed at The Shacklewell Arms for a Gaza fundraiser on August 15th, continuing their commitment to fusing activism with art and using their platform to amplify urgent political issues.

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Artist: The Orchestra (For Now)

Track: Hattrick

Credit Chloe Hancock

London seven-piece The Orchestra (For Now) release new single Hattrick and announce their second EP, Plan 76 set for release on 31 October following their debut Plan 75.

The band’s new single perfectly encapsulates their progression. The saturation and contrast have been driven up, the darker corners accentuated, their wider palette more vibrant and colourful. Labyrinthine instrumentation swells and bursts into moments of shamanic vocal power, cinematic strings, a driving rhythm section, and unrestrained guitars, before burning up and giving way to brooding, ruminative verses.

Speaking on the single, the band says: “Like a lot of our songs, Hattrick has taken many forms. It began as a sequence of sections that Joe wrote words to, and we altered it into its final shape as the narrative began to emerge from those words. It’s a series of explosions and attempts at recovery and reckoning.”

The track is accompanied by a surreal and cinematic video, which sees vocalist/pianist Joe Scarisbrick rummaging through organs in the forest for a cigarette, taking part in a ritualistic bath with the rest of the band, and a blackout night of drinking that features a goblin-like bartender.

Plan 76 sees The Orchestra (For Now) continue to develop their maximalist approach to what they have self-described as “London prog”. Combining avant-garde rock theatrics, intricate classical interplay, pastoral baroque indie, post-hardcore dynamics, jazz-tinted freakouts, and everything in between, the EP is an expert-level exercise in tension and release.

The elements that made their debut a breakthrough success are still there, the compositions are unpredictable yet unmistakably hook infused, and there are droll references to pop culture and the world surrounding them. But here everything is levelled up, the underpinning fragility wrapped in a shroud of musical confidence that can only come with such wide-eyed ambition.

Live dates

September

14 - Leffingeleuren Festival, BE

October

18 - Sŵn Festival, UK

November

1 - Les Nuits Botanique, Brussels, BE

6 - Iceland Airwaves, IS

13 - Sheffield, UK - Hallamshire Hotel,

14 - Glasgow, UK - Hug & Pint,

15 - Live at Leeds In the City, UK

16 - Manchester, UK - YES Pink Room

18 - London, UK - Scala

20 - Bristol, UK - The Exchange

21 - Southampton, UK - Heartbreakers

22 - Brighton, UK - Green Door Store

December

4 - Cambridge, UK - Portland Arms

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