New to Hot Press: Alien She

Alien She refuse to be pigeonholed. Described as everything from experimental and indie to shoegaze and garage-punk, two of the band's members, Aoife and Katie, met at a feminist meeting with the intention of making a noise project, with drummer Darragh making the perfect final addition."We have so many musical inspirations," Aoife explains. "It's a real hybrid animal. A lot of the time, it's like being in an art collective rather than a band."

Their debut album Feeler is testament to this. The eight-track effort features a range of innovative sounds and styles, from production heavy numbers to spoken word monologues. As a result, their work has often been labeled 'genre-defying, which has become a badge honour for the trio.

"It's this stupid thing in the music industry," says Aoife. "The only reason we have genres is to be marketable. So it's quite nice to be described like that. 'Expressive' is another favourite. It's one of the few terms we've ever really agreed on!"

And this label has served the group in more ways than one, landing Alien She opening slots in support of a variety of different bands, including death-rock, goth and electro-pop outfits.

Fittingly, the band's influences come from a wide range of sources, but special credit goes to the live shows they attend.

"I go to so many gigs. We all do, and that has such a big influence because everyone you see has an impact on how you perform. You're seeing how they're interacting or not interacting. It can be very subtle or nuanced, but it all feeds in".

Feeler is out now.