VR Sex release ‘Real Doll Time’ and announce new album
VR Sex, the post-punk project of Drab Majesty’s Andrew Clinco, have released the single ‘Real Doll Time’ and announced their new album, Hard Copy.
Clinco, who goes by the moniker Deb Demure in the gothic, synth-driven Drab Majesty, decided to expand VR Sex, his conduit for a different take on post-punk, into a full five-piece band following the 2022 album Rough Dimension.
To precede their new album, a collection of ten tracks blending pulsating punk and psychedelia, VR Sex have shared ‘Real Doll Time’. The release is a direct number characterised by the frontman’s distinctive baritone in the chorus, driving guitars, a doomy bassline, and flecks of more ethereal palettes à la Drab Majesty. Hard Copy arrives on March 2nd via Dais Records.
To mark VR Sex’s metamorphosis into a fully-fledged group with Hard Copy, the quintet booked into a studio in Los Angeles’ Glassell Park, shared iPhone demos and “did that classic thing of a band making the exact record they want without any interference.” The group then worked 12-hour days for a month, refining their approach as they continued.
As part of their process, VR Sex banned DAW plug-ins. Instead, they opted for most instruments to be recorded directly into the board, with the guitars brought to life via an intricate daisy chain of amplifiers, attempting to gain as much sound from each take.
Hard Copy was mixed by the band’s guitarist, Mike Kriebel, an accomplished engineer who specialises in punk, goth and garage. According to VR Sex, the album is a rich sonic environment aimed at total intoxication, derived from Clinco’s muse of “reckless abandon”.
Listen to ‘Real Doll Time’ below.
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