There’s something heart-warming in how Dream Wife launch their first ever Newcastle show with a ‘gonna fuck you up/ gonna cut you up/ gonna fuck you up’ gambit.  Applying utter conviction and intensely to ‘fun’ track FUU, they provide an immaculate demonstration of how they, and bands like them, gain a cult following by making throwaway words feel like something of substance and connecting with their audience on a level that is much deeper than trivial and surface.

Being almost a perfect embodiment for the notion of girls just wanting to have fun, Dream Wife viciously attack  their pop punk songs with a style that is sassy, direct and intelligent.   Frontwoman Rakel Mjöll provides a Nennerh Cherry style of vocal delivery and attitude whilst guitarist Alice Go directs the music with the in your face playing style of Jane Weidlin and her blend of punk/funk/pop.

Songs like ‘Hey heartbreaker’ and ‘lolita’ set out Dream Wife’s vision, mixing the politics of sexuality, femininity, consumerism and youthfulness with a soundtrack blending 1980’s pop with melodic punk. It’s intoxicating work, at times equally trivial and meaningful, but always intense and never stifled-second-guessing.

God only knows what they’ll start with the next time they’re here.

Support: Plaza and Seeing hands