Over four studio albums and a decade, Wirral-born Louisa Roach had built She Drew The Gun into a project that fully lived up to its incendiary name. It had been a place for Roach to explore a visceral musical world informed by influences ranging from ’80s electronica, hip-hop, political poetry, and cosmic scouse psychedelia epitomised by hometown heroes The Coral (whose lead singer James Skelly had taken her under his wing during She Drew The Gun’s early days). Lyrically, it had found her taking aim at the wild injustices she persistently saw in the world at large, decrying corrupt conservative governments and rallying for a more empathetic way of living.
Her 2016 debut ‘Memories of Another Future’ had been swiftly followed by a crowning as Glastonbury Festival’s Emerging Talent Competition winner; the follow-up ‘Revolution of Mind’ had been named one of BBC 6 Music’s Albums of the Year, while 2021’s ‘Behave Myself’ had seen Clash praise the record as “some of her most finessed and contoured songwriting to date.” Having firmly carved out her niche of rousing, laser-sharp social commentary, it had remained a defining element of Roach’s songwriting (not least in that political climate). But sometimes life had sent you to a place where you had to finally turn your eye on yourself, and it was with this in mind that She Drew The Gun had presented their fourth album, ‘Howl’, released in 2025.
