Wealthy Women’s Children is a record shaped by displacement, political unease and the need to be understood. Written largely during vocalist Peter Sisk’s years in the United States, the album reflects an outsider’s perspective formed from within. Irish-born and based in San Francisco since 2017, Sisk will return to Dublin later this year, giving these eight songs the character of both a response to a turbulent period and a final reckoning with the years that defined it.
Across the record, Wealthy Women move between outrage, grief, satire and dark humour, confronting political violence, immigration, misogyny, abuse and war through stories that are personal as much as they are political. From the story of Palestinian Red Crescent paramedic Asaad al-Nasasra in ’37 Days’ to the title track’s mourning for the children of Gaza and Ukraine, the album refuses easy answers while remaining direct in its intent. Sisk’s vocals are kept deliberately prominent and intelligible throughout: the words are central, and the point is to be understood.
Musically, the band occupies a sludgy, doom-adjacent space but approaches it with an unusual sense of urgency. Their songs move faster than much of the music associated with those genres, creating a restless tension between crushing weight and forward momentum. Recorded with Scott Evans at Antisleep Audio in Oakland, Children combines dense, abrasive heaviness with lyrical clarity, recalling the uncompromising energy of Chat Pile, Shellac, Big Business and Melvins while maintaining a voice distinctly its own.
To mark the release of Children, we’ve asked Wealthy Women to share three of the key influences behind the album as part of our Under the Influence feature.
Pissed Jeans – Honeys
This album was my introduction to Pissed Jeans in 2013 and I was lucky enough to catch them in a sweaty basement in Dalston the following year. I remember thinking at the time that Matt Korvette was exactly the kind of frontman I wanted to be when I grew up.
I was drawn to the way Korvette inhabited characters that were unashamedly bad people. From the deadbeat husband on ‘Romaticize Me’ to the cubicle rage murderer in ‘Cafeteria Food’.
We write from similar perspectives on our album Children, particularly in songs about toxic masculinity and misogyny. I’d rather write in someone else’s voice and let the audience judge their words that just yell at them about how terrible they are. Plus it’s more fun.
Deafheaven – Sunbather
For me this is one of those albums that changed the way I think about music, like Nevermind by Nirvana or Relationship of Command by At The Drive In. I’ve always most enjoyed music that has a payoff, where the chorus lifts the song or the bridge resolves the tension in a way that feels like it includes and rewards the listener.
Sunbather opened up my eyes to the possibilities of combining musically and vocally extreme black metal with huge choruses and solos that deliver in such an ecstatic way. It sent my listening down a new path and led to me exploring heavier, darker bands and genres. I’ve got Sunbather to thank for leading me to Sumac, Oathbreaker, Liturgy and so many more.
It also introduced me to Atomic Garden studio and Jack Shirley’s work. At the time I was living in Ireland and it seemed impossible to make a record there but we did it with Children; albeit in a different location with the GOAT Scott Evans behind the console. It still counts!
Chat Pile – God’s Country
This one is a huge influence on all three of us. Obviously ‘Why’ connected with a lot of people but the whole weird, dark cast of characters across this album and ‘Cool World’ are an uncomfortable joy to behold.
Not long after we started writing Children we started thinking more deliberately about our sound and the themes we wanted to cover. The decision to switch to baritone guitar in part was inspired by Chat Pile and some of the lyrical themes might have snuck in there too.
I’d love to have the movie knowledge to repeat their trick of talking about movies set in the city they’re playing in at live shows. I usually just tell jokes about Pete Hegseth and the Pope instead.
