The words ‘deux furieuses’ translate as ‘two furious’, female gender signified
by the French spelling. Their fans in Russia fondly call them The Furies. ‘deux
furieuses’ is an apt name for the impassioned duo (Ros Cairney - guitar and
vocals, Vas Antoniadou - drums and vocals) whose music is fuelled by 21 Century
hypocrisy, pro-democracy uprisings, fundamentalism and extremism, the denial of
freedom of expression and rights for women. Their songs pull apart social
injustice and cry out for change.
deux
furieuses’ debut album Tracks of Wire draws inspiration from a
wide range of artists who use their talents to explore and think: Hofesh
Shechter’s thunderous dance/music performance ‘Political Mother’ about indoctrination,
DV8’s uncomfortable, questioning physical theatre piece ‘Can We Talk About
This?’ about multiculturalism, Aayan Hirsi Ali’s books on Islam and
reformation, Yael Farber’s ‘fearless’ rape play ‘Nirbhaya’, PJ Harvey’s ‘Let
England Shake’, Savages ‘Silence Yourself’. The duo’s
riotous black-and-white hooded press shots a nod to the
Parisian female activists of 1968, the original Sisters Of Perpetual
Resistance.
Produced
by Rob Ellis (PJ Harvey’s drummer and arranger), Tracks
of Wire has moments of Harvey-esque raw exuberance. There’s the obvious riot
girl influence, where seemingly rebellious abandonment meets an unstoppable
desire to deliver a serious message. But whilst punk’s angry, visceral backbone is omnipresent, the
songs are fleshed out with post-punk’s intelligence and articulation.
It’s an album that is undoubtedly hard-hitting, but one with a positive,
proactive message of fighting for change, wrapped in songs delivered in darker
shades and rawer soundscapes.
Formed
in 2013, the band have released three tracks: Can We Talk About This?(2014), The Party of Shaitaan(2015)
and Are We Sexy Enough?(2015) which collectively picked up coverage on Louder
Than War, The Girls Are, Artrocker whilst at radio, John Kennedy [Radio X] has twice
featured the duo as his Xposure Big One, more recently hailing them ‘Ones to
Watch for 2016’ and asking them to play his club The Remedy; Tom Robinson
selected them for his BBC Introducing Playlist in 2015 and Bella Union’s boss
Simon Raymonde praised them on his Amazing Radio show.
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