Kristin Welchez is best known as Dee Dee, the frontwoman of Dum Dum Girls. Today, she’s announced a solo project, Kristin Kontrol. Her debut album will be out this spring via Sub Pop. Watch a promo for Kristin Kontrol below.
According to a press release, Kristin Kontrol’s music is a combination of new wave, R&B, synth pop, and krautrock. Welchez explained her reasoning for starting Kristin Kontrol:
I wanted to open things up and shed light on significant influences that felt off-limits in Dum Dum land. I don’t want to fight them off anymore. That’d be a drag.
The music is so different from anything I’ve ever done — I felt compelled to shed the alter-ego instead of trying to morph Dum Dum Girls into something else. I didn’t want to mess with that legacy.
So yeah, I’m Kristin … and this is Kristin Kontrol.
Kristin Kontrol is not Welchez’s only non-Dum Dum endeavor. Before Dum Dum Girls, she was in Grand Ole Party, which released Humanimals in 2008. She also has a band with her husband Brandon, Haunted Hearts. They released Initiation in 2014. Welchez’s last album with Dum Dum Girls was 2014’s Too True.
Read our 5-10-15-20 feature with Welchez.
Watch Welchez sing the Cure’s “Lovesong” on Pitchfork.tv’s “60 Seconds Left”: