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'Trouble' is a patchwork of sorts: its 11 songs are not only eclectic in genre, but play like stitched-together vignettes, fly-on-the-wall scenes in which Gina describes meeting a stranger on a train, or a flare up with her teenage daughter, or the nostalgia of driving past a certain part of your neighborhood that’s been unchanged for as long as you can remember. It’s the politics of the everyday, a work that is feminist not because of slogans or placards, but because it’s a candid portrait of a female artist simply existing. “It's a bit out there, a bit off the tracks, and I always like to go there,” says Gina about the album’s diaristic undertones. “I unofficially subtitled the album ‘Trouble I've Caused and Trouble I'm In’, so the songs are based around that feeling—that dangerous place to be.”

As such, the connecting factor that links all the songs on 'Trouble' together isn’t one single ideology or theme or topic, but Gina herself. It’s her vision, informed by her status as a rock icon, her voice as a forward-thinking artist, and her perspective as someone who just thinks life should be a bit of a laugh sometimes. For a musician who has had such an impact on her genre, it’s downright life-affirming to realize that she still has so much to share with her audience—and frankly, 'Trouble' is just cracking the surface. “These songs came to me like a radio tuning, the airwaves going along, and I just plucked them out of the air. Something just clicks in the atmosphere, and I just take it. I'm not writing an opus about one thing. I'm writing an opus about being me.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Broadly speaking, I'd probably chuck 'Trouble' into the rock / punk pigeonhole if I had to, but focusing on Birch's acidulated vocals and purposefully off-piste melodic angle would be understating her ability as a musician. there are moments of intentional oddness but there are also moments of calm and measured stillness, balanced perfectly and presented in Birch's inimitable style.

TRACK LISTING

1. I’m Going To Live Forever
2. Happiness
3. Causing Trouble Again
4. Cello Song
5 Keep To The Left
6. Doomonger
7. Don’t Fight Your Friends
8. Nothing Will Ever Change
9. Hey Hey
10. Train Platform