Dott have announced the release of their new album Heart Swell, which it will be out on June 8th via Graveface Records. The word “swell” can be used to describe an injured body part, a feeling of fullness and pride, or it can refer to the ebbing and flowing of the ocean.
In Heart Swell, the band wear their heart on their sleeve, reflecting on pain, pride, acceptance and personal politics while considering a preoccupation with the ocean. Dott songwriter, singer and guitarist Anna McCarthy spent a week in a cottage by the sea on the West Coast of Ireland writing this record. She spent the days surfing the waves at Lahinch, and the nights holed up, reading writing and recording demos. Sometimes you have to get away to realize where you are, and McCarthy found herself ruminating on the book-end of a period of change in her life. After spending a year living in Toronto, hundreds of miles from the sea, McCarthy returned to Ireland and couldn’t stay away from the ocean. Themes of the sea, growth and acceptance are splashed across the album’s songs.
With only a few short weeks until the May 25 referendum for change in laws on women’s reproductive rights in Ireland, Dott have shared a new video showcasing many of the women who have been fighting for the cause. “Like a Girl” features guitar work from Speedy Ortiz‘s Sadie Dupuis. Dott opened for Sad13 last year and the two kept in touch afterward. When asked about the collaboration, Dott’s Anna McCarthy commented, “after listening to her album about consent, support and feminism, it made perfect sense for Sadie to appear on this track.”
McCarthy also shared some thoughts on the theme of the song, “It has always bothered me when people say that doing something ‘like a girl’ means that they did it weakly or sub-standardly. To put this outdated notion to bed, I wrote this song to remind people that doing something ‘like a girl’ means it will be powerful and no shit will be taken.”
“It’s especially relevant in Ireland at the moment with the fast approaching Referendum on Reproductive Rights (voting on May 25th). Irish women and girls have spent years fighting for reproductive rights, demanding a referendum to change archaic and unsafe Irish Law. And now we are a matter of weeks away from the referendum finally happening, all because of the fierce and tireless work of the women’s groups of Ireland.
So, if you want to do something, and you think it’s worth doing at all, you’d better hope that everyone says you did it like a girl.”
Watch and listen to “Like a Girl” below:
Heart Swell artwork & tracklist:
1. Bleached Blonde
2. Like a Girl
3. Not Sorry
4. Floating Arrows
5. Swim
6. Heart Swell
7. Self-Help
8. How Do I Feel?
9. You Don’t Have To
10. 18
11. Do Ya?
12. Wedding Song