Post-punk icon and Raincoats founding member Gina Birch has announced her debut solo album, I Play My Bass Loud, which will be out February 24 via Third Man. “The album distills my years of musical, political, and artistic life with these genre-breaking songs,” says Birch. “It’s a personal diary using sounds and lyrics, full of fun, rage, and storytelling.”
Birch made the album with producer and Killing Joke bassist Youth. “Youth likes my passion and my bad guitar playing," says Birch. "I like his attitude, so calm and focused... in a Zen kind of way. We are in fact opposite sides of the same coin.”
As to the album title, she says, “There’s the whole thing about women playing their music and wanting to be heard, wanting acknowledgment or the space to do it. The bass is sometimes assigned as a lesser instrument, and yet because of reggae and the creativity of a lot of women players, it has always been a creative and phenomenal instrument.” The title track features five female bass players, including The Modettes’ Jane Crockford, and Emily Elhaj, who plays with Angel Olsen.
The album includes this year's "Feminist Song" that features Gina's Raincoats bandmate Ana Da Silva, and punky new single "Wish I Was You" features friend and collaborator Thurston Moore and comes with a video directed by her daughter, Honey Birch. Watch that below.
"Wish I Was You" is also out as a 7" single.
Gina has a few UK tour dates lined up for this year and 2023, and those are listed below.
gina birch - I PLAY MY BASS LOUD
I Play My Bass Loud: I Play My Bass Loud And Then It Happened Wish I Was You Big Mouth Pussy Riot I Am Rage I Will Never Wear Stilettos Dance Like A Demon Digging Down Feminist Song Let’s Go Crazy
GINA BIRCH - TOUR 2022-2023
NOVEMBER 11 – London, UK – The Blue Basement @ Third Man Records London
MARCH 2023 21 – Brighton, UK – The Hope and Ruin 22 – London, UK – Oslo 24 – Glasgow, UK – The Hug and Pint 25 – Dublin, Ireland – Whelan’s 27 – Leeds, UK – Brudenell Social Club
