26 November 2021 - 0 Comments

Dbldbl is the musical project of Liam Dargaville (Te Rarawa, Ngā Puhi, they/them), a musician and songwriter based in Tāmaki Makaurau. Dargaville specialises in pairing crisp, minimal production with raps that use extended metaphors about film, board games, and fine dining to broach topics such as chronic pain, identity politics and depression.

Today they the share new single Big Mike feat. L V J and PollyHill:

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Lead by Dargaville Big Mike feat. L V J and PollyHill is a character study of a certain brand of modern misogyny.

"Big Mike is a classic community tale," says Dargaville. "Of the typically socially ‘connected’, repeat transgressor, burning bridges & people wherever they go. Unsurprisingly, they remain safely insulated within the staunch defence of peers who limply claim ‘niceness’, ‘ignorance’ or simply rest on their ‘disbelief’."

L V J dives further, "My verse on Big Mike is a call out on Fuckboys™, Softboys™ and other regular offenders of your local social scene. The ones who, without any effort, always make others feel small or intrude in their own space with shitty anecdotes and self righteous opinions. If you’re a Mike, please, sit down."

PollyHill takes a different angle, "My Big Mike verse was more inspired by the gatekeeping mens in power type Michaels, both historically and now-days. I used the classic ‘how many blonds’ joke but flipped it with a lens of like, let’s sit back and watch these Mikes play themselves, cos they inevitably will, and we’ll be laughing from the cheap seats."

The video for Big Mike was made by photographer and videographer Frances Carter. Carter's resume includes photographing TEEKS, BENEE and CHAII as well as directing videos for Purple Pilgrims, and the recent documentary accompanying Filth's appearance for Boiler Room.

"I've been wanting to make a video with Liam for years. Their music is so clever, sometimes cutting and sometimes totally silly, and always incredibly fun to dance to" says Carter.

Big Mike didn't come without its challenges "This particular track has a few musical twists and turns, with two feature verses - and we had to work around the added complication of L V J being based in Berlin. I wanted to incorporate footage of EJ while keeping things stylistically consistent, so we enlisted the help of Joel Thomas to film EJ performing their verse in Berlin, which was then cut and played back on a CRT TV in the studio during our shoot."

Keen viewers will notice that throughout the video there are guest appearances as Carter explains "We had some lil easter egg appearances from the amazing Randa, Rotigurl and Imugi's Yery Cho (who have all collaborated with Dbldbl on unreleased tracks). I thought a black and white colour scheme was best to tie all these different elements together, and it also suited the more serious message of the track. The shoot itself was heaps of fun - Liam and Paloma are both incredible performers and nailed their takes so quickly which made for a super relaxed day. Start to finish, this video was a real pleasure to make!"

Dargaville has had a long lasting influence on Aotearoa's alternative hip hop landscape. Their music has paved the way for those artists who forgo the usual genre traps, instead focusing on gender identity, mental health, and community.

In 2013 Dargaville formed one half of Cool Tan (formerly known as Heavy), along with Reem Nabhani (Meer), a hip hop duo who opened for international acts Earl Sweatshirt, The Internet, Jurassic 5, Ratatat, and Miss Blanks. The pair toured throughout Aotearoa and performed at Auckland City Limits and St Jerome's Laneway Festival.

Liam's first foray as Dbldbl was in 2016, when they released their debut album Power Chuck. A firm favourite with Student Radio, Dbldbl continued their solo success with 2017's Christmas Day at the Breakfast Buffet, and 2019's Chip Buddies, a collaboration with the enigmatic producer Trapjaw Kelpie. Dbldbl has toured throughout the Aotearoa, and supported international artists such as New York rapper Le1f.

L V J (aka Zeus Depree) is a non binary, multidisciplinary, Filipino blooded, Australian born, New Zealand raised and, currently, Berlin based artist. L V J uses elements from an abundant range of influences, musically and culturally, creating a melting ~ hot ~ pot style of rap. Serving sluggish, rough wordplay of the west coast and the tactically affluent flow and spirit of the east coast, tied together with personality that flourishes throughout their recordings and their high tension, electrifying live performances. They manifest as the de facto definition of divinity.

PollyHill is the breath of fresh air no-one asked for, but everyone needed.

Hailing from Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland), she exists at an intersection of the arts — filmmaker, producer, and MC. Scouted as a Live Nation One To Watch artist, and having just released their self-produced sophomore EP Post Humorous, 2021 is looking exciting for Polly.

Photo Credit: Frances Carter

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