Album Review: Mrs Frighthouse - Solitude Over Control
Reviewed by Matthew Williams
There’s been a bit of a social media buzz around Glasgow-based duo, Mrs Frighthouse, and with the release of their highly anticipated debut album, “Solitude Over Control”, they have an opportunity to show what they are all about and are destined for a bright future.
The married duo, “Mrs and Mrs” Carys and Luna Frighthouse are bringing their own version of industrial noise to the fore, with an album which is a “feminist statement of freedom and self-preservation in the face of a seemingly unending hell”.After the short intro, which features an excerpt of “O Mio Babbino Caro” by Giacomo Puccini, we dive head first into the murky, chaotic world with “Eyeliner”.
I can instantly see why some have likened them to American experimental duo The Body, as the discordant chords reverberate around your head and could easily disorientate the weaker amongst us. It’s the slow, eeriness that I appreciate, like your worst nightmare coming true, which continues with “Seagulls (Part 1), and is exemplified more on “White Plaster Roses” as it encapsulates a distressing vocal performance, that is meant to be far reaching and provocative.
With songs that confront issues such a misogyny, homophobia and transphobia, they are pushing back against the traumatic experiences and injustices in their lives. “Veil” explodes into life with a morose, yet imposing vocal, set against screeching noises that would belong in any horror film. We are exposed to “Seagulls (Part 2”) which sounds like a dystopianhellscape, before the unnerving piano line chills to the bones on “Our Culture Without Autonomy”.
You can sense their anguish and vulnerability across the album but as the duo say this is “a mantra we can whisper to ourselves to strengthen our resolve”. The track “Let My Spit be Poison” is a disturbing piece of music, which excites and terrifies in equal measures. The vocal, set against a caustic barrage of noise, is spine-chillingly cold but it embodies what the duo are exploring, exceptionally well.
“My Body is a Crime Scene” is one of the many rallying cries on the album and it’s clear to see how this has been a cathartic process for both. The album title track, “Solitude Over Control” brings up the rear, to try and put a lid on the coercive control and abuse, however with those 3 words they are sticking their fingers up at the world and more heart-wrenching vocals show that Mrs Frighthouse are paving the way for queer women, cis and trans alike, in the world of heavy music.
