Album Review: Stella Donnelly Bites Back in Debut Album 'Beware of the Dogs'
On first listen, Beware of the Dogs can be painful to listen to, but Donnelly understands how effective and impactful her lyrics can be as she forges through the album with bright guitar chords, catchy rhythms, and tongue-in-cheek delivery.
Written by Claire Hardwick
Photo courtesy of VinylMePlease
Stella Donnelly is not afraid to speak her mind. The Australia-based folk singer-songwriter burst onto the scene with her EP Thrush Metal in June 2017. Her break out single “Boys Will Be Boys,” a seemingly soft folk ballad song with inquisitive lyrics about the nature of rape culture and misogyny, soon became the new unexpected feminist anthem. Pre-dating the #MeToo era by only a few months, Donnelly’s lyrics about her friend’s sexual assault and the surrounding feelings ring ever more poignant now, as Donnelly illustrates her mastery of contrasting sunny sounds with darker stories
Donnelly’s initial success saw her plucked from her small indie label to sign with Secretly Canadian, and she embarked on a world tour last year. After constant attention from concert-goers and music outlets alike, Donnelly returned home to record her first record. This collection of songs is brutally honest, tackling issues like rape culture, lost love, and death with such lyrical ease that the first listen might catch you off-guard. But Donnelly rewards the repeat listener with an overwhelmingly enjoyable experience that will have you singing along in your car before you realize she’s hiding tough topics behind upbeat and catchy earworms.
Growing up in Australia and Wales, Stella has always been drawn to performing. On the podcast Out of the Box, she shares that her love of music came from listening to cassette tapes of the likes of Broadcast, Stevie Wonder, and the Welsh outfit Catatonia while driving across the country with her dad. When her family moved back to Australia, she attended the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts but dropped out after only a year due to anxiety over not fitting into the program. From there, she moved down south to Fremantle and began playing in a variety of punk and cover bands while working on her own catchy, heartbreaking, and confessional material.
In her debut album, Donnelly continues to question the tentpoles of misogyny that structure our society –– but not in the usual way one might think. On the first track “Old Man,” she confronts a man who harassed her, asking “Oh are you scared of me old man / or are you scared of what I’ll do / you grabbed me with an open hand / the world is grabbing back at you.” In comparison to her solemn breakout single, these lyrics are put against the backdrop of sunny guitar chords. She tricks you with her smiling demeanor, a role she plays to highlight the irony of being a woman in today’s society.
On another single, “Tricks,” she complains jauntily “You only like me when I do my tricks for you,” highlighting the boxes that women have to fit in to please their partners and friends. With sarcastic ease, she explains that for many women simply being themselves is not enough in today’s society; instead they have to package and repackage themselves into different roles to entertain even those who are close to them.
Listening to Stella’s music can be refreshing in a variety of ways. She tackles a harsh break-up and nasal congestion on “Allergies” and confronts an old pub boss who wouldn’t send her paycheck over on “U Owe Me.” On “Mosquito,” she croons “I use my vibrator wishing it was you / I was thinking of ya Tuesday afternoon,” capitalizing a sweet love song with poignant details about her own sexuality. On the more electronic-leaning track “Bistro,” her voice effortlessly glides over a melancholy drum machine beat, as she offers a gut-wrenching story on the mutual dissolution of a relationship between two people whose schedules keep them apart.
Stella also explores the new and overwhelming responsibility of her new platform on this record. Facing the strange reality of touring and displacement from her usual Australian home in “Lunch,” she sings “You’ve got lots of persuasions / and time to explain / but I’ve only got time for lunch,” on one of the only songs on the album where the melancholy feelings of isolation she’s singing about match the tone of her guitar.
The clear incongruity between Donnelly’s delivery and the serious stories she’s telling give the songs on Beware of the Dogs a serious impact. One exception to this rule is the title track “Beware of the Dogs,” where she calls out the darkness hidden underneath idyllic surroundings in a clear confessional manner. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Donnelly explained why she typically prefers to hide her blunt lyrics behind a summery exterior: “I find that if I’m able to create a little comfortable bed of nice sound, I can trick you. I could trick you into understanding what I’m saying. It’s a communication technique that I’ve always used when it comes to debating with someone or having a conversation that might be a little more serious and where they might not agree with me.”
Overall, Stella Donnelly’s debut album is strong, showcasing the confessional songwriting she has become known for, while also expanding into more electronic sounds to showcase her musical diversity. If there’s one thing to know for sure, it’s that Donnelly and her catchy tunes aren’t going anywhere.