Dolores Forever on how friendships and navigating life shaped their debut album

When Dolores Forever were included in Rolling Stone UK’s Ones To Watch for 2023, Hannah Wilson and Julia Fabrin explained how they were very much friends first, band second after meeting at a house party and later deciding to give the whole band thing a go.

“It really seemed to be a friendship first, but we let our emotions flow naturally and eventually that turned into our band,” they said at the time.

It’s of little surprise, then, that this theme feeds all the way through their debut album It’s Nothing.

Despite what that title might suggest, this album *is* in fact quite something. It’s a consistent showcase of breezy indie-pop anchored by emotion and what it’s like navigating life in your thirties.

At the centre of this, of course, is that sense of friendship and girlhood. “Don’t worry darling. You don’t have to give yourself a split lip,” they sing on the defiant ‘Split Lip’.

“You don’t have to beat yourself up over it. You know I hate seeing you like this”

“I think there’s definite bravery in giving in giving yourself emotionally to someone, whether that’s a friend or or a partner or a family member,” explains Wilson.

“And that’s a badge we wear proudly in the band. I’m talking about friendships, well I’ve got a friend staying with me at the moment who I met when I was 11 and she’s been staying here for a week, and it’s just been the most delightful time. We’re discussing how we can move into a a Co-operative or a homestead and, you know, live our lives with our best friends beside us. And it’s the same with Julia.

“Our friends are mad important to us and who we are as human beings. They help us understand our emotions. I think in culture and and society, there’s such an importance put on traditional romantic relationships, and they are obviously important, too.

“But there’s more to life than just that. So when we sing ‘Split Lip’ live which is our tune in protection of each other, it’s the one that makes us the most emotional.”

Elsewhere, there’s the battle to fight against misogyny in the industry. The duo were songwriters for other artists before forming the band and explain that they often faced instances where label execs would refuse to put female songwriters in a room together.

“There’s this crazy, outdated ideology that is completely destructive,” Wilson reflects.

“Both Julia and I experienced this separately in the music industry, in writing scenarios where we were literally told ‘Oh, we don’t usually put two women in a room to write together because they just always fight’. That blew our minds and in that situation now I’ll be really vocal and tell them all the reasons why that’s untrue. All we can do is try and change our immediate environment and the people immediately around us.”

“I think the best thing we can do is talk about our experiences,” adds Fabrin.

“To be out there being artists and to show those people you can be in a band and not be fighting. We’re trying to be an example of something that is different, but we wouldn’t want to be the poster children for something different.”

It’s also reflected in ‘Go Fast Go Slow’ – one of the album’s standout tracks.

“That song is about the fact we take some steps forward in society, but they’re not wide enough and there’s a line in it about the same old wearing new clothes and there’s times that it feels like that. There’s been loads of change and data to show that, but also there’s ben a shitload of stats to prove where it hasn’t changed enough when it comes to tackling misogyny. All we can do is keep shouting about it at our shows.”

But all of this, of course, is underlined with a sense of fun. “This album is just filled with bangers,” Fabrin aptly puts it. You can’t argue with that.