Plagued with week five blues and armed with a hinge date, I trudged my way over to The Portland Arms to watch the Radio 6 dads gather for Du Blonde, the punkiest non-punk rocker from the northeast.

I first stumbled across Du Blonde in our lord’s year of 2021, made increasingly insufferable by the discovery of Radio 6 and the Windmill scene. I hadn’t listened to any of their stuff since then, so this gig was a small blast from the past… as many of the acts that grace the few stages of Cambridge tend to be (see also Mac DeMarco, distinctly 2019, and Rizzle Kicks on a following night at the Corn Ex).

“At the core of Du Blonde’s songs sits a non-pretentious conviction”

Ulterior to whatever heavier vibe that their stage backdrop might suggest and to whatever nostalgia I was clearly confronting, Du Blonde undeniably has the distinct look of a punk or emo singer. They sported blue slashes of eyeliner and platinum bunches, while their guitarist Courtney Dixon was in full 80s glam (perm and all). Instead, Du Blonde offered the audience a series of pleasant, simple indie rock hits. But despite the mishmash of fashion choices (including the bassists impressively plain black t-shirt), I found that there was something instantly likeable about the band.

“A gentle chorus that builds into a chant of conviction”

At the core of Du Blonde’s songs sits a non-pretentious conviction. Operating in the laid-back field of heart on sleeve style ballads, they meditate upon the melodramatic (yet mostly earnest) domain of break-ups, mansplaining (see ‘I’m glad that we broke up’) and frustrations against misogyny and unfair judgements. With a knowing, sardonic smile ‘TV Star’ confronts the seductive trappings of the limelight, accompanied by a gentle chorus that builds into a chant of conviction.

Again, as adverse to what I’d expected Du Blonde’s voice to be like (screamo, if you even care…), though with moments of rougher vocals, I could hear the pleasant echoes of acts in the same wheelhouse and confined to the same lockdown era for me: see also Porridge Radio, Goat Girl and Shilpa Ray.

But dismally omitted from their set list was the single song I wanted to hear. Rinsed by the aforementioned radio station, rinsed by my Spotify in week five, ‘It’s Christmas and I’m Crying’ was shockingly absent from my evening in the Portland Arms… it’s never too early Du Blonde. Never!