‘Bad and Beautiful’, in particular, though it falls on the abrasive end of the album, is a shadow of the gash that appears on the Cute Aggression EP. Despite its heav(enl)iness, ‘Side B’ fails to match the extremes of Dollanganger’s past work. Co-written and produced with Matt Tomasi and famed metal engineer Arthur Rizk (of, as I understand it, Power, Prurient and Inquisition fame), the second half of Heart Shaped Bed (‘A Tale of Cum of Blood’) is just as one might expect. Yet, in spite of this, its sadness is tangible, its tales true and without it, the album wouldn’t, perhaps couldn’t, be as it is.Ī soft breeze beckons – alongside the ugliest of synth stabs – distorted guitar cracks that characterise the greater part of ‘Side B’. ![]() Though what the lead single does do is hint at a breaking point, a willingness to act: “Take you upstairs, to the swan bed / Let you fuck me, hard as you can…” And with these words, a glimmer of dissonant drum shakes complement what appear to be distorted vocal harmonies, harrowing and sad. Such is reserved for the album’s second half. Stuck at the centre of the album’s first half, however, ‘Lemonade’ fails to break free from its self-imposed shackles. Distinct from much of Dollanganger’s heavier works, ‘Side A’ capitalises on the inherent power in the artist’s soft-spoken, seraphic vocal prowess, setting her voice atop gentle, though no less despondent piano ballads. As a result, emptiness takes form, alongside a self-effacing subservience manifesting itself in the production surrounding it. ![]() For, just as in ‘Uncle’, the bride’s actions lack a certain self-determination. Detailing another of the bride’s sexual improprieties – this time in response to rumours that her husband has “one on the side” himself – the song, despite its protagonist’s attempt at enacting vengeance, thrusts her further down a path of self-abasement. ![]() Side A’s centrepiece, ‘Lemonade’, is much the same. Opener ‘Uncle’ (FKA the much subtler ‘I Slept with My Uncle on My Wedding Night’) establishes her passiveness with mournful detail: On ‘Side A’ of Dollanganger’s Heart Shaped Bed – the title ‘Blue Valentine’ would be just as appropriate – the singer embodies the despondent housewife, abject and servile, remorseful though dormant. (The converse is also often true.) It isn’t the music’s unsubtleties, however, that give rise to the magic inherent in its form and rather, it’s that which these games of dress-up attempt to blind us to that constitute the heart beneath the album’s well-stitched garments. Of course, most apparent in Dollanganger’s writing is her penchant for dressing up tropes of the fantastic in cherubic gowns. But it’s through an effective amalgam of heart-rending performances, delicate song-writing, and some all-too deliberate production choices that the album is transformed into something altogether “more”. To be sure, the album’s chronicling of murder and uncle fucking is, no doubt, “just that” (or so we’d hope). After all, it’s difficult to tell whether Nicole Dollanganger’s tales of blood and lust were intended to be just that – fiction – or something more akin to extended metaphor. “Observatory Mansions” shows Nicole’s songwriting progressing, with reverb-soaked guitars, echoing synths & stirring samples coming together only to intensify the pull of her stories of love, violence, sexuality and death - all of which would be horrifying if they weren’t so enchanting - a recurring yet poetic tension in Nicole Dollanganger’s world.If cut, I’m not convinced Heart Shaped Bed wouldn’t bleed. The thesis of “Ode to Dawn Wiener” is as straightforward as its subtitle, but over ten songs it becomes clear that there is much more to these songs than what they offer at the surface. This Fall, Run For Cover Records will be reissuing two early-yet-masterful pieces of Nicole Dollanganger’s catalog on vinyl and cassette: 2013’s Ode To Dawn Wiener: Embarrassing Love Songs & 2014’s Observatory Mansions. ![]() Dollanganger’s signature lyricism is front-and-center - usually accompanied by barely more than a few lonesome chords, narratives are idyllic, yet haunting - dream-like, yet startlingly real. Over a number of self-released albums recorded mostly in her own bedroom and bathroom, her signature style of gothic folk is inspired by countless influences, none more than the archetype of the love song. Nicole Dollanganger has been quietly crafting her own world since 2012. Nicole Dollanganger Toronto, Canada Biography //
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