Lauren Deakin Davies a.k.a. alternative pop/punk artist DIDI has for the second consecutive year won the prestigious NMG Producer of the Year Award and NMG’s Breakthrough Artist of the Year Award. She is a self-taught record producer who juggles her time with dual roles of both producer and performer which includes her four-piece band.
As a confidently skilled and talented producer, Lauren has been a popular specialist on the music panel circuit where she encourages women into production roles. She is also involved in mentoring, public speaking, and lecturing. Earlier this year, we did an in-depth interview with Lauren about her career as a producer and her then-new project as artist DIDI.
Hot on the heels of her latest single, “Fickle Friends”, she has released her much-anticipated EP, Green, which is Lauren’s first body of work as DIDI. The limited edition contains her all five previously released tracks plus the unreleased “GO!”. She has been performing all these songs at gigs over the past 18 months.
Lauren wrote each track in March/April 2017 when she started her new musical journey as DIDI. She began as a solo artist and self-producer, but now performs with a band and works with producer Rhiannon Mair a.k.a. indie pop/rock artist RUEN. She says the Green EP “represents a cohesive chapter of my life and I think my excitement at the start of something new is evident, a whole new phase in my life opening up, as the ‘front person’ “.
Green is an intoxicating mix of fierce, dynamic, and impassioned punk/pop tracks that generate a kick-ass roller coaster ride.
Fickle Friends
The first track out of the gate is “Fickle Friends” a first-rate standout song that has a fresh, take-no-prisoners perspective on friendship. The song’s guitar intro is very short but commanding. The high energy retro pop guitar sounding like a synth will hit you head on. But just as you’re moving to the danceable groove, it suddenly drops, taking a back seat to a much slower melody of heavy drums. The entrance of DIDI’s distinctive vocals adds an air of impending drama.
DIDI’s voice illuminates an emotionally raw but brutal honesty as it courses along the driving soundscape. You can really feel the tension winding up as she bitterly points out to her friend how their friendship has gone off the rails. However, this confrontation is not heading toward a typical pre-chorus reconciliation.
It is here in the pre-chorus where DIDI’s forceful vocals point out her friend’s flaws with every word punctuated with each drum beat. The guitar and drums ramp up like driving rain and couple with the sharp intakes of breath you hear at the start of each “can’t you”. This is when you can really experience the exasperation in DIDI’s forceful vocals as she rebukes her friend for her actions.
Heading into the chorus where there’s a surprising transformation of the lyrics cleverly backpedaling from the situation. Here is where DIDI’s vocals effortlessly switch gears emotionally. You can actually feel this as she beautifully showcases a softer impassioned vocal conveying a powerful underlying hurt.
Coming out of an energetic interlude, the last verses give the song its dramatic point. It is here where DIDI’s simmering vocals execute a bluntness that rise and fall with the melody. She demonstrates a powerful vocal climb as she holds out the note at the end “lies”. The guitar and drums then explode into a brilliantly fast and furious run that vibrates through your entire body.
DIDI returns to the chorus leaving behind the previous approach and attacks it with a punk attitude of renewed vocal vigor. She then skillfully winds down with her last observation that maybe they’re just fickle friends this time.
“Fickle Friends” is cleverly written and arranged with a vibe that might be the anthem for anyone who has a friendship that seems to erratically change frequently.
GO!
The second standout on this EP is the unreleased track, “GO!”, a tenacious portrayal of the emotional contrasts of an inevitable breakup. The intro is a spikey but leisurely guitar chord progression that makes you feel as though you’re deeply contemplating. DIDI’s airy, bright vocals enter subtly, matching the psychedelic synth/guitar melody with her effortless upper register for the first verse.
She builds the momentum heading into the chorus step by step, turning up the volume and strength with each word. You can feel as though she has lit a fuse and now you’re waiting with tense anticipation for the chorus to ignite.
DIDI leaves you hanging on before she rips into the chorus’ with a powerful vocal explosion of the word “Go”. Accompanied by wildly distorted guitars, DIDI grabs the verses of the chorus with a quiet confidence. She doesn’t waver when she tells her lover she’s decided the relationship is over and they must leave.
Coming out of the chorus, the guitars mellow out and circles back to the intro melody. DIDI lands softly like a feather on the last word of the verse, skillfully elongating the note as she reverts back into the contemplative mood of the song’s beginning. From here, she beautifully returns to the vocally climactic ascent to the chorus as before with the feeling as though she’s re-thinking her decision. You also sense the unrelenting ache in her impassioned voice.
What follows is a kick-ass gritty guitar solo that makes its powerful entrance and sweeps you up in its wake. It makes a rapid ascent to the mountaintop before abruptly jumping off and fading away. The distorted guitars pick up from this point in an almost anti-climactic way and head back up to the chorus.
DIDI’s vocals are more aggressive starting with the word, Go! like she’s definitely made up her mind and is now demanding her lover leave. Then as if this whole situation has exhausted her, DIDI winds the song down with a lovely gentler vocal at the very end.
“GO!” is an authentic and dynamic song that navigates the complexities of deciding whether or not to break up a relationship and how that can drag you to the edge and back emotionally.
Back Off
The track “Back Off” stands out for its raw, contagious energy and fiery punk attitude. This is an anthem for dealing with those people who tell you they’re better than you are. The intro is a spirited 1-2-3-4 count off on drumsticks that dives immediately into an equally energetic guitar riff to set the mood. However, it quickly levels off into more of a subdued upbeat but taut moment.
DIDI’s robust vocals slide along this tense part at a defined clip. You can hear the slight breathlessness at the end of each word as she’s giving a dressing down to the obnoxious stranger on the train harassing someone. But you have to wait on tender hooks for the chorus.
The pre-chorus has everything stripped away but the guitar. Her higher register precisely matches the guitar’s unhurried chord progression in amazing seamless unity.
The melody shifts back to the upbeat intro and DIDI lands her vocal punches squarely on target as she dresses down the stranger. There’s an anger underlying the perfectly controlled, assertive vocals that clue us in emotionally. Then the tense pre-chorus before the chorus storm repeats again and she turns it around and employs her angelic tone.
A roaring guitar solo follows the chorus before the song ends with the chorus just repeating. However, it’s more than that as winds down with a twist. DIDI’s vocals and the background vocals trade off in a brilliant response and call style.
“Back Off” is an empowering song of taking back control when confronted by those who dislike you for who you are.
Fast & Furious/Awkward/Sorry
The other tracks rounding out the six-track EP are very much gems in their own right.
“Fast & Furious” is a love song that showcases a clever tug-of-war structure. The song illustrates an effective two-part tempo between sets of verses how sometimes one person pushes for a relationship to move faster along and the other person wants to take it easy and move more slowly. The track was produced with Rhiannon Mair who played drums. The song’s second part which tells the other side of the story was written with London based artist Russell Swallow.
“Sorry” was the first solo song that DIDI wrote. It paints a heart-breaking picture of someone wanting too much from their lover who then pushed them away. You can actually feel the heartache emanating from the lyrics and DIDI’s melancholy vocals throughout the song.
“Awkward” is a stark and somber reminder of how patronizing people can be whether it’s face to face or online. DIDI wrote the song because her and her friends, especially the female musicians, have unfortunately been experiencing this situation a great deal.
Credits
Rhiannon Mair (RUEN) produced the tracks “Fast & Furious”, “Back Off”, “GO!”, and “Fickle Friends” as well as playing the drums on all four tracks. DIDI produced the tracks “Sorry” and “Awkward”. Katie Tavini mastered all of the tracks and the EP.
Very Highly Recommended. Green is a must-have EP in your essential music collection. Each of the singles firmly stands alone as a brilliant showcase of songwriting and producing by DIDI. There’s no doubting her talent for smart, visual lyrics crafted with potent pop/punk soundscapes. A full-length album in the future would be highly anticipated.
You can buy Green on all major platforms HERE
Get updates on DIDI’s website: www.didimusic.co.uk
Follow DIDI on Social Media:
Twitter: @IamDIDImusic
Instagram: @iamdidimusic
Check out DIDI’s music on:
Soundcloud: iamdidimusic
