REBEL YELL (Aus) Tour begins in Glasgow with friends Coolant, Heat and DJ Wilma (London). REBEL YELL makes tough bangers for big softies. Retaining the driving, dance-ready focus since kicking off in 2016, then on her first two albums Hired Muscle (2018) and Fall From Grace (2020), through to her third album DESOLATION (2023, Dinosaur City Records) sees REBEL YELL harden her percussive electronics, while also speaking to the vulnerable self beneath. Stevenson highlights that this oscillation is the whole point: her new album wades through the discomfort of dealing with yourself in search of authenticity and peace. Known for distinct mechanical vocal sound and earth-shattering basslines, REBEL YELL has opened for Orbital, Brooke Candy, and These New South Wales, and collaborated with artists as varied as Hayden Dunham (Hyd/QT), Exhibitionist, and Marcus Whale (Collarbones), among countless others. DESOLATION sees new collaborations with Australian cult favourites Cong Josie (NO ZU), California Girls, Tralala Blip, Tired Girl and Black Dahlia who features on the “wonderfully explosive” (Guardian Australia) ‘TNT’). Rejecting traditional album formats, DESOLATION arrives with the boldest album medium ever: a plushie of REBEL YELL like a otherworldly elf, embroidered with several of the artist’s tattoos. With this album and it’s manifestation as a toy, REBEL YELL proves that it’s tough to be soft.