_{By Joe Metro}

Please take a trip down memory lane with me. The year is 2021. The month is April. It’s Thursday, the 8th. What significance does this day have? Well, it was the first day that I was introduced to AURHE. They happened to play a show at The Boardwalk (rip) with The Wanna Go and Botanical Animal. Arguably, this was my first show in the local scene. (I had gone to a rooftop concert in 2015 (also rip and rip my somewhat full head of hair back then too), but I don’t really count that one, given that I wasn’t there for the music. If anyone remembers the pie shake shop on 100 W, that was DIVINE.). The show at The Boardwalk opened my eyes to the local scene, and I haven’t been the same since.

Princess Dress is absolutely music to my ears. Pun fully intended. I am such a sucker for punk/pop punk bands, especially when they have a female lead. Princess Dress exemplifies this sound so well. When you open up the dictionary, under pop punk, AURHE is listed right there. Is it too much of a cop out to compare Ava Stone to Haley Williams? I don’t want to lump female-lead rock bands together simply because they are, in fact, female lead bands, but holy cow! Ava is a dead ringer for Haley Williams vocally, with just a tad more grittiness.

You really can’t go wrong with any of these songs. My personal favorite is “Love Song.” Every time AURHE plays a show, I beg Ava to play this song. It’s angsty, raw, and such a slap in the face towards the person this song is directed to. I don’t think I’d date again if I had a song like this written about me; I’d hide away, never to be seen again. Taylor Swift WISHES she could write something like this. If your NCMO situationship ghosts you for the third time in two months, then this is absolutely what you need to blast to get over them. As my roommate’s father said, it’s the best song he’s heard in a while. I couldn’t agree more, Dave.

I am consistently impressed with Ava’s singing. In no other song do I feel that more than “Invisible.” She has incredible range, and by golly, does it shine in this track. “Invisible” delivers such a smooth groove, then, in classic AURHE fashion, slips into their rock sound. It is so satisfying to hear Ava go from this sultry, almost jazzy singing to hard and fast, gritty vocals to match the tone of the instrumentation. Although my neck hates me the next day after an AURHE show, I cannot help but headbang to this jam.

I reached out to Ava regarding her thoughts on the album and her favorite song. “Girl, Keep Fighting.” “It’s a very special song to me,” she said. “This is a song that came very naturally during the songwriting process. And I also just love how it turned out.” Anyone who has written songs or created art in general knows that special feeling of getting in the zone and having your creative ideas flow so effortlessly. Those are generally my favorite songs that I’ve written. Outside of the mechanics of the writing process, “Girl, Keep Fighting” also provides such a great message – perseverance, a light in the darkness, and the sentiment of “I’ve done hard things before, I can do hard things again.”

At the end of the day, if you love music and want to bring music to your ears in the literal sense and not metaphorically, then listen to Princess Dress by AURHE. This album still holds up, and it is great hearing these songs live. I personally give you The Joe Metro guarantee that you’ll find a song you enjoy. As someone who has been to my fair share of AURHE shows, with no intentions of stopping now, the band has absolutely grown in the last four years since this album dropped, as evidenced by AURHE’s recent appearance in the finals for Velour’s Summer Battle of the Bands. I love the new singles they have been releasing and am so incredibly excited for a potential new album sometime in the future. I implore you, dear reader, to listen to Princess Dress and enjoy!

Make sure to follow AURHE on Instagram! Listen to “Love Song” on Spotify!