Sweden’s Dolores Haze, named after Nabokov’s Lolita, have been playing shows and creating a big following in the underground (read: non-pop) scene in their native Stockholm. Their live shows are a potent combination of energetic, loud, and youthful and showcase what they refer to as their “gothsex” aesthetic. A new video for the song “I Got my Gun”, made in collaboration by the band and Pontus Winnberg and released as part of a collaboration with Cheap Monday X Teenage Engineering, features the quartet embedded in a VHS apocalypse doing what they do best: playing furious and catchy anthems about youth and the dystopian state of teenage romance. In just one minute and ten seconds, “I Got My Gun” serves as an excellent introduction to Dolores Haze.
The opening moments of “I Got My Gun” begin with a synth line that sounds like a tonal dot matrix printer, and pre-programmed snare hits, which after ceding to actual snare hits, turns into a upbeat Yeah Yeah Yeah’s-esque groove. Singer and bassist Nicki Dar sings “I know you think its all for fun” before a wall of menacingly muddy guitars establishes itself as the driving force of the song. A short chorus of “I don’t need love, I’ve got my gun” repeats ominously for much of the remainder of the track. Throughout these 70 seconds, the video melts and coagulates a saturated 80’s color palate into various forms of the band playing and floating through a space reminiscent of the original Tron.
The band has released two EPs in the past two years: 2013’s I Did Not Kill Sam EP and 2014’s Accidental EP, both of which are on Spotify. The band recently signed on to work with Whoa Dad Records as well as Telegram Studios management, and are planning a summer festival run in Sweden, in addition to re-recording those EP’s and recording their first full-length.
