A gritty power trio from Cambridge with boundless punk energy
From East Anglia new voices are rising, for a new rebellion, all female
There are two types of silence. There’s the sudden silence that comes from an unexpected interruption, or even a disconnection, from the hammering of information that has become our world. And then there’s the one that is imposed upon us by the psychological and social coercions that – despite an evolution that characterises our age – falls like a sombre banner over humanity’s work, suffocating and showing up its differences and (worst) preclusions.
Well, the latter is where the Baby Seals come in: they don’t to talk about this silence, like the Riot Grrrls they are, they want to scream and rage about it. They are able to come off ironic and politically active, punk and theatrical, feminist and feminine, and they do it well.
These Cambridge pups don’t exactly mince their words, living in a reality that’s a world away from the stale academic language typical of their city and from the stereotypical punk look: a hard, coarse and violent sound but with floral skirts and an almost diabolical candour in their distinctly Anglo-Saxon features.
They conquer an enthusiastic English audience inside the only real venue suitable for the occasion: Butterley Church at Indietracks Festival, among the wooden pews worn away by unanswered prayers, from a pulpit that erupts with the liberating 35-minute proclamation of Kerry, Amy and Jas.
Pub talk between two sisters and their best friend turned into tackling the discomforts of being a woman by making them commonplace: talked about, derided, exorcised with a flippancy and a dose of self-irony, the perfect remedy for more serious illnesses.
The Baby Seals are causing a storm and raising smiles as well as eyebrows, three whirlwinds of wild energy, fighting conformism and hypocrisy with an innate and age-old joy.
Amy Devine, drummer of the band, is in the process of starting a music school for people who have learning disabilities and autism called The Cambridge School Of Music And Performance, slated to open next year. Read the news here.
Nando Dorelassi
