The Raincoats Bassist Gina Birch Releases Solo Debut, “I Play My Bass Loud”

As a member of post-punk icons The Raincoats, Gina Birch put her stamp on the world with her music. Now she’s making another statement with I Play My Bass Loud, which marks her solo album debut and serves as a sort of self-portrait.

“’I Play My Bass Loud’ distills my years of musical, political, and artistic life with these genre-breaking songs,” Birch says. “It’s a personal diary using sounds and lyrics, full of fun, rage, and storytelling.”

Birch crafts her grooves around her creative bass lines, which range from pensive upper-register melodies to slamming distorted riffs. Each song has a different approach to give the album a satisfying flow as a whole.

I Play My Bass Loud was sparked in part by last year’s solo track “Feminist Song,” which also marked Birch’s solo debut.

“There’s the whole thing about women playing their music and wanting to be heard, wanting acknowledgment or the space to do it,” Birch says. “The bass is sometimes assigned as a lesser instrument, and yet because of reggae and the creativity of a lot of women players, it has always been a creative and phenomenal instrument.”

As such, Birch recruited four other female bassists to fill out the title track: Emily Elhaj, Hazel Rigby, Mikki Itzigsohn, and Staz Lindes. See them all in the video for “I Play My Bass Loud”:

Other album highlights include “Let’s Go Crazy” featuring guitar from Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and the in-your-face anthem “Wish I Was You”.

I Play My Bass Loud is available now on CD, vinyl, and as a digital download (iTunes and Amazon MP3).

I Play My Bass Loud Track List:

1. I Play My Bass Loud
2. And Then It Happened
3. Wish I Was You
4. Big Mouth
5. Pussy Riot
6. I Am Rage
7. I Will Never Wear Stilettos
8. Dance Like A Demon
9. Digging Down
10. Feminist Song
11. Let’s Go Crazy