{"id":49212,"date":"2015-04-28T11:10:39","date_gmt":"2015-04-28T11:10:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wonderlandmagazine.com\/?p=49212"},"modified":"2017-03-01T12:22:10","modified_gmt":"2017-03-01T12:22:10","slug":"new-noise-du-blonde","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wonderlandmagazine.com\/2015\/04\/28\/new-noise-du-blonde\/","title":{"rendered":"New Noise: Du Blonde"},"content":{"rendered":"

Freeing herself from the shackles of her former sound, Beth Jeans Houghton boldly rebranded as Du Blonde \u2013 and is no longer afraid to speak her mind.<\/p>\n

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Two years ago, Beth Jeans Houghton had a bittersweet epiphany. Standing among the props in the \u201cDavid Bowie Is\u2026\u201d exhibition \u00adat the V&A Museum, she realised that she had not been true to her childhood vows \u2013 to always keep moving, keep pushing her sound and never be pinned down.\u00a0Things had to change.<\/p>\n

Beth originally started off alongside The Hooves of Destiny<\/i>, which saw them release the critically acclaimed \u201cYours Truly, Cellophane Nose\u201d. Eager to expand on their success, Beth and the band took to LA in the hope of recording their second record. But soon Beth became disenchanted with her sound and artistic direction, and decided to split from the band to go about things alone.<\/p>\n

After some soul-searching, she underwent a transformation. Beth Jeans Houghton was dead, and Du Blonde was born. While Du Blonde isn\u2019t a stage character, it is a complete reinvention \u2013 introducing a new look, band and sound. We talk to Du Blonde about her newfound confidence, album and about setting off into the LA desert with Future Island<\/i>\u2019s Samuel T Herring.<\/p>\n

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You said that Du Blonde isn’t a character or persona. So how would you describe it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019d say it\u2019s a new project, but it\u2019s me 100 per cent. It\u2019s not like I\u2019ve created something artificial or change when I\u2019m on stage. I\u2019d say that I am probably more myself than I used to be. And the name just acted as a good way to make the point that I\u2019m not doing my old sound anymore.<\/p>\n

Would you say that there’s a lot of emotion and anger tied up with your latest album?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah, definitely. There\u2019s a lot of releasing of emotion. I got to a very stagnant point in my head and in my life, and I needed to expel all of that. But I would say it was more of a productive anger than anything else. Sometimes when problems build up over a long time, and you\u2019re not really addressing them with yourself or other people, they can come out in ugly ways. But rather than do that, I wanted to do things in a positive way and put it into music. That way it\u2019s healing for me, and I also save everyone else from my wrath.<\/p>\n

How do you think you’ve evolved as an artist over the years since Houghton & The Hooves of Destiny<\/i>?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think I\u2019ve become a lot more honest with myself and with my music. The first record was honest, but this one is more blunt and to the point. I\u2019m not avoiding certain subjects by shrouding the lyrics in mystery; I\u2019m just saying it how it is. I think I\u2019ve become a lot more confident to be myself and not worry so much about what people are going to think. You can change as much as you like, but there\u2019ll still be people who won\u2019t like it.<\/p>\n