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Mar 01, 2021 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Carrigan Drallos

With her 2020 debut album DOOMPOP, Chloë Drallos, recording under her grunge pop moniker Zilched, calls back to the albums that were the guiding light of her teen years, most especially Nirvana’s Nevermind or Jesus and Mary Chain’s Psychocandy. As she describes, the record acts as a document of those years. “It’s an honest reflection of my attempts to grow up and make sense of absurdity,” Drallos says. “I wrote the first song in my last month of high school at 18 and finished recording/producing just a month after my 20th birthday.” Zilched has now returned with the record’s latest video for “The Knife,” premiering with Under the Radar.

“The Knife” certainly fits into the DOOMPOP moniker, marrying sharp pop sensibility and heavy layers of distorted instrumentation, all backed by a propulsive rhythm section, anxious guitar lines, and an ever-reliable quiet-loud dichotomy. But also, Drallos brings her own disaffected energy and a remarkably catchy delivery to the song. She brings to mind both the flannel-clad grunge icons of Drallos’ teen years and fellow revivalists such as early Wolf Alice. Just like those influences, Drallos captures nervous energy and honest teenage frustration, wrapping it all in roaring guitars and a defiant sneer.

The video was made in Drallos’ typical DIY fashion, self-directed and self-produced in her native Detroit. As she describes, “The song is love/hate. I wanted the video (dancing improvised by Morgan McCaul) to visualize an inner monologue, where those different emotional powers start to take over and ultimately lead to release of that power.” Check out the video below. DOOMPOP is out now via Young Heavy Souls.