We in the Republic don’t like to talk about the big things, and if our history of women’s rights is anything to go by, we especially don’t like to talk about the big things that involve women. As Dublin gears up for Saturday’s March For Choice, jangle poppers Shrug Life have decided to celebrate the event with their latest single, the 8th amendment baiting ‘Your Body’.
Leaving subtly and nuance at the door, the trio launch into their polemic with the jugular strike of the track’s opening line: “Your body is not your body/ It’s the property of church and state”. It’s an arresting couplet that sets the stage for an excellent tale of a 19 year old’s return journey from Liverpool after having an abortion. It’s delivered with the same wit and devilish eye for minutiae that we’ve come to expect from Shrug’s wordsmith, Danny Carroll. Those tiny, heartbreaking details (burning through the last of your cash, crying alone in a foreign land, getting a Ryanair flight instead of counselling) are perfectly underscored by the piece’s simple, devastating chorus: “Yeah I had a real nice holiday, thanks for asking”.
Seething with an indignant rage but deeply human and understanding, ‘Your Body’ is a great little proselytising protest track which preaches to the converted and gets the blood appropriately boiling. Will Murphy
