The electro-punk radicals CLT DRP have released their second album Nothing Clever, Just Feelings and it’s all we’ve come to expect and more. Since their formation in 2017 and their debut album Without the Eyes which followed in 2020, the trio have amassed over 20k monthly listeners on Spotify and supported the likes of Tokky Horror and De Staat. The band recently signed with independent, punk rock label Venn Records (home of Witch Fever), and worked alongside producer Alex Gordon (The Cure, Sea Power). With their new album the band have fine-tuned their sound to produce a mob of eleven uniquely boisterous tracks.
First up is ‘New Boy’, a vulnerable insight into questioning gender identity in the aftermath of a break-up. Annie Dorrett, CLT DRP’s vocalist, explains the track is about “hoping for a new love interest but also me coming out of the heartbreak a ‘New Boy’”. Once again the band embraces queercore and riot grrrl, using their music to push back against heteronormative ideas.
Self-expression colours the album but perhaps none so much as the title track ‘Nothing Clever, Just Feelings’. Featuring straightforward lyrics like “You fetishise the man in me/And then you leave when you find out that he’s not really there”, it addresses heartbreak and desperation in its most raw form. Partnering this emotion with elements of electronica and punk is a staple for the band.
‘I See My Body Through You’, featured in Spotify’s All New Punk playlist, does the same while deploying rise and fall to create controlled chaos. Thanks to Daphne Koskeridou, tight grooves bind together stripped-back verses which then detonate into an eruptive chorus. Koskeridou’s matured drum sound can be heard across the album and displays the band’s growth and new-found precision.
Nothing Clever, Just Feelings is an album that incorporates both the personal and political, as the track ‘Cake 4 The Women’ demonstrates. Dorrett sings, outraged, “Bruised lungs/High heels/Men look and women appear”, clapping back at the relentless male gaze and speaking to common lived experience. And I think we’re all agreed – we need “Cake for the women/And answers for the girls”. Then, the sexy, no-fucks-given ‘M.U.T.M’ is as undiplomatic as CLT DRP. It is empowering just like ‘Cake 4 The Women’, and with a slow tempo and soft vocals, feels like a deliberate private moment.
Alongside his bandmates is Scott Reynolds on guitar. On ‘Daily Affirmations’ his riffs range from thrashing reverb to palpitating, playful chords. A shoegaze moment follows with ‘The Door’ and gives Reynolds another opportunity to own the show.
The album closes on what can only be described as the mosh-instigating ‘I Put My Baby To Sleep’. And you can join in when CLT DRP get on the road for their headline tour across the UK and EU, concluding at London’s Lexington in late November.