“Beware Of The Dogs”feels like the embodiment of a movement of young artists in Australia who are refusing to let this oppressive behaviour slide. What a debut from Perth’s Stella Donnelly! She combines witty, intimate, hyperlocal songwriting – which more often than not takes down hierarchical power structures and toxic dudes, see opener Old Man – with slack, shoegazing guitar lines.
There are subdued moments, like Mosquito, where her girlish vocals come to the fore, only for songs like the title track to build to a loud, impassioned – and funny – call-to-arms:”There’s no Parliament worthy of this countryside/All these pious fucks taking from the 99,” she cries. Let ‘em have it, Stella.
Stella Donnelly latest album ‘Beware of the Dogs,’ out March 8 on Secretly Canadian
The Fat Angel Sings 