New to my ears, Toronto-based Wine Lips released their fifth full-length album, TV Dinner. I feel I’ve arrived at this psych-punk party very unstylishly late. But finally I’ve picked up a pew and made myself comfortable, turned up the volume and got ready for the wild ride that is this album.
Wine Lips formed 11 years ago. They have earned a name in Canada with over 50 million Spotify streams. Their music has been featured in films, TV shows, and video games, and Iggy Pop has praised them. They have toured North America, Europe, the UK, Hong Kong, and China. They supported many big names along the way, including Death From Above 1979. A pretty impressive CV, if I do say so. Congrats, Wine Lips, you got the job.
Having not heard their previous catalogue (which I will now be investigating deeply, because I am a music geek), I can’t compare TV Dinner with their previous releases, but I can say this album grabbed my attention right away. It’s fun, catchy and absolutely full of earworm-worthy riffs.
From the moment I pressed play and heard the Hives-style opening of track one, ‘Cut It’, I was in. The song tackles addiction. It sounds as if The Hives put on surf gear and became 100 percent more insane. Bloody awesome.
Then, if that doesn’t sound great already, the following song ‘Projector’ speeds things right up, kicking into full, unhinged, shouty punk. It delivers the velocity of egg punk and the snarl of traditional punk. Aurora Evans handles lead vocals on this track, adding another dimension to the band’s sound. “Don’t listen to a word you say because you project on me, you projector!” she spits. We’re not even halfway through the album and this may already be my favourite song.
‘Trip To The Doctor’ slows the tempo a touch. Its steady riff stays with you for days before the song launches a full-frontal assault. Lyrically, it’s a chaotic take on the modern world. It targets wellness culture, conspiracy theories, and the endless stream of miracle cures and contradictory advice we encounter.
‘Maybe You Can Give It A Shot’ fires up immediately into another wild affair that you can’t help but get caught up in. And this is something TV Dinner does particularly well: even when the subject matter is frustrating, ridiculous or downright bleak, the music remains incredibly fun.
Later we come to ‘Thirst Trap.’ It stayed in my head all day after the first listen. The riff is insanely catchy. Lyrically, the song targets the bizarre world of algorithm culture. We spend hours staring at our phones, and the line between satire and reality grows blurrier.
‘Strip Club DJ’ is another favourite for me. It’s perfect to dance to – a complete dance-punk party that I need to score an invite to. It’s also one of those songs where Wine Lips manage to find something funny and strangely poetic in the mundane, with references to $11 beers, lunch buffets and TV dinners in the microwave. Somehow, it all adds up to a very strange but oddly optimistic celebration of convincing yourself you’re living the dream.
Final song ‘Static On The Radio’ calms the pace down significantly and takes things more into stoner-rock territory, providing a hazier ending after what has been a pretty relentless thirty-five minutes.
What I really like about TV Dinner is the amount of different vibes packed into it. There’s punk, obviously, but also surf, psychedelia, stoner rock and straight-up rock ‘n’ roll. Despite all the chaos, the album never feels like it’s trying too hard to fit into one particular genre. Wine Lips seem more interested in taking whatever sounds good and throwing it into the mix.
And underneath all that noise, humour and infectious energy, there is something quite cathartic going on. TV Dinner takes everyday frustrations – addiction, social media, rising costs, getting older, trying to navigate modern life – and turns them into loud, fuzzy, energetic rock songs. Rather than pretending everything is fine, Wine Lips seem to be suggesting that sometimes the best thing you can do is laugh at the ridiculousness of it all and turn the volume up.
This album ticks all the boxes for me: chaotic, fun, loud, fast and full of riffs that refuse to leave your head. I have absolutely no idea how I’ve managed to miss Wine Lips for this long, but I’m very glad I’ve finally caught up. And having heard how energetic these songs are on record, I reckon TV Dinner would be an absolute corker live.
TV Dinner is out now and you can buy it on Bandcamp
Wine Lips Socials: Facebook/Instagram
Review by Hayley Foster da Silva
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