Gina Birch - I Play My Bass Loud

Released: 03/03/23

As well as a sought-after director and respected fine artist, Gina Birch is a founding member of punk legends The Raincoats, and her remarkable debut solo LP is the latest addition to the peculiar pantheon of self-reflexive records in which the artist either talks about what their instrument does “ see: George Harrison's weeping guitar; or what they do, or plan to do with, their musical object of choice “ eg, Todd Rundgren's desire to Bang the Drum All Day. Birch falls into the latter camp, and, unlike Rundgren, who merely threatens to drive everyone around him up the wall with his insatiable desire to percuss, Birch states that she has played, and continues to play her instrument, really F'ing loud. Subtle it is not, but as Garth Marenghi said, I know writers who use subtext, and they're all cowards' “ and when post-punk agitprop is as ferociously good as this, who needs nuance?