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TIRED LION Cinderella Dracula gets 8/10

TiredLion.Cinderella

Tired Lion
Cinderella Dracula
Dew Process

8/10

Tired Lion’s latest single from their upcoming debut studio album comes via Cinderella Dracula. The song is considered, energetic and refreshingly honest. The track was recorded at Blackbird studios and produced by Luke Boerdam (Violent Soho) and long-time collaborator Dave Parkin (Jebediah, Abby May).

The music itself is driving and builds nicely throughout. The song starts off softly with sparse and familiar guitar work creating a slow and melodic intro. It then picks up energy, anger and pace into and throughout the chorus, as most good rock and roll songs do.

Thanks to Boerdam’s influence, the song moves through expulsion and retraction of sound, emotion and energy exchanging beautifully, giving it a sweeping and dynamic feel. The song is heartfelt and personal and this is brought home with Sophie Hope’s strong vocals, also echoed through the lyrics and the space they are allowed within the song. The music mostly takes a backseat to the vocals and this is important because the lyrics are significant, and when the music does peak, it carefully works to compliment rather than drown the message.

The song is an account of living with mental illness and anyone who has been affected by mental illness will instantly recognise the feelings portrayed in the song, with lines such as “The sky isn’t blue anymore/ Nothing feels good anymore,” striking a chord. The song seems to particularly focus on mind-numbing melancholy, the lack of enjoyment, the feeling of isolation and of course the predicaments you find yourself in after trying to find a way to fill these voids. It also highlights the anguish many people feel in their sexuality, the opposing forces of guilt and pleasure, especially for women given society’s rigid judgemental stance on sexual females. This is particularly poignant given the song was written and is sung by lead singer (and woman), Sophie Hopes.

The song is indicative of a more diverse sonic direction for the band and lyrically and thematically, it is definitely a mature step forward. It is great to see so many Perth bands writing politically and socially driven songs, and it seems Tired Lion with Cinderella Dracula are leading the way.

LARA FOX

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