M(h)aol (pronounced male) are formed of Róisín Nic Ghearailt (She/Her), Constance Keane (She/Her), Jamie Hyland (She/Her), Zoë Greenway (She/Her), and Sean Nolan (He/Him).
The 5-piece announce their debut album Attachment Styles out February 3, 2023 via TULLE Collective, as well as new single ‘Asking For It’, which is an intensely raw and personal song that has developed over the years. It was the first thing singer Róisín ever wrote to try and process some of her experiences and feelings around r*pe culture.
On the track she said, “I wrote it initially in 2016 then revisited it in 2020. I was shocked by how much internalised victim blaming there was in the lyrics. I rewrote it, then we recorded it and it was released to raise money for Women’s Aid in 2021. The album version is a lot angrier than the 2021 one and almost satirical insofar as it’s highlighting how ludicrous the notion of anyone ‘asking for it’ is.”
Another video directed by bassist Zoë with added input from Róisín, it’s as raw and vulnerable as the song itself. So many times the subject matter has been treated with a complete lack of respect for how triggering, traumatic and long lasting an event like this can be for a victim, and here the band wanted to highlight the resources and services that are available.
Here Zoë says, “This has been the most difficult video I’ve made for M(h)aol to date. There’s so much power and emotion in Róisín’s lyrics and performance, so we worked really hard to create a responsible and sensitive portrayal of this experience she’s conveying, do it justice and make people care.”
Róisín adds on the video, “I think lots of media and cultural depictions of r*pe can be retraumatising. We wanted the video to be cathartic rather than traumatising. We both wanted to offer resources and highlight services that are available to survivors. The quotes in the video highlight the change in the song too, over the years it became a much more hopeful one.”
Zoë finishes by saying, “I hope watching the video inspires compassion and empathy in people. I think it’s important to open channels of communication around sexual assault in a way that validates a victims traumatic experience and shows a path towards a more hopeful and supportive healing journey. I think empathy is paramount in trying to build a better world.”
Attachment Styles:
- Asking For It
- Bored Of Men
- Noone Ever Talks To Us
- Bisexual Anxiety
- Therapy
- Nice Guys
- Kim Is A Punk Type Of Dog
- Cowboy Honey
- FEMME
- Period Sex
