“They don’t teach you this at school,” croons Ruby Gill on her latest single, and she’s damn right.
In “you should do this for a living”, the songstress navigates her unavoidable experience of male dominance, pressure, and coercion in the music industry.
The single’s chambre-folk sound is held by a jangle of acoustic guitar rhythms and textural hums. Somewhere in between Joni Mitchell’s songwriting and Bob Dylan’s poetry, Gill tells stories in smoky, broody vocals. “And he turns up the reverb even though I said no.”
Whilst based on personal experience, you find yourself wanting to fill in the spaces of Gill’s unfinished and all-too-familiar narrative. Her mellifluous voice has a crystalline comfort as she boldly navigates the perpetually tiring experience of feminine diminishment.
In the chorus beats the songs’ heart – “I can handle the heat but get out my kitchen” – chants an angelic choir of prominent female-identifying voices featuring Angie McMahon, Maple Glider, Mimi Gilbert, Hannah Cameron and Hannah Blackburn.
The track was completely created with no men involved. And while this may sound glib, it’s an unfortunately uncommon feat in an industry riddled with gender imbalances. We need more of what Gill’s single urges, for women and non-binary to take up space in music – and beyond.
