A city girl, a warrior.

Gina Birch – Feminist Song
Third Man Records – TMR719
Vinyl, 7", 33 ⅓ RPM, Limited Edition, USA, 2021
info

This 2021 single was Gina Birch's first "solo" record, 40+ years after founding the Raincoats in London. That band, started when she was just over 20 years old after seeing a Slits gig, has popped up on these pages before. (And if you don't already know them, that is the track to hear.) I've always enjoyed their messy embrace of feminism, art, anger and fun. In her late 60s now, Birch still has it. Feminist Song isn't built around the funkiness that worked its way into my favorite Raincoats cuts, but those other threads are still there: her painted cover art, the sharp politics, the tongue in cheek honesty ("and yes, sometimes I'm a pushover"), the catchy hook of a chorus buried under all the noise.

Fellow Raincoat Ana da Silva supplies some analog synth and Youth produces the track (also contributing a B side "ambient mix"). So with the early post-punk reunion it's not surprising some of that same energy comes right through. Her (fantastically named) full album, I Play My Bass Loud, dropped this year. It's a fun record- the wide range of styles, guests, and themes continues in the same spirit, although on the whole it's a little less noisy than this first single (and benefits from the added dub, funk and pop bits in my opinion).

Here on Feminist Song though, the vinyl is a pretty terrible pressing. Not sure if it was just flaws in my copy, but there were some strange, loud distortions throughout the tracks. I removed many of them, some I decided blended in enough with the noise of the song itself to ignore, and a few were just too much of a pain to deal with. Think of it as some added punk authenticity.

________________________________________________

Tracklist

A Feminist Song

B Feminist Song (Ambient Mix)

*Before posting I ran into the digital version of the single (that includes an additional "City Girl Mix"). An alternative to the "Added Vinyl Crackle Mix" I was giving you here...

________________________________________________

The city made me this way FLAC (download zip):

https://mega.nz/file/oDYkyARb#jgivMYaV2AsHzvmaCuamAkZ-qHtlOHJUoJsfQ0ab8GM

Why the hell would I not be? MP3 (download or stream):

https://mega.nz/folder/ACBmjL7J#GJoKfRrqp4lpaLCtkiXTgg

_______________________________

The world lost a special person a few weeks ago. She was old friend, who I honestly had not been in touch with for years, but hearing about her tragic injury then death really shook me in a way that I'm not used to. I wasn't sure what to say, or whether to say anything. So I'm thankful for the many who've been been writing about her much more powerfully than I could ever do. I was young and I'm sure these things are colored by years and emotions, but Jen was a person who made forward motion, creating, planning and clear thinking seem effortless to me. That kind of casual brilliance had a way of bringing out a confidence in those around her, inspiring people she spent time with to be twice as productive in her wake. The news left me reflecting on her and realizing all the little ways she influenced and helped set me on tracks that I can still recognize in my life a couple decades later. Of course, with her friends and family being so outspoken about her views on policing, prison, racism and restorative justice, she's squeezing in another round of setting the bar, connecting some new friends, and pushing us all do a little more. City girl and warrior, in her own special way. 

I'm not sure if she'd have liked this record. I imagine, most likely she would have enjoyed the idea of it... then leaned over and told you that she was never really that into punk music despite being the most famous "punk rocker" in the room. Presente.