For Your Sins Debuts Dea Matrona’s Entrance into Rock Scene

Eszter Vida reviews irish rock duo Dea Matrona’s debut album as they are venture into the territory of pop and rock music with their stellar debut album For Your Sins.

Let me introduce you to your favourite band: Dea Matrona. The duo, composed of Orlaith Forsythe and Mollie McGinn, plummeted into the country-rock industry with their eagerly anticipated debut album For Your Sins. The catchy pop-rock album makes a sweeping statement on its themes of intoxicating love and frenzy with a passionate blend of their indie-rock, pop and disco influences, topped off by their individuating Irish identity.

I stumbled on them, as you do with most rising acts nowadays, through their Instagram reels, specifically a viral clip of them covering fellow Irish heroes The Cranberries. It seems this identity becomes a foundation in many of the songs, along with their mythological name derived from the Celtic goddess depicting the alluded divine femininity of their aura. While their style is very derivative of classic rock, the duo equally boasts their love of country legends like Dolly Parton and Shania Twain soundtracking their coming together many years ago as friends and in constructing this passion project.

The opening track lures you into a brooding 90s Matrix vibe. ‘Stuck on You’ as an apt opener kicks off the LP with an unapologetic attitude of wanting somebody and feeling the unshakeable urge in being lured into an existential questioning of passion and sin. It’s a catchy, femme-fatale type of track with a trilling guitar and bass riff that mirrors the apocalyptic zeitgeist of the album, which becomes even more evident in songs like ‘Red Button’ with the impending doom of staccato guitar, especially in the fiery lyrical imagery of the bridge section. They certainly embody the idea of having nothing to lose and layer up with a smoky demeanour on the bold follow up ‘Stamp On It’. This shapes the album’s more classic 70s rock side of glimmering Beach Boys-esque backing vocals and distorted guitars. Declarations of ‘just like a treasure, you belong to my collection’ and ‘you’re my religion, baby come and put a stamp on it’ don’t suggest but scream desire while songs like ‘So Damn Dangerous’ offer a heavier, grittier take, with influences of their more modern contemporaries of Arctic Monkey’s AM era coming through.

The best way to absorb somebody’s music for the first time is to see them live, which is why I went down to Vinyl Whistle on a Saturday morning to see their acoustic set before their headline at The Wardrobe. Their spirit performing live really shone through as you get to experience their unique inspirations of stories behind songs like ‘Did Nobody Ever Love You?’, a funky and biting response to Mollie “being pissed off”, as put it in their own words.

Something else that was great to experience live was what we hear on the informal B side of the album. Their more country-folk, ‘breeze in your hair’ type of road trip songs that bring their harmonies bring together in a stunningly symbiotic way echo the vibe of California girl rock groups like HAIM. ‘Glory, Glory (I am free)’ represents the duo’s togetherness with a country-folk, There’s a good mix of easy-listening and breezy tracks on this record, like ‘Won’t Feel Like This Forever’, which encapsulate the humble campfire nature of how these songs are carefully crafted with heartfelt stories on the trials and tribulations of youth and entering a whole new realm of life and music. Their success comes after years of busking and their musical progression from obsessing over their country influences, a key signal found among the bluesy riffs in the likes of ‘Dead Man’s Heart’. The whimsical pop track ‘Every Night I Want You’ is another stand out that is definitely a song reserved for the summer, with 60s style backing ‘doos’ and ‘woos’ sang in a more upbeat disposition.

My favourite track on the album must be their dark, moonlit closer ‘Black Rain’, which rounds off a gloomy yet suggestive nod to the uncertainty of the future. If ‘Stuck on You’ represents dusk, this song is the moonlight after sunset as the significant duality of these tracks ties up the broody imagery, which is effervescently witchy and Stevie Nicks coded. Lyrics like ‘the weather’s changing and my body’s changing’, the song feels almost transformative and paranormal as the band described in other publications that its meaning resembles “that feeling when your heart sinks”, leaving us on a narratively ominous ending.

Already touring venues like Leeds’ Wardrobe and opening at BST Hyde Park shows for Sheryl Crow, success is on the sunny horizon for this group. For fans of Heart, Fleetwood Mac and potentially Abba, this is for people who enjoy fun and fearless experimenting with the blending of genres, which has helped shaped the duo’s roaringly distinct sound, enriching the sound of today’s indie-rock spheres. 

Dea Matrona’s debut album For Your Sins is out now on all platforms for streaming and purchasing.

Words by Eszter Vida