If you’re into experimental alternative electro pop-rock, then I invite you to check out the brand new double album “The Red Room” and “The Blue Room” by German artist The Woman Inside. Check out both albums on Spotify:
The album starts off with a track called ‘I’ve got no guns’ and this is exactly what I want to hear in troubled times like these where people talk about nuclear war. The lyrics simply repeat the title over and over again and the more I listen to it, the more I like what I’m hearing. I think listeners know what they want more and more these days and I can definitely hear that there is something here that I want to explore.
The vocals are almost more spoken than sung. An electric guitar is played wildly in the background and once the drums kick in at around 50 seconds, the entire song breaks down and ends just as quickly as it begun.
The following is the first full-length song on this album and it has the title ‘Let’s Clit it’. While the previous intro-song gave me punk vibes, this one gives me strong alternative electro-pop vibes. The beat combined with the bass sounds awesome together and once the synth sounds kick in, I can’t help but be impressed. The intro lasts for about 45 seconds, which I would normally consider far too long in today’s world where the attention span is so short, however in this special case it really works. The first verse is spoken rather than sung again and the entire feeling of the music gets much darker. The chorus features a little more of an upbeat synth melody, which could symbolise the ‘climax’ of this song. There are also more voices (or vocal samples) in the chorus and some of them seem to be screaming. The second verse takes the synth sounds from the chorus, which now become easier to hear since the drums temporarily stop. I’ve never hear the term ‘clit me’ and I have to say the creativity of this artist is off the charts! The crazy thing this is only the second track! After listening to this several times it also starts to remind me of one of my all-time favourite artists called Goldfrapp. Having said that, there are also elements of David Lynch, Marilyn Manson, the prodigy and David Bowie in this, so it is very versatile! There is also a video on the official Youtube channel by The Woman Inside (see above). Note: The video is age-restricted. There is also an uncensored version of the video on Vimeo here:
This version is NSFW, but definitely worth a watch. The video is actually a compilation of clips from 20 fans and from the artist as well!’No Man Can Kill No Man Can Could’ is the title of song number 3 and here the intro barely starts at 20 seconds and the build up just for the intro itself is very well done! It keeps the listener wanting to hear more. Once the drums and bass kick in it becomes clear that the tempo is slower than ‘Let’s Clit It’ and this is a much more mellow tune. The lyrics still go very deep and certainly carry an important message, though. This is also the first time where the lyrics are actually sung. I love the very simple synth melody that starts at about 2 minutes. Towards the end of the song all these beautiful synth sounds blend together and it sounds incredible! It always amazes me to hear just how far independent music has come!
The following song starts with a vocal sample that repeats ‘what are you so happy about?’ For around 30 seconds. The beat and synth melodies then have a solo until almost 2 minutes into the track when the lyrics start. I certainly love how this artist is breaking all the rules in terms of traditional song-writing structure. While the synth sounds are quite wild, the beat is kept quite simple. This makes it very easy to dance to in my opinion. At around 3 minutes everything calms down a lot before exploding again at around 6 minutes. The end of this song actually really rocks. This is interesting, because the beat is still the same simple 4/4 beat from the beginning.
Track number 5 is called ‘Give Me Your Time’ and this track starts off with a very dark melody that continues throughout the song. Starting at 30 seconds, the title ‘Give Me Your Time’ is repeated until about 1 minute. At this stage a new beat kicks in and it makes this sound even darker. At this stage this artist actually reminds me somewhat of Patrick Wolf, another of my all-time favourite artists from the UK. The next song is even darker than the previous one. The title is ‘Black Girl’. It’s interesting to hear that this album seems to get darker and darker as you progress towards the end. It also seems to get more experimental. There is also a music video available on the official YouTube channel for track number 5 (see above). Here, this artist shows that there is more here than just another musician, as the visuals compliment the music perfectly.
While the title of the 7th song might sound brutal (the title is ‘Die Mother Die’), the actual music sounds not as sinister as the tunes on the previous tracks. This sounds like it could be an instrumental track. The first part sounds like the soundtrack of an alien film, or some sort of sci-fi adventure film. This totally changes at around 2 minutes, all of a sudden a very grounded retro beat kicks in and the synth sounds very 80s inspired. This song alone certainly takes you on a journey and shows the versatility of The Woman Inside!
Song number 8 is called ‘I’m a Girl Now’ and this seems to be the very personal story of The Woman Inside. This is such a sad song with such a beautiful keyboard melody in the beginning. This instantly became my favourite song on this album so far and I can already tell this is one of those very few songs that will be stuck in my mind for a long time.
‘Fuck You’ is the name of track number 9 and this one actually features an awesome electric guitar sample, along with some other great sounding-samples. But what I really love here is the transition when most of the samples stop at around 50 seconds. The simple beat with the bass-line just sounds so perfect to me. Once again, the beat is very simple and the bass is very aggressive. This somehow reminds me of the song ‘F*ck the pain away’ by Peaches. However, this is almost an instrumental track, as the lyrics only start at the end. Here I notice a real strength for instrumentals that this artist seems to have. It is not easy to keep the listener engaged in a song without words (or with very few words), but The Woman Inside does a great job here!
While the next 4 songs that follow are great to listen to if you are into the genre, the highlight on this album (at least for me) is definitely track number 8 and 9. Those 2 songs are some of the best pieces of electronic music I have ever heard! I could listen to them on repeat for days! There is a clear sense of darkness and sadness on this album, but you can really hear the energy and suffering that has gone into those 2 tracks in particular. The haunting calmness of ‘I’m a Girl Now’ really took me by surprise as well. The only thing I would (perhaps) change is the string samples replaced with actual strings to increase the quality. But other than that it’s just perfect. The repetition of the line ‘I was a lucky boy’ really goes deep and the line ‘I’m a girl now’ goes even deeper. The fact that this rather ‘calm’ song is then followed by this super intense beat in ‘F*ck You’ somehow makes perfect sense to me. These two songs really belong together and make a great statement. The more I listen to this artist, the more I think this is an ideal example of an artist who should turn their music into NFTs.
So, since this is a double album, I expected the red album to be quite dark and the blue album to be less dark. As I listen to the intro track called ‘Open The Door’, it seems this is not the case. The first full-length song on this album is called ‘Wild Time’ and while the title might sound wild, the actual music is rather calm, at least compared to the previous album. What surprises me the most is the calm beat paired with a variety of string synth sounds. At times I’m even getting classical vibes. There is also a music video available for this (note: the video is longer than the song on Spotify)
The third song is called ‘Dreams Of Koe Oen’ and this starts to sound more electronic again, yet the beat is still quite mellow. The synth sounds give me 80s vibes and the entire composition is quite short. ‘Hope You Die’ is the title of the following song and this one features some very interesting samples. The first minute sounds like beat-box to me and the interesting thing here is the fact that someone else seems to be singing. This song is also quite major-key sounding, yet the lyrics are obviously very dark.
‘I Love People’ is the longest song so far, at over 6 minutes, and this has a happy-ish sound to it, at least until around 2 minutes when it gets very quiet and the lyrics start. The lyrics are once again spoken and at this stage I suddenly feel like these songs are almost like electronic meditations, in a way. At 4 minutes into the song the awesome electric guitar sample that sounds like the one from the red album starts to play and I just love that sound.
‘Abortion Rules’ is the title of song number 6 and this has quite a major-key melody to it, while the lyrics are obviously the opposite. The lyrics are about abuse and suffering, while the synth-melody is quite upbeat sounding.
The next track is called ‘Lost’ and the bass-line is getting stronger again on this one, not as strong on the tracks from the red album, but stronger than on the previous tracks. About halfway through, the beat and bass change and get even stronger, I’d almost say this sounds like dub-step to me. The entire track is also instrumental. Check out the official music video for the single (linked above).
‘I Love My Life’ has a very different sound from the previous songs. It almost gives me jungle vibes, at least beat-wise. The synth sounds are very monotonic here and the whole composition is quite short. ‘Never Lost Again’ has a super catchy intro and seems to be another instrumental tune. Towards the end it suddenly starts to sound like a religious church song. This entire album is definitely far more experimental than the red album, at least so far. Track number 10 is the longest composition on this album and I’d say it’s really several compositions in one. My favourite part is definitely the last part that starts at about 6 minutes.
‘Empty’ is the title of song number 11 and this is another slow sad tune, it reminds me a little of ‘I’m a Girl Now’. I really like the keyboard melody and the slow, sad vibe of this. There is also a music video available on YouTube and I can only recommend you check it out! (See above)
The twelfth song is called ‘You Remember My Face’, this is the first time I hear an acoustic guitar and it sounds beautiful. Every time this artist is using traditional instruments, as in keyboard/piano or guitar, I really like it.
The album ends with ‘I Know I’m Ready’ and this artist is certainly ready for millions of listeners around the globe! While this blue album is very experimental, the red album still blows me away and I’ve been listening to that for several days now.
The mixing and mastering is fantastic on both records, the timing signatures on the beats are very interesting, the vocals are spoken well and these 2 albums are definitely a work of art! Not just the music, but also the music videos are amazing to watch and listen to. For all those reasons I can only recommend you check out both albums by The Woman Inside!
Official Links:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDRMHa4hx5Bng2mDQXF1UGQ
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_woman_inside_/
Bandcamp:
https://thewomaninside.bandcamp.com/album/red-room
https://thewomaninside.bandcamp.com/album/blue-room
Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post, however, all opinions are my own. Content of the artist in this post is used with permission, no copyright is violated.