Portsmouth's Holly Mullineaux makes her recorded debut with acclaimed indie band Goat Girl on new album On All Fours

It marks the release of indie band Goat Girl’s second album – On All Fours – but it is Holly's debut with the group.

Holly, who is originally from Portsmouth, joined the band in summer 2018 – replacing original bassist Naima Jelly.

The London-based band’s self-titled debut peaked at 24 in the charts on its release in April 2018, and announced the arrival of an exciting new voice on the national stage.

Its 19 tracks were unafraid to tackle big themes and stylistically embraced post-punk, country, Krautrock and more. That same year they shared Q Magazine’s Breakthrough Act award with Idles.

But the Goats have been sitting on the completed second album for more than a year – and not just because of the pandemic.

Holly’s first gigs with the four-piece was on a run of rescheduled dates – dates moved to allow drummer Rosy Bones to recover from injury – an incident now immortalised in the new album’s track PTSTea. Rosy, who identifies as non-binary, had scalding hot tea poured on them by a man during a ferry crossing from Ireland to Wales during a tour.

The culprit neither apologised for nor even acknowledged what had happened.

On All Fours’ 13 tracks sound more focused and less abrasive than the debut's, but that's not to say its content is any less thought-provoking or easy-going on its targets. PTSTea takes the above incident and becomes an ode to male entitlement, opener Pest is about humanity’s parasitic relationship with our planet and the environment, while They Bite On You turns a run-in with scabies into a parable about capitalism.

The band, completed by lead singer and guitarist Lottie Pendlebury (aka Clottie Cream – all the Goats have a nom de band) and guitarist Ellie Rose Davies (LED), started writing the new album once Holly (Holly Hole) had settled in.

Holly’s first band was short-lived shoegazers Purr, back here in Portsmouth. After that she joined dream-pop band Wyldest, and it was while with them that Holly moved to London, before ‘going their separate ways.’

Before joining Goat Girl, Holly already knew the rest of the band through mutual friends and as part of the scene around The Windmill venue in Brixton.

‘I'd seen them play a bunch of times already and was a fan – I knew their songs.

‘I'd gone for this really awful job that I hated. It was so bad that I walked out with no plan – I've never done that before. I just knew I couldn't go back there again.

‘I was at a loss for anything to do and that's when I found out Naima was leaving the band…

‘By the next week I was playing with them. It was weird coincidence, but I think it was meant to be.’

Starting work on second album provided the band with a bit of a blank slate.

‘They'd been touring relentlessly, and the first album was mostly written from songs Lottie had when she was a teenager.

‘When it came to album two, there was a bit of uncertainty with Naima leaving, and how we'd get on. We didn't know how it was going to go – if we'd work well, writing together.

‘It was a good time for me, as the touring was done and now we needed to write a new album, so it was sort of starting from scratch, which was really nice.

‘We had to come up with completely new songs, so it was very much more like a collaborative process.

‘Everyone has their voice and personality on the record, it's very equal in terms of contribution.’

As the newest member, did Holly ever feel like a junior partner?

‘No, they were very good with that, they made me feel so comfortable and welcome from the first thing. If anything, I was the one beating myself up about that a little bit.’

The Goats were determined to make sure they had a batch of songs they were all happy with before releasing them – starting writing at the end of 2018 and only going into the studio in late 2019.

‘It took us a year to get to a place where we were really happy with it. That was different from the approach of the old songs, in the sense they were young and they wanted to get out and play, and it was more like: “right this is a song, let's not overthink it, let's just play it, let's just do it”.

‘Whereas now, we've all got more proficient at our instruments and developed as songwriters, and maybe we’re taking ourselves more seriously as songwriters.’

The positive reception to the debut, the awards, and end-of-year ‘best of’ mentions helped bolster their confidence too.

‘There's a certain validation from the reception of the first first record, but I think there were so many good ideas floating around, we wanted to make them all shine in a way that we were all happy with.

‘When you have to get four people to agree on every single part of every single thing, it takes a really long time. It's a lot more considered and reflective.

We're all so happy with it and so proud of it. There's no part that one of us isn't happy with or wishing we hadn't done that. But it was difficult – and enjoyable – to get to that point.’

There was also a subtle shift in how they approached the songwriting.

‘The first record, is more reactionary: "This is happening now, and this is how I feel right now”.

‘The second album, there's a sense of you getting older, you've experienced more things, and you process your emotions differently. You reflect a bit more and instead of thinking: “This is happening”, and being angry about it, it's: “Why is this happening?” And thinking of the bigger picture and trying to understand that.

‘With Goat Girl, the lyrics are always inspired by how we're feeling and trying to understand the world around us, or bringing things to attention which are on our mind, or things going on in the world.

‘It tries not to be too direct, it's not like they're telling people how to think or what they should do, it's an expression of our own emotions at that time.

‘I think it's more honest and more vulnerable than the first record, for sure.’

But as the band were mixing the album, Ellie received devastating news. She was diagnosed with stage four Hodgkin lymphoma – a form of blood cancer.

‘We were aware something was going on and she'd had all these lumps, and she was finally having tests. We knew she was going to the doctors and it was getting worse but nothing was happing.

‘So when we found that out it was quite bad by the time they realised she had it.’

The record was in the bag by this point, but their focus was now on giving Ellie time for treatment and to recover.

‘We were so worried about her that we just cancelled everything else. We needed her to get better and that was the most important thing

‘Everything, like booking gigs or putting the record out, just went out the window.’

And then of course the pandemic hit.

‘Everyone's had their own personal struggles over the past year, so realistically, I don’t think there could have been a sooner time than now to put it out.’

Thankfully Ellie is in remission and doing ‘really well’.

‘It's mad, we've finished an album Ellie got sick, had treatment and come out the other side of that, but we're still in the pandemic.’

‘We're all so much closer, we've been through so much as a band, it feels good to put this out now, in the place we're all at now.’

Given everything they’ve been through in the last 12 months, there’s nothing from the past year on the album.

Holly laughs: ‘That's all for album three – that's going to be even more intense!’

At the time of writing, On All Fours is at number seven in the midweek album charts.

While Lottie and Rosy share a place in Lewisham, and Holly is ‘about a 10 minute walk away’ from them, Ellie lives in Whitechapel, under the current restrictions the band haven’t even been able to get together properly to mark the album’s release.

‘It feels quite surreal. I want to celebrate.

‘Well, I will from home, but I want to go out and party!’

The band are due to tour in autumn, playing Concorde 2 in Brighton on September 24 and The Loft in Southampton on September 25. Go to goatgirl.co.uk/TOUR-DATES