Outspoken women musicians take wildly different approaches to addressing gender dynamics. Aretha Franklin took to soaring vocals to proclaim “They say that it’s a man’s world / But you can’t prove that by me”; Beyonce took to a unitard and killer choreography to show love for flying solo; Bikini Kill used a rebel girl to express camaraderie with other outspoken woman. But no matter how it’s presented, feminism in music is usually accompanied by an air of confidence and assuredness. And why shouldn’t it—demanding respect takes some guts.
But music isn’t always a reflection of reality. For a lot of women, expressing beliefs that go against society’s or their family’s status quo, is a challenge. It’s messy and rarely seamless. There’s backlash online, from colleagues, from parents. That uncomfortable balance of feminist anxiety and confidence is the kindling in the fire of Hemlines’ new EP, All Your Homes.
The new 5-song EP from the local punk band explodes out of the gate with “Agenda”. Heavy metal off-kilter guitar riffs call to mind Motorhead over a crash of cymbals (Aside: if the band ever wanted to make a metal album, it wouldn’t be a bad idea). Singer Katie Park paints the picture of an outspoken, political woman who bursts onto the scene, metaphorical guns blazing, frightening all in her wake. Any supporters she picks up must have been manipulated and she’s just toting a selfish agenda. Sound familiar?
She sings, “if standing up is having an agenda / hell yeah she’s got an agenda / if fighting for her is having an agenda / then fuck yeah I’ve got an agenda” If that doesn’t light a fireball inside you then you should get yourself checked out. Park warns, “you better run fast” as she sneers, “The red pill / how does it make you feel / like we’re coming for you?” The song conjures an image of a quiet town turned upside down, its young women dropping their bored lives to join a feminist rebel unit lead by an unapologetic goddess Furiosa-style, replacing Mad Max’s mindless chaos with focused anger.
It would be easy to say that the EP “takes no prisoners,” as we heard in their raw 2014 demo. But Hemlines isn’t a no-fucks-given feminist machine. The band’s power comes not from fearless, aggressive attitude but from the relatable hints of discomfort. I hear it in “Rover One.” Park’s lyrics once again take on the perspective not of the fearless main character, but the perspective of those on her periphery, the folks who carefully take up the feminist cause. The song’s subject recalls waiting for a friend on Sixteenth Street, feeling first abandoned, then inspired.
“She used to be just one of us / With sparkling nails, champagne on Sundays / Now I wanna be just like her” Park growls. The refrain of “Rover One / check in / are you okay?”—at first glance, comparing radical feminism to space exploration—reveals an alternative scenario. What if we think of the Rover’s wanderings as a depressive state? A great breakdown frames canned vocals, “everyone says she’s way way out there / too far gone to be redeemed / I wanna be heard way way out there / in a place where she’s finally free” before erupting in a conclusion of a dozen harrowing refrains of “I’m not okay”.
All Your Homes runs the gamut of the feminist feelings spectrum: at once fiery, inspiring, and heavy. Five energetic but concentrated tunes meld the anxieties many feel but don’t know quite how to express. Hemlines aren’t offering a solution to gender disparity; they’re providing a potential route there. Get on the Hemlines caravan.
“All Your Homes” is out today on DZ Tapes, available digitally and on cassette.
