Kalistani Major History

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Indie Rocker Michelle Love releases Debut Album on ARC
Overnights... with Michelle is an instant feminist rock classic
Sulari, Duchy of Suldanor
April 20, 5483


Overnights... with Michelle explores feminine sexuality and puts toxic masculinity on its head

Sulari Indie rocker Michelle Love pulls no punches on her new ARC release Overnights... with Michelle. The debut album has already received criticism from some corners are being heavily misandrist, and Love has been accused of hating men by several liberal critics. But 24 year old Love is not afraid of the backlash, and in fact welcomes it. "No, my music is not anti-man," said Love. "I just don't like these dudes who think they can do one thing, but hold their ladies to different standards. I've known more than my share of those guys, even here in Kalistan, and it's just boring. It's about time we thought about this and how it affects relations between the sexes."

Love's gritty, overloud guitar work, which is also for the most part underproduced, is representative of a growing submovement in the alternative and alt-folk scenes, called LoFi. LoFi focuses on shedding a lot of the studio tricks that accompanies a lot of alternative and hard rock. "It's like rock music for poor folks," said Love about LoFi. "Like Addisjah style hip hop, where they are basic about how they make their tunes, and somehow they bang harder than the pop rap stuff that the masses like." While her music would fit more into indie/alternative (more akin to The Starving Artists) than alt-folk, the fundamentalist sensibility is directly taken from alt-folk.

The LoFi aspects shine throughout the album, with really loud riff-focused amplified guitars that use minimal pedal effects, compact kits that keep time with simple drum patterns, and very intimate sounding microphones that record Love's dry vocals in what sounds like a soundproof closet. The LoFi sound is meant to be easy to record, and inexpensive, to allow even garage musicians to make loud music, and is a growing aesthetic in alternative.

Lyrically, Love doesn't mince words. Her songs are full of social commentary and sexuality. "Yeah, sex is political," said Love. "Look at the Empress. Think she'd be half as powerful if she didn't make men drool? Men have been governing with their ***** for centuries; and now we can see women governing with their ******** just as easily." The songs discuss gender relations in a way that doesn't sound preachy, but at the same time should terrify misogynists who may hear the record. One song's droning refrain repeats "Have Fear in your Heart," is titled "Brian", and discusses an attempted sexual assault which Love says was foiled by a "brave ass waitress" at a restaurant, who joined the narrator (perhaps it was Love, perhaps it was a fictional story, Love was unclear about this) in punishing over six days before "dropping him off" into Sulari Bay (again, how, or whether this actually happened, Love will not say one way or another.) The song is doubly terrifying because it has a sweet melody punctuated by gritty distorted guitars that make the listeners scared of the murderous insanity being described in the lyrics.

Love also has songs that celebrate the kind of goofy romance of crushes and new boyfriends on this record, which makes it quite schizophrenic feeling at times. But Love clearly knows what she is doing: "There is darkness all around us in the world, just beneath the surface," she said. "If I sang about it all the time, people would want to kill themselves. So you have to bring the love back in. I know, people have said they think I hate men. I don't hate men. I absolutely love them. I just want them to be good, and not look at women like something to knock around. Would you do that to your mom? To the Empress? No, then why would you do that to your woman? That needs to be pointed out, and also the good ones need to be celebrated too. To give the guys something to aspire to. See, guys, you can have this. All you have to do is be good." Love then laughs. "But you know, if they aren't we got something else for them, you know."

Love's first single, "Missile Man" is blasting its way up the Radio 1 poll, and the video is in heavy rotation on M-7. Love says that she wants to continue to make music, and has a four album deal with ARC. "Next record? Who knows. I mean, I just put this one out. But I've always wanted to try an acoustic guitar. I've literally never really written music for one, so that might be a challenge." Meanwhile, Love is on a Nation wide tour, and hopes to travel abroad at some point.

You can check out her debut single "Missile Man" either on M-7 or right here.

[Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2o4d90PJVpA]