Dirty Nice – Planet Weekend

Description

Few bands manage to blur the lines between music, art, and escapism quite
like Dirty Nice. Split between London and Lisbon, the UK six-piece have
been quietly building a cult following with their unique brand of surrealist
indie-pop – a sound that flits between playful whimsy and emotional depth,
with enough glitchy production and offbeat charm to keep you guessing.
Now, they’re throwing open the gates to Planet Weekend, their third album
and most ambitious project yet.
Led by the inventive duo of Charlie Pelling and Mark Thompson, Dirty Nice
have a knack for pulling you into their oddball world. Known as much for their self-made animations as their music, they’ve created a multi-sensory
experience online that’s as much about the visuals as it is the hooks. Think
MGMT’s day-glo pop meets the Flaming Lips’ psychedelic theatrics, but with
a distinctly British eccentricity that also draws inspiration from Charlie’s time
composing for cult Channel 4 hit ‘Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared’.
‘Planet Weekend’ is Dirty Nice at their most refined yet. An amusement park
inspired by 1990s television adverts providing the perfect home for this
oddball troupe of characters. Leaning into their signature cocktail of glitchpop
and guitar-driven funky, psychedelic indie, the album explores themes of
isolation, love, fantasy and the hazy limbo between virtual and real life.
Although ‘Planet Weekend’ sees them stepping fully into their own, earlier
Dirty Nice albums ‘Surrenderland’ (2023) and ‘Lobster’ (2021) already hinted
at their potential. Tracks like ‘SHARK!’, which made its way onto the BBC
Radio 1 Introducing playlist, and ‘This Is Gonna Hurt’, a 6 Music and sync
favourite, showcased their knack for crafting ear-worms. Meanwhile, Rolling
Stone, DIY, MTV and The Line of Best Fit praised their surreal, otherworldly
charm.
Live, they’ve turned heads too – 2024’s UK tour saw fans packing into venuesto experience what can only be described as a trip through Dirty Nice’s ‘weird and wonderful’ universe. In 2025 they bring their show to stages across once more, including a performance at BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend and a UK and European tour in Autumn.