2019 saw the band propelled from a word-of-mouth gem of Brighton’s DIY scene to one of the country’s most exciting upcoming bands. Birthed from open mic nights around the seaside town, lead singer Dana Margolin initially performed bedroom-recorded songs to rooms of polite, unassuming audiences who stared at her quietly while she screamed in their faces. She soon decided to form a band through which to channel her new love of performing and songwriting – and be noisier while she was at it – so Porridge Radio was born.
Every Bad arrives full of grand, sweeping ambition – with vocals so urgent that it often feels like it is moved by compulsion rather than choice, with all the rawness of early Karen O, and influences as disparate as Charli XCX and The Cranberries.
Speaking of the emotional drive behind the record, Margolin explains “A lot of it was figuring out how I want to exist in relation to others, and how to process my own feelings, how to be vulnerable, how to show people how I feel. I struggle with being vulnerable and being open, so that’s something I do through songs.”
And thank goodness she does. Though these songs are deeply personal explorations, expressed via a weird, beautiful musical language all Porridge Radio’s own, they extend a hand to every listener who has felt conflicted, held two feelings in their hearts at once, or flailed around the depths of their own choices and relationships. For those of us who know how that feels, Every Bad is a funny, profound little comfort.
Release: March 13th, 2020, Secretly Canadian/Inertia
Words: Secretly Canadian