A Guide to Black Dresses (Band)
Who are Black Dresses?
Black Dresses is a Canadian musical band, formed by two women, Ada Rook and Devi McCallion, who are both artists on their own.
The band was formed in 2017, following their first ever single - Paper Planes (cover of MIA).
Devi and Ada started the Black Dresses project when they were friends, however they're currently in a relationship and implied to be married to each other.
They started the Black Dresses project, as a form of venting, and did not expect to blow up in the slightest. However, following the release of their debut album - WASTEISOLATION, they gained attention of the internet. With their unique sound palette, dark and vulnerable content of the lyrics, and general surrounding of enigmatic no-name artists, they started to quickly follow with underground cult following.
Gaining much praise, getting a score of 9 out of 10 from Anthony Fantano, and especially, becoming viral over the song "IN MY MOUTH".
Unfortunely the band diss-banded after harassment that Devi received from the internet users after they found her online presence and internet footprint. Both Ada and Devi didn't really like the attention they gathered. So in 2020, they stopped making new material. But did in fact release old unreleased stuff all up to 2022.
In 2023 they announced working on their 7th album and making new music. Releasing more singles and uploading little snippets on them working. Confirming that way that they're a band once again.
The musical style
Black Dresses musical style is based on mixing a lot of genres. As an underground artists, Black Dresses are influenced by a lot of lesser known styles and genres coming from the outsider world of music.
You cannot really explain their sound in simple words, but i'll try. Their genre is often described as "Noise Pop", but they're much more than that.
I'll try to describe their general sound, but i will go into more details following the guide's part about each individual album.
Most of all, Black Dresses are an electronic band, they do use real life instruments, mostly guitars and drums, but it's mostly electronical elements.
Black Dresses mixes elements of Pop, Industrial, Noise, EDM, Rock, and are mostly described as extremely experimental.
To lesser extent they also use hip-hop, ambience, metal, glitch, synth, and screamo.
Their vocals are rather amateur, which shouldn't really scare you, as it just adds to the charm. They're also notable for their usage of screaming vocals.
Themes of Black Dresses
TRIGGER WARNING: CSA, Abuse.
The main themes of Black Dresses music are:
Mental suffering,
Living with mental ilness - such like depression or severe anxiety,
Coping with trauma - mostly from their childhood, and the sexual abuse they went trough from the hands of adults in their life.
Healing from those experiences, seeing hope in the future.
And environmentalism - raising awareness about the issues of global warming and pollution.
But there's ofcourse many more songs that don't follow these themes.
Black Dresses often get accused of being "edgy", however you shouldn't perceive them like that. Their music is full of real struggles that both Devi and Ada are going trough. They do NOT romanticize or fetishize the themes of their music, nor they sugarcoat it or exaggerate it.
Not to mention their music is full of hope for better tomorrow and wanting to improve, giving it all a positive message.
Release guide
2018 - WASTEISOLATION: Their debut album, definitely the darkest in terms of themes. Essential for every fan of the band, the best place to start. Mostly lighter in sound, doesn't incorporate as much noise as following releases.
Really accessible for newcommers.
2018 - HELL IS REAL EP: A 5 five song EP making a bridge between WASTEISOLATION and THANK YOU. It's a bit moodier than the previous project, but also it's a place where Black Dresses started to use more screaming vocals and noise elements.
2019 - THANK YOU: Second album, much more surreal in the sound palette, much noiser and more electronic. Black Dresses at this point got a little less personal in their lyricism.
2019 - DREAMS COME TRUE 2019: A sequel to their first ever project together, DREAMS COME TRUE 2017 which i'll mention later. It follows 3 WASTEISOLATION songs re-made and re-worked. As well as one brand new song.
2019 - LOVE AND AFFECTION FOR STUPID LITTLE BITCHES: Black Dresses (succesful) attempt at poppier sound. Much less crowded instrumentals and simpler, catchier beats. Doesn't belittle their noise elements and screaming ofcourse!
2020 - Peacefull as Hell: Black Dresses most popular album after WASTEISOLATION, got an extremely positive review from Fantano and semi-blow up on the internet. A fan favourite.
Black Dresses production got more professional.
The sound is much lighter and goes into the direction of electronic pop rock.
2021 - Forever in Your Heart: Black Dresses heaviest project to date. Ada and Devi at their most industrial and metal. A lot of screaming and noise. Another fan favourite.
2022 - Forget Your Own Face: Their latest album, as for the time of writing this guide. Their most disorganised project (which was intentional), full of distortions and noise and screams. It was a surprise release and is made from re-made unreleased material going as back as 2019. It contains some of fan favourite songs.
Other notable work:
2017 - DREAMS COME TRUE 2017: First ever released collaboration between Ada and Devi, a short 4 song EP.
2017 - LETHAL POISON FOR THE SYSTEM: A 3 song EP in collaboration with 99Jakes and Laura Les - a member of 100 GECS. Includes first single Under Black Dresses name.
2018 - CRUSH: Single, a cover of Tessa Violet.
2020 - 745 Sticky Remix: Black Dresses remix of 100 Gecs song that ended up on the official 100 Gecs remix album.
2023 - Shines: Single, a collaboration between the band Purity Ring and Black Dresses.
Merch and how to support them
Black Dresses ocassionally releases their albums on cassettes, however they were all limited and are currently unavaible. No official CDs or Vinyls were ever made.
You can buy at any time Black Dresses hoodies or T-shirts on https://black-dresses-merch-store.creator-spring.com/
(Ada also sells her merch on that)
You can buy their albums over Black Dresses bandcamp, or support them directly trough Patreon.
You can also contact Devi or Black Dresses trough an e-mail and show your support with words!
(Please do not send this e-mail to anybody who could harass them)
That's all, i hope you'll have a wonderful time listening to our gals! :DD
Black Dresses Extended Universe Guide
What's that? You're interested in checking out Ada's and Devi's solo stuff? Well, it might be much more confusing or interesting than you think, in fact, it's a whole rabbit hole. So let me introduce you to, what i like to call, the "Black Dresses Extended Universe" (BDEU or simply BDU).
BDU is a collective of every side-project, nickname under which one of the girls released music, or any other band that contains either Ada or Devi.
Ada Rook's side of EU
Let's start with Ada Rook, since there's a little bit less going around her.
Ada started releasing her music in 2015, following her first OST for her game (as she's a game dev), and her first EP in 2016 "void memory".
Ada used the nickname "rooksfeather" or simply "rook", however after the release of "Parasite" she started using her full name.
Ada's solo discography follows 8 EPs, 4 Soundtracks, and 6 albums. 7th one on the way
Her musical style is similar to Black Dresses, but more into industrial and rock side of things. Her older music used much more ambience and was darker, moodier. Her recent style incorporates much more screaming and poppier sound. However, in case similar to Black Dresses, each album have it own distinct sound.
She also released one album with an artist called Deathirl, "DEATH IN REAL LIFE" and it's extremely rare media, not even listed on RYM. However reuploads of it exists.
She have one Alter-ego, called "Crisis Sigil" Under which she's doing extreme grindcore. Crisis Sigil released 2 EPs and 1 Album.
Ada is also a part of 2 other bands beside of Black Dresses,
"rook&nomie" is a collaboration between Ada and ESPer99, they released 2 albums. Their style is much more poppier than anything else that Ada does.
"Angel Electronics" is a fresh new band formed by Ada and Ash Nerve. They're doing power electronic rock, and their sound is more joyful. They released 1 album so far.
Notable Ada Rook releases:
"Shed Blood" by Rook
"Parasite" by Rook,
"2,020 Knives" by Rook,
"UGLY DEATH" by Rook,
"Rookie's Bustle EP" by Rook,
"GOD CUM POLTERGEIST" by Crisis Sigil,
"ULTRA PARADISE" by Angel Electronics,
"Superego Royal Jelly" by rook&nomie
Devi McCallion's side of EU
Wow, we are in for a heck of a ride... Oh well,
Devi started releasing her music since the age of 15, however most of it is probably lost media at this point. She's putting music out on her own label - Blacksquares, Under many different alliases and side projects, i'll talk about each one later.
Devi's style is mostly indie pop, influenced by sub-genres like dream pop, synthpop, ElectroPop and simply underground pop.
Her music is often simplistic and cartoony, but it's hard to explain her signature style in words.
But it's worth checking out.
Devi rarely releases anything Under her real life name, mostly singles. But she did release 2 albums Under her real name together with Katie Dey, mixing production of both girls.
Devi used many different nicknames trough her career, such like Dizzy Girl, Devi April McCallion, Vriska Serket, Walking Patriarchy and The Little Fears, however all of these names aren't connected to any specific releases, as far as im aware (Devi's music is a huge Rabbit Hole, full of lost media and rare material).
It's also worth mentioning that she released a compilation of her unreleased material Under the name "Blacksquares", it's titled "LIFE IS HELL (ASMR)".
Okay, so now we are going to talk about each one of her musical projects. We'll start with 4 of the most essential ones, then the more obscure ones, and we'll finish it all with Devi's other bands beside Black Dresses.
1. EAT BABIES? - A name she really doesn't like to be assiocated with, so it's better to treat this project as a fun fact, rather than the core of her career. EAT BABIES? was her first ever project (that we are awere of) Under which she released 2 albums and 2 EPs. It was much more amateur than what she's used to do now. And she doesn't like to associate this project with herself due of the fact she was much different person back then.
2. Mom - is her second most popular nickname. It was her primary stage name for a long time untill 2015 when she came out with "Girl Rituals".
Mom released 5 albums. And semi-blow up with a song titled "joyfulthought". Mom is a time when Devi really started to work on her pop sound and signature style.
3. Cats Millionaire - the third most popular Devi project. Cats Millionaire was active from 2011 to 2013. Released 2 albums, 4 EPs and 2 mixtapes.
Cats Millionaire is characteristic for overall theme of My Little Pony, since Devi used to be a brony. The lyrics and aesthetic are all about MLP. The sound was much more soothing and toned-down than most of Devi's releases.
4. Girls Rituals - Devi's current main allias and her most important project that's still active from 2015 to this day. Under that name Devi released most of her music, and she really perfected and evolved her pop sound with each and every release. Beside of many singles, she released 2 EPs (one with Ada, one with 4lung, however the second one is since deleted because of the 4lung allegations), 1 remix album, 1 instrumental album, and 5 albums. With "Reddishness" being Girls Rituals fan favourite release.
Now, Let's get over every other side project.
10 Chains - only one instrumental album have been released. It's noise/ambience.
Doro Doro Dono/More Bears- Just one single released each for two of these projects,
traptraptrap - 2009. one album released. Despite the name, it's her usual pop stuff.
Triangle Giant - named after one of Devi's bands, only one EP released. ElectroPop.
Yellow Bile - 3 EPs released. Usual pop stuff. One of the EPs are lost media.
Tiny Magnesium - Really obscure stage name for her usual pop sound. 2 short albums released.
Leader Misty - Pokemon themed 2008 project, one instrumental album.
Holographic Rainbow - Only the soundtrack to the discontinued web comic (of the same name) have been released.
Hexi Wing - name she used to release her self-spoken erotic fan-fiction. You're probably not interested in that 👀.
Now, last but not least, Devi's multiple bands before and after Black Dresses.
Dr. Massive and The Headwound Extravaganza - was a 2008 electronic band that released mostly covers of rock songs. Only one album have been released and the band is 100% discontinued right now. Devi was responsible for programming, drums and vocals. There also were
Mike Will Smith - percussion and vocals,
Allan Burke - synthesizer and vocals,
Jonathan Oscar Cianni - programming, bass,
And Sensitive Bear - bass and vocals.
Unfortunely i couldn't find any info about the band members.
Giant Triangle - A band where Devi used to do vocals from 2008 to 2016, the band had a lot of members that went and go, but it seems their only official release is an 2020 EP. Usual electronic and pop.
The Various Endeavors? - a 2009 band who's appearently still active? They released one synth punk album, and a compilation of unreleased tracks in 2021. John Bevier and Tyler Bruce are in the band along-side Devi.
VCF Freq - A collaboration between Devi and Boy Pussy, they're doing minimal techno. They're Technically still active but their only 2020 EP dissapeared from any streamings. It's thankfully archived on Soulseek.
Anarchy 99 - A collaboration between Devi and So Drove, they're doing electronic pop rock. They're still active from 2020 and actually release new material consistantly. A couple of singles have been released and one album.
Notable Devi McCallion releases:
'Self-titled" by Mom,
"3" by Mom,
"Fun Fun Fun" by Cats Millionaire,
"Reddishness" by Girls Rituals,
"Im Desperate" by Girls Rituals,
"CRAP SHIT" by Girls Rituals,
"Cow" by Girls Rituals,
"Rockstar Super Heat" by Anarchy 99,
And that's all there is to BDU ;)) have fun Discovering it! ❤️
