I was sold by the opening line of their bio, which tells me that ‘Pythies is a witchy grunge band from Paris’. Goth and grunge? I’m in!
Pythies is the vehicle led by Lise.L, formed – at least conceptually – late in 2022 and based on a concept of an all-female band in the vein of L7, 7 year bitch, Babes in Toyland, Hole, with her taste for witchcraft bringing that essential unique slant.
Come January 2023, as we learn, ‘she meets through social media the guitar player Thérèse La Garce and the drummer Anna B. Void: the alchemy between these three is undeniable and Pythies is born.’
‘Toy’ is culled from their forthcoming EP, and this new song, Lise.L ‘depicts a friendship that has been wasted over by the constant objectification and over sexualisation of women, a hard and disgusting reality’.
As such, ‘Toy’ pulls no punches, and there can be no debate that this is a good thing. Something is seriously wrong that in 2024, women are having to speak out since for years now, they’ve been speaking out and so little has changed. But the only way change will ever come is if women continue to speak out, and men actually get behind them in adding their voices of support. But, more significantly still, men need to change their shitty behaviours, once and for all. Is it that hard? And does it really need explaining? It does, sadly, but it shouldn’t, and it makes me feel ashamed of my gender. And the ones who decry ‘yes, but not all men!’ are embarrassments, too, outing themselves as apologists for the fact that while it may not be all men, it’s the majority, and to make no defence of the fact it’s far too many. Because there is no defence.
With ‘Toy’, Pythies slam their message home hard, driven by a monster riff. Launching with a crisp, solid, four-four bassline – something common to both post-punk ‘origins’ goth and the 90s bands which followed in its wake, and grunge, drums and blistering guitar blast and scrape away.
Where ‘Toy’ succeeds – above and beyond being a belting tune with masses of guts and gritty guitars – is that it doesn’t go all-out on male alienation, but instead depicts the grim realities – while the video depicts the perfect revenge.
AA
Aural Aggravation 