The Fat Angel Sings

I have followed the chameleon like career of Beth Jeans Houghton with great interest ever since seeing her Hooves Of Destiny shows at the Musician in Leicester few years ago. Since then after the Hooves of Destiny and, more recently, comes the Du Blonde moniker – complete with an altogether heavier, grittier sound.

Du Blonde may sound like a band, but in fact it is, and always has been, the work of just one person. Beth Jeans Houghton. Her new album “Lung Bread For Daddy” delves even deeper into self sufficiency, seeing Beth take the reigns on production, instrumentation, album artwork and direction of music videos. This project is entirely her own. Lung Bread For Daddy sees a meeting in which Beth’s previous two albums, 2015’s Welcome Back To Milk and her debut Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose, take a seat at the table and make amends. Veering wildly between proto-punk, psych rock and the wholesome song writing of the 1970’s, taking the listener on a journey through the landscape of her past. It is an honest and often uncomfortable look into the life of a person who’s experiences have been touched by a myriad of characters, homes across continents, periods of extreme loneliness, mental illness and a search for an understanding of personal identity. Houghton’s insatiable thirst for creation on her own terms has seen her take charge of every aspect of Lung Bread For Daddy including the brutal self portrait that adorns the cover of this record. Painted from a photograph taken during one of her lowest points, the image depicts Beth devoid not only of makeup, but self worth and confidence.

She will be releasing her second album as Du Blonde titled Lung Bread For Daddy via Moshi Moshi Records on the 22nd February, and it is described as a meeting in which her previous two albums, 2015’s Welcome Back To Milkand her debutYours Truly, Cellophane Nose, take a seat at the table and make amends.

The first single is the autobiographical Angel, referencing the end of a relationship with someone who promises a lot, but delivers very little. Angel by Du Blonde (aka Beth Jeans Houghton). Taken from her new album ‘Lung Bread For Daddy’ out on Moshi Moshi on 22nd February

Du Blonde is the project of UK-based multi-instrumentalist Beth Jeans Houghton. She has announced a new album, “Lung Bread For Daddy” for Moshi Moshi Records, and has shared a video for a new song from it, “Buddy.”  Lung Bread For Daddy is due out February 22nd, 2019 her first for the label. Houghton self-directed the video for “Buddy,” which features her taking a bath filled with spaghetti.

The album is the follow-up to 2015’s Welcome Back to Milkand 2012’s Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose. The latter album was released under her given name and both came out via Mute Records.

Houghton oversaw every aspect of Lung Bread For Daddy. “I know exactly what I want my record to sound like and apart from drums, I have the ability to play all the instruments, so I did,” she says in a press release.

She even painted the album cover, a self-portrait taken from, as the press release describes it, “a photograph taken during one of her lowest points, the image depicts Beth devoid not only of makeup, but of self-worth and confidence.”

Houghton elaborates: “I look tired and pretty much destroyed, which is a feeling I’ve known many times over; in the aftermath of relationships and that of making a record. Lyrically the album is very naked, so I’m carrying on the nudity of my previous album covers, only this time it’s emotional instead of physical.”

A press release describes the album this way: “Veering wildly between proto-punk, psych rock and the wholesome songwriting of the 1970s, Lung Bread For Daddy takes the listener on a journey through the landscape of her past. It is an honest and often uncomfortable look into the life of a person whose experiences have been touched by a myriad of characters, homes across continents, periods of extreme loneliness, mental illness and a search for an understanding of personal identity.”

Houghton adds: “My lyrics are always autobiographical. I have to be able to identify with what I’m singing, and telling my story is therapeutic.”

Buddy is her first single from the album with a self-directed video featuring a bathtub, 3 bottles of vegetable oil and 37 packets of spaghetti.

Du Blonde returns with new album ‘Lung Bread For Daddy’ on 22nd February on Moshi Moshi Records: