Gina Birch is a 67 year-old '70s feminist icon who smashed into 2023 with her loud bass. Originally only knowing of Gina Birch from her fame with The Raincoats experimental post-punkness, I found out that over the last four decades the godmother of punk has saved numerous audio files on her computer of her whispering, singing, and screaming to form I Play My Bass Loud: an ethereal conversation with herself to share with the world. When this album release came to my attention, I saved it for weeks to listen to. And after finally finding the time I sat down and decided to spend just over 44 minutes with all 11 songs, leaving me astounded and grateful that I did.
Each song brings a new level to the complex topics of her experiences and journey through life that she has decided to showcase. Closing my eyes, I could almost imagine her sitting with me: raw and exposed, sharing her vulnerabilities and the lessons she learned in her younger days. Starting off with the title song's rattling introduction, "I Play My Bass Loud," she then jumps into the outraged and cool tones of "Feminist Rage" and "Pussy Riot." Surprisingly, whereas she could have performed these songs from a one-dimensional angry standpoint, she seems hyper aware of her almost advisory role to her listeners, riddling her lyrics with reminders and double entendres. The fourth track "Big Mouth" drew my attention to focus solely on the emotions the music was eliciting. Gina Birch utilizes voice effects here to make the story of this song more three dimensional, seemingly showcasing a full cast of characters. Even though they are all her voice and her own messages.
Now I am not going to say that I Play My Bass Loud is an album I am going to listen to in entirety as I go about my day all the time. I will say though, it is rare that an album is not only so encompassing but such a masterpiece of storytelling that I almost feel as if Gina Birch has sliced off a bit of her soul to bare to the world we currently live in. I Play My Bass Loud is her empowering and raw bassist note to say "One thing I can tell you is you’ve got to be free. the peace the love the tears, we’ve got to be free."
