Revulva - Revulva (2024) Hi-Res

Over the last five years, Wellington octet Revulva has won over audiences around New Zealand with their frenzied, high-energy stage shows. Taking their cues from Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Jamiroquai, Steely Dan, Herbie Hancock, Minnie Ripperton, and Prince, their self-titled debut album reimagines the anything-goes energy of New York City’s 1970s downtown scene and London’s 1990s funk and soul renaissance through an antipodean perspective where awkward, deadpan humour goes hand in hand with the band’s social concerns and inherent feminist politics.

Led by the bassist, vocalist and composer Phoebe Johnson, Revulva recorded and produced this record at Doctor Lee Prebble’s Surgery Studios. In the same spirit as singles ‘Bush Bash’ and ‘Beep Beep’, the ten songs included here capture the dynamic energy and juxtapositions that power their percussive grooves, spellbinding horn section and Johnson’s silky smooth songcraft and spoken word strut. It’s a high-wire act in a three-ring circus. You’re all invited to the Revulva party. You can even cry if you want to.