By Monk
Delilah Bon – the latest alter ego/incarnation/nom de plume/personification of the multi-faceted, multi-talented, multi-voiced Lauren Tate – wears the title of this declarative album on both her sleeve and her heart as a symbol of defiant self-declaration. The descriptive ‘Evil Hate-Filled Female’ was originally hurled her way as an insult by an online troll, but Tate has taken that insult and turned it back on itself, adopting it as a clarion call of confident “fuck the haters” self-belief.
At the same time, she has in turn taken any preconceptions of expectation and also spun them around into and onto themselves with a rare ability to see the absurd in the most expectant aspects of abnormality, pushing boundaries to their utmost limits but still retaining a beautifully crafted musical sensibility that challenges and entrances in equal measure.
Musically, ‘EHFF’ is like nothing we have heard from Tate before, but also everything we would expect, as she effortlessly blends lyrics which in turn deliver tongue-in-cheek feminist fantasies and unapologetic declarations of empowerment in a blend of searingly uncompromising hip-hop lyricism combined with hard-hitting nu-metal guitar riffs that will rip your face off at 40 paces and bratty riot grrrl energy which creates and moulds her own self-styled signature “brat punk” sound, in turn delivered with a lively and playful energy combined with a sense of restrained rage which permeates every groove of this contagiously cogent and irrepressible album.
Despite her obvious pride in her adoptive moniker, Delilah Bon/Lauren Tate is far from an #EvilHateFilledFemale. But, if she’s not that, what is she? Well, she is a declarative, defiant, self-aware and singularly strident artist and voice for the modern era.
- ‘Evil, Hate Filled Female‘ is out now.
