Following the album’s contrasting title tracks, ‘Fawn’ and ‘Brute’, and the off-kilter melodic pop song ‘Cleave’, new single ‘Howl’ is a jagged, eerie take on a classic Brother’s Grimm fairytale, building and journeying to a dramatic ending.

“‘Howl’ is my own musical rewrite of the Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale” she explains. “Instead of being hunted and tricked by the wolf, a young girl navigates through the forest with playful tact. She is directed entirely by her own curiosity and ignores the unsolicited advice of her fellow creatures. At the end of her adventure she’s met with an unhinged applause that I hope the listener will take personally. ‘Howl’ is the antithesis of looking over your shoulder and asking for permission. It’s a reminder to get outside, make a mess and play.”

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Following the album’s title tracks, ‘Fawn’ and ‘Brute’, this second track drop sees Gately turn her textured collages of captured sounds into one of her most direct pop tracks to date. ‘Cleave’ is an icy, hook-laden ode to a complex territory oft overlooked in the art world: friendship.

“‘Cleave’ is about getting a whiff of someone else’s Scahdenfreude and recognizing the only place to run is far, far away” she comments. “I wrote it as I was mustering up the courage to extricate myself from a friendship that was becoming increasingly and perplexingly hostile.

“While I’ve always loved big, brash heartbroken pop songs, I’ve often wished more of them would probe the murky landscape of platonic fractures. I decided to use my own friendship-heartbreak as an offering into this slippery realm.

“My hope is the song might nudge the listener to stick up for themselves when someone else is hoping they will stay small. Even though this choice can be terribly impractical and lonely, it’s often one of great relief.”

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Following her highly acclaimed 2020 album Loom, in which Gately channelled the loss of her mother through sounds captured from earthquakes, elephant trumpets, cantaloupe stabs and more, she returns with a new clutch of gathered sounds to continue the intimate look at her maternal line. Fawn / Brute is 11 songs of innocence and experience exploring the light and dark of childhood energy following the birth of her first daughter. It’s an album of two halves, moving from the effervescence of early years to the defiance and turbulence of teenage angst.

The album is dedicated to Gately’s young daughter Quinn, born in 2021 and single ‘Fawn’, taken from the first half of the album, is a love letter to her. Meanwhile accompanying single ‘Brute’ embodies the darker second half of the record, its massive basslines constructed from the manipulated rattling of cardboard shoeboxes.

Gately comments: “‘Fawn’ is an attempt to capture the delirium and mania of new parenthood. The song’s instrumental is meant to capture the buoyancy and enthusiasm of youth while lyrically acknowledging the doubt and uncertainty of one’s new role as “parent”.’Brute’ is a love song for old vices, a reminder that parenthood doesn’t automatically mature us into respectable people. The song is a tug of war between responsibility and nonchalance; a struggle that is only intensified by the relentless demands of parenting.

“Together, the songs symbolize the dichotomy of parenthood. You’re a new person, guided by a fierce protective love, but you’re also still the same old bastard. You’re cranky when you don’t sleep and you lie to yourself about how many ounces are really in one glass of wine. You do the best you can and you pray things will turn out well enough… but really, you’re just winging it.”

Fawn / Brute:

1. Seed
2. Howl
3. Fawn
4. Cleave
5. Peeve
6. Scale
7. Meat
8. Brute
9. Chaw
10. Tame
11. Melt

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