Dulcie - Stay Away (Hope You're Ok) (self-released)

If there is one perfect collision point where the easy accessibility and effortless infectiousness of pop crashes into the grit and groove, drive and confidence of rock music, then it is at an epicentral point right beneath the feet of Dulcie as she delivers her latest single, “Stay Away (Hope You’re Ok).”

If the title points to the complexities of post-breakup relationships – those periods of confusion where you know that you can’t have that person in your life any more but still hope that they are doing alright – the music is a much more straightforward affair.

But just because it is straightforward doesn’t mean you should underestimate it. What Dulcie has created here is the perfect meeting of musical minds, a song that blends muscle and melody, groove and grind. And although her references, by the simple fact of her young age, lean more towards artists such as Avril Lavinge and No Doubt, both artists adept at injecting some pop, and perhaps a touch of soul, into more robust musical forms, I, being older, might cite the likes of Transvision Vamp or The Primitives, who did the same in the preceding decades.

Rock needs to be unclogged of its cliches, and pop needs to stop settling for the lowest common denominator, throwaway efforts. They both can learn a lot from what is often seen as their opposite and perhaps even enemy camps. And if you want to know what that learning curve might sound like, drop the virtual needle on this song again… and again… and again. You’ll get there.

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